Page:Baseball Joe on the School Nine.djvu/218

204 way Joe had been hit by four men did not augur well for Excelsior's chances.

"Oh, we'll do 'em!" said Ward, with more confidence than he felt.

"I hope they pound Joe out of the box," murmured Hiram to Luke.

"So do I," said the former catcher.

Excelsior hoped for great things when it came her turn at stick-work, but alas for hopes! A series of happenings worked against her. George Bland rapped out as pretty a two bagger as one could wish, but he tried to steal third, slipped on a pebble when almost safe, and was thrown out. Peaches Lantfeld knocked a sharp grounder that looked almost certain to get past the shortstop; and it did, but the third baseman, who was a rattling good player, nabbed it and Peaches went down.

"Now, Teeter!" called Ward. "See what you can do."

Teeter got to first on a muffed fly, and it was Nat Pierson's turn. Nat could usually be depended on, but this time he could not. He fanned twice and the third time got two fouls in succession.

"Well, we're finding the ball, anyhow," said