Baseball Joe on the School Nine Part 18

"I shouldn't be surprised to see our side licked," replied Tommy calmly.

"They're soft, and Morningside has already played one game with Trinity and trimmed them."

And as Joe and Tom journeyed to the grounds they heard others say the same thing. Nevertheless, Luke, Hiram and their own particular crowd were very confident.

There was a big attendance at the game. The stands were filled with a rustling, yelling, cheering and vari-colored throng--the colors being supplied by scores of pretty girls, whose brothers, or whose friends, played on either nine.

"Jove! What wouldn't I give to be booked to pitch to-day!" exclaimed Joe, as he and Tom found their seats, for neither was on the list of subst.i.tutes.

"I know how you feel, old man," sympathized Tom. "But just hang on, and things may come your way."

"Play ball!" cried the umpire, and the first big game of the season for Excelsior Hall was underway.

That contest is still talked about in the annals of the two schools. It started off well, and Excelsior, first to the bat, rapped out two runs before the side was retired. Then came the first real intimation that the opponents of Morningside were weak in several places, notably in the pitching box, and in fielding and stick-work.

Frank Brown, after striking out two men in succession, and giving the impression to his mates that he was going to make good, and to his rivals that they had a strong boxman to fight against--Frank, I say, literally went up in the air.

He was not used to being hooted at and jeered, and this is just what the Morningsideites did to him to get his "goat." They got it, for before the first inning closed he had been unmercifully pounded, and four runs were chalked up to the credit of the foes of Excelsior Hall.

Still that score might not have been so bad had Hiram and Luke kept their heads. They changed their batting order, put in some subst.i.tutes, and Hiram used strong language to Frank.

"You've got to do better!" insisted the bullying manager. This had the further effect of getting on Frank's nerves, and he did worse than ever.

"Say, why don't you fellows get a real pitcher?" asked Halsted Hart, manager of the Morningsides.

"This is too easy," added Ted Clay, the opposing pitcher with a laugh.

In desperation Luke finally sent in Larry Akers to pitch. At first he tightened up and stopped the winning streak of Morningside, and then, he, too, fell by the wayside, and the hooting, yelling crowd had his "Angora," as Peaches dolefully remarked.

It might be said in pa.s.sing that both Peaches and Teeter did well, and George Bland not quite so well. But the rest of the Excelsior team made many errors. Even Luke was not exempt, and this had the further effect of worrying his players.

It is no pleasure to write of that first game, and that is why I have not gone into details about it, for Excelsior Hall is a school dear to my heart, and I do not like to chronicle her defeats.

When the ninth inning came the score stood fourteen to six. In desperation, Luke had sent in Ned Turton to replace Larry. Several of his own friends asked him to give Joe a chance, but neither he nor Hiram would listen. In fact, there was a disagreement between Hiram and Luke.

The manager wanted to s.h.i.+ft Peaches back to first base but Luke would not hear of it until Hiram threatened to resign as manager, and that so alarmed the captain that he let him have his way.

That settled matters, not because Peaches went to first, though he did good service there, but it was too late to stem the losing tide. The Excelsior team could not get a run in their share of the ninth, and Morningside did not take the trouble to finish out, the final score being fourteen to six in their favor. The opponents of Excelsior had snowed them under.

CHAPTER XV

A STRANGE DISCOVERY

"Three cheers for Excelsior Hall!" cried Captain Elmer Dalton of the Morningside team. "All ready boys, with a will!"

The cheers were deafening and perhaps they were all the more hearty because it was the winning nine and its supporters who were giving them.

The crowd swarmed over the diamond, players and spectators mingling.

Everybody was talking at once, the losing side and their supporters trying to explain how the defeat had come about, and the victors exulting in their victory.

"I don't see what's the matter with you fellows, anyhow," growled Hiram, as he strode over and joined the little group of disconsolate ones who were walking toward the dressing room. "You ought to have beaten 'em."

"And so we would have if they'd given me decent support," broke in Luke.

"There were too many changes on the team."

"And I suppose you think I'm responsible for that," retorted Hiram quickly.

"I didn't say so. One thing, though; there's got to be another change."

"That's right," added the manager scowling at the team, but neither he nor Luke intimated where the change ought to be made.

"They're right on that one point," said Peaches, "a big s.h.i.+ft is needed, and I can tell 'em one place to make it, if not two."

"Where?" asked Teeter.

"Pitcher for one," replied Peaches quickly, "and catcher for the other.

If we had two good men as a battery there would have been a different story to-day."

"What's that?" quickly demanded Hiram, turning around, for Peaches had unconsciously spoken louder than he intended.

"I said I agreed with you," spoke the lad diplomatically, "that if we'd had some changes the result would have been different to-day," but he did not mention the changes.

"Well, it's all over," remarked Joe to Tom, as they descended from the grandstand. "Let's get back home. Jove! But it's too bad to start the season with a defeat."

"Somebody had to lose," replied Tom philosophically. "We couldn't both win, and I didn't expect it would turn out much different when I heard the talk on the way to the game. But it will teach Luke and Hiram a lesson."

"If they want to learn it--yes."

"Oh, don't worry. They'll be only too anxious, after to-day. But I notice some of the Trinity Hall and Lakeview Prep. players here. Getting a line on us, I guess."

"Shouldn't wonder. We play Trinity next week."

"Well, we ought to win that game. Hurry up, Joe, and we can get the next trolley back. No autos for us."

As the two chums hurried across the diamond they found themselves in the midst of a crowd of Morningside players and students. At the sight of one lad in the uniform of Morningside, a uniform not soiled by the dust and grime of the diamond, Tom plucked Joe by the sleeve.

"For the love of Mike, look there!" exclaimed the former first baseman of the Silver Stars.

"Where?" asked Joe, and Tom pointed to the player in the spick and span new uniform.

"Sam Morton!" gasped Joe, as he recognized his former rival on the Stars and his sometime enemy. "Sam Morton! What's he doing here?"

"Looks as if he was on the nine," replied Tom. "He's in one of the Morningside uniforms, but he didn't take part in the game."

"Sam Morton here!" went on Joe, wonderingly. "It doesn't seem possible.

I wonder why we didn't hear something about it? It sure is he, and yet----"