In what has been a long and mostly terrible season, the Southern California Hornets hit new lows with a pair of losses to the Columbus Ed Otters and their D-rated pitchers.
Despite having the pitching advantage in both contests, SoCal suffered its 11th one-run loss of the season in the first contest, then was shut out for the second time this season in the rematch.
Second baseman Dick Padden may be looking for new employment after going 0-for-7 with four errors, one of which led to Columbus’ extra-innings, walk-off victory.
The Hornets (11-21 and a league-worst .344 winning percentage) become the sixth team to reach the 32-game stopping point. Once all the teams make it to 32 games, there will be a one-week delay for trading, and then each team will have four divisional three-game series before the end of the regular season.
Herson Division Standings: Ocala 18-12 (.600), Asheville 15-15 (.500), Carolina 15-17 (.469), Guests in the Corn 12-16 (.429), SoCal 11-21 (.344)
SoCal Hornets Season Statistics
Game #31 — Columbus 6, SoCal 5 (10 inn.)
The Hornets scored once in the top of the first on Fred Clarke’s RBI triple, but he was thrown out at the plate trying to make it an inside-the-park home run. That turned out to be costly. Columbus took a 3-1 lead in the third inning, which included a two-run triple by Kitty Bransfield. SoCal got one back on an RBI single by William Nance in the fifth inning, and took a 4-3 lead in the seventh on a two-run single by Clarke. The Hornets loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth and could have put the game away, but hit into a double play. Columbus took advantage by scoring twice in the eighth inning, including another RBI triple by Bransfield. Trailing by one in the top of the ninth, Nance led off with a walk, moved to second on a ground ball, and scored on Clarke’s fourth hit and fourth RBI of the game. That sent the game to extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, a two-out error prolonged the inning, and Jimmy Sheckard singled with the bases loaded to provide the walk-off victory for the Otters. Despite having 10 hits and drawing seven walks, SoCal could only score the five runs off DW-rated Barney McFadden. Eddie Plank fell to 4-6 in the loss.
SOCAL HORNETS AB R H BI COLUMBUS ED OTTERS AB R H BI
William Nance 4 2 1 1 George Browne 5 2 2 0
Fred Tenney 5 2 2 0 Kitty Bransfield 4 2 2 3
Fred Clarke 5 0 4 4 Bobby Lowe 3 0 1 2
Roger Bresnahan 3 0 0 0 Jimmy Sheckard 4 0 1 1
Harry Steinfeldt 5 0 2 0 Otto Krueger 4 0 1 0
Algie McBride 4 0 0 0 Frank Bowerman 4 0 0 0
Dick Padden 4 0 0 0 Freddy Parent 4 0 1 0
Herman Long 4 1 0 0 Harry Bay 3 0 0 0
Eddie Plank BZ 5 0 1 0 Barney McFadden DW 3 1 1 0
Wiley Piatt D 0 1 0 0
TOTALS 39 5 10 5 TOTALS 34 6 9 6
SOCAL HORNETS 100 010 201 0 -- 5
COLUMBUS ED OTTERS 003 000 020 1 -- 6
LOB--SOCAL HORNETS 11, COLUMBUS ED OTTERS 5. ERR--Dick
Padden, Otto Krueger, Freddy Parent. 3B--Fred Clarke, Kitty
Bransfield (2). SACF--Bobby Lowe (2). SB--Fred Tenney, Fred
Clarke.
SOCAL HORNETS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Eddie Plank BZ [L] 9.67 9 6 5 4 3 0
COLUMBUS ED OTTERS
Barney McFadden DW [W] 10.00 10 5 5 7 0 0
Game #32 — Columbus 5, SoCal 0
Perhaps demoralized by the loss, SoCal played terribly in the home contest and was shut out by D-rated Fred Mitchell. The Hornets put runners into scoring position in four different innings, including leadoff doubles by Algie McBride and Roger Bresnahan in the seventh and ninth innings, respectively, but couldn’t ever come up with a clutch hit. It hardly mattered as Harry Howell (3-6) had another bad start, giving up five runs (three earned) in seven innings.
COLUMBUS ED OTTERS AB R H BI SOCAL HORNETS AB R H BI
Socks Seybold 5 0 1 0 William Nance 4 0 1 0
Kitty Bransfield 4 1 1 1 Fred Tenney 4 0 2 0
Bobby Lowe 4 1 1 0 Fred Clarke 4 0 0 0
Jimmy Sheckard 4 1 2 1 Roger Bresnahan 4 0 1 0
Otto Krueger 5 0 1 1 Harry Steinfeldt 4 0 0 0
Frank Bowerman 4 0 1 1 Algie McBride 3 0 2 0
Freddy Parent 3 1 0 0 Tommy Dowd 1 0 0 0
Duff Cooley 4 1 2 0 Dick Padden 3 0 0 0
Fred Mitchell D 3 0 0 1 Herman Long 3 0 0 0
Harry Howell CZ 2 0 1 0
Joe Sugden 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 36 5 9 5 TOTALS 33 0 7 0
COLUMBUS ED OTTERS 201 101 000 -- 5
SOCAL HORNETS 000 000 000 -- 0
LOB--COLUMBUS ED OTTERS 9, SOCAL HORNETS 6. ERR--Dick Padden
(3). 2B--Kitty Bransfield, Roger Bresnahan, Algie McBride.
SACF--Fred Mitchell D, Jimmy Sheckard.
COLUMBUS ED OTTERS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Fred Mitchell D [W] 9.00 7 0 0 0 2 0
SOCAL HORNETS
Harry Howell CZ [L] 7.00 9 5 3 3 3 0
Bill Reidy CZ 2.00 0 0 0 0 2 0
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 