Page:Baseball Joe on the School Nine.djvu/134

 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 substitutes, 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 passing that both Peaches