"One out, and two on base! That's not so bad."
Again the ball came in. "One strike!" said the umpire. "I want a
high ball!" growled the batter. Again the ball was delivered.
"Two strikes!" Then the ball came in again. "Three strikes!
Batter out!" And Tom got a rousing cheer for striking out the
Pornellite.
But the two men were still on first and third, with one more man to put out.
"Take care!" whispered Larry, and the basemen all moved up closer.
One strike, and then came a high fly, far out in center field.
"Run, Sam! Don't miss that!" came in a yell. "Run! run!"
And Sam did run, knowing that if he missed the ball the Pornell team would score two runs, if not three. It was going far down the field, but he was after it, and just as it came down, he made a leap and—clutched the sphere with his left hand.
"He has it! Hurrah! No runs this innings for Pornell!" And the Putnamites howled themselves hoarse, while their opponents had nothing to say.
But the players from the rival academy had a fine battery, and it was impossible to "get onto" their pitcher's curves during that first innings. The players went out in one, two, three order, leaving the score 0 to 0.
"It's going to be a close game," said an old player from,
Cedarville. "I'm not betting on either side."
The second innings passed without any scoring being done. In the third innings the Pornell team made two runs. In the next innings Putnam Hall pulled a single run "out of the fire," as Dick put it, for it was his tally, made on a slide halfway from third base.