Grays Ready for Final Stretch After Strong Summer Showing

 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Late summer found the Providence Grays in top form, as the squad built an 8–3 record over the eleven games spanning the Doc Adams Festival (July 31 and Aug. 1) to Base Ball on the Beach in Hull, MA, (Aug. 21). That tally includes five games played at the club’s own Rocky Point Historic Base Ball Festival in Warwick, RI (Aug. 14 and 15), where the Grays went 3-2 on the weekend. After a long idle stretch, Providence returns to the field this Saturday, September 18, to face off with the Tunnelmen BBC of Lisbon in a ‘64/’65 twin-bill at the Fireman’s Recreation Area in East Hampton, CT.

Providence rode momentum to a 5-2 record across its two most recent outings, winning three of five matches at Rocky Point and sweeping Westfield in a doubleheader on the beach at Hull. The Grays fell to the fine Atlantic BBC of Brooklyn, 12-4 (1884), and earned a grind-it-out, extra-inning triumph over the Rising Sun BBC of Maryland, 17-16 (1865), on day one in Warwick.

Aidan Pirruccello-McClellan at the bat against Elizabeth at Rocky Point.

Sunday at Rocky Point began with back-to-back victories for the Rhode Islanders, defeating the Resolute BBC of Elizabeth, NJ, 29-18 (1870), and the New York Mutuals, 16-11 (1864). The Grays’ final contest of the festival by the bay resulted in a 35-13 loss to the Connecticut BBC of Hartford, played by rules of 1878. Nine vintage teams from five different states converged in Warwick on the site of the erstwhile Rocky Point amusement park that hosted the only Sunday baseball games allowed in New England from 1891-1917.

The Grays hosted the Westfield Wheelmen for Base Ball at the Beach in Hull, MA, on August 21, taking two tightly contested matches. Game one saw overhand pitching in 1884 style, as Providence gutted out a 10-7 win. A high-scoring, high-drama victory followed, with the Grays scoring eight runs in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off, 24-23 (1870), victory.

Mike "Banquet" Swanson delivering the walk-off knock against Westfield.

Providence enters Saturday’s doubleheader in Connecticut with a 14-15 overall record, looking for a pair of positive results to push above .500. Four games follow to conclude the 2021 season, beginning with the Showdown at Colt on October 3, facing off with the Pittsfield Elms (1886) and Westfield (1884) in two overhand battles. Providence’s final date of the year is on October 16, hosting the exemplary Atlantic squad from Brooklyn in Weymouth, MA, for an 1864 twin-bill.

Follow tomorrow’s results on our Facebook and Instagram pages. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.