BURNS HANG ON TO WIN SERIES, 9-7

After four straight pitching duels, it was appropriate that the final game of the 1944 World Series would be a slugfest, as Montgomery held on to defeat the Harlem Knights, 9-7, to win the 1944 World Series, 4 games to one.

Montgomery scored 4 times in the fifth inning to take a commanding 5-0 lead, and were on their way to the Title, before Burns' hurler Jack Kramer ran into Frankie Hayes. After retiring the first two batters in the top of the fifth, Kramer gave up a single and two walks, bringing the Knights' backstop to the plate. Hayes hit the second of Kramer's offerings into the seat, and the grand slam cut the Burns lead to one. Two innings later, Kramer again surrendered the long ball to Hayes, this time a solo shot tying the game a t five runs apiece. In the bottom of the seventh, Oris Hockett came back with a three-run homer of his own, giving the Burns an 8-5 lead. Harlem responded with another two in the top of the eighth, but the one run deficit is as close as the Knights would get. The Burns added an insurance run in the 8th to seal the game, and the DBS Championship.

10/10/1944, HAR44-MON44, Briggs Stadium
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
1944 Knights           0  0  0  0  4  0  1  2  0     7 11  3     8  1
1944 Burns             0  1  0  4  0  0  3  1  x     9 12  1     7  1
 
Knights              AB  R  H BI   AVG    Burns                AB  R  H BI   AVG
Spence            cf  4  1  1  1  .211    Stirnweiss        2b  4  0  0  0  .182
WalkerD           lf  4  0  0  0  .111    Russell           rf  5  1  1  1  .444
Etten             1b  5  1  2  0  .238    Holmes            cf  5  0  1  1  .250
Nicholson         rf  3  1  1  0  .111    McCormick         1b  4  1  1  0  .105
Kurowski          3b  4  1  0  0  .000    Litwhiler         lf  4  3  3  0  .235
Hayes             c   5  2  3  5  .444    Kerr              ss  4  2  1  0  .235
Mayo              2b  4  0  1  0  .250    Christman         3b  4  0  1  1  .263
Newsome           ss  4  1  3  0  .333    Owen              c   3  1  3  3  .563
Raffnsbger        p   2  0  0  0  .000     Hockett          ph  1  1  1  3 1.000
 Berry            p   1  0  0  0  .000     Guerra           c   0  0  0  0  .000
 Tabor            ph  1  0  0  1  .333    Kramer            p   2  0  0  0  .000
 Zoldak           p   0  0  0  0  .000     Tipton           ph  1  0  0  0  .000
                     37  7 11  7           Overmire         p   0  0  0  0  .000
                                           Ryba             p   0  0  0  0 1.000
                                                               37  9 12  9
 
Knights                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Raffnsbger                       3.2  6  5  3  2  3  85  56  3.38
Berry            L 0-1           3.1  5  3  3  0  3  47  35  8.10
Zoldak                           1.0  1  1  0  0  1  16   9  1.80
                                 8.0 12  9  6  2  7 148 100 
 
Burns                            INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Kramer           W 1-0           7.0  8  5  5  5  8 121  71  6.43
Overmire                         0.0  1  1  1  0  0   3   3 99.00
Ryba             S 3             2.0  2  1  1  0  0  25  18  1.93
                                 9.0 11  7  7  5  8 149  92 
 
HAR: Tabor batted for Berry in the 8th
MON: Hockett batted for Owen in the 7th
     Tipton batted for Kramer in the 7th
     Guerra inserted at c in the 8th
 
E-WalkerD, Mayo, Newsome, Litwhiler. 2B-Hayes, Newsome 2, Holmes, Litwhiler. 
HR-Spence(1), Hayes 2(2), Hockett(1). K-Spence, Etten, Kurowski 2, Hayes, 
Newsome, Raffnsbger, Berry, Stirnweiss 2, Russell 2, Christman, Kramer 2. 
BB-Spence, WalkerD, Nicholson 2, Kurowski, Stirnweiss, McCormick. HBP-Kramer. 
HB-Berry. BALK-Kramer. 
GWRBI: Hockett
Temperature: 64, Sky: clear, Wind: in from left at 14 MPH.