These two “flivvers” in succession were likely to rattle any team, and in order to give his mates time to recover their self-possession, Bobby bent down and fumbled with his shoe laces until the umpire ordered him to play ball.
Then Bobby put on steam and fanned the next batter in three straight strikes.
He made the next one knock an easy bounder toward short. Fred was all set to grab it when the ball struck a stone and took a high bound over his head, rolling out to left field, while Romney made the dust fly as he legged his way to third and the batter reached first.
Howell Purdy, the substitute pitcher, who was playing left field, ran in for the ball. He saw that he could not get Romney at third, and threw to Mouser at second to catch the batter, who was making for that bag. But the ball was ten feet wide of the base and went into the field, while both Romney and his mate scored, making the score 3 to 2 in Belden’s favor.
The Belden boys fairly went crazy. There was a din of horn-blowing and catcalls exceeding anything so far in the game. Their coachers got out on the coaching lines and began a line of chatter designed to rattle their opponents still further.
But no matter how the rest of the team were shaken, Bobby absolutely declined to lose his nerve. He knew that until this inning was over at any rate the only thing left for him was to strike his opponents out. Any ball hit, no matter how easily it ought to be fielded, was liable to be fumbled or booted. So he summoned up all his courage and skill and made the next two fan in succession.
Many a pitcher would have been grumpy and sore at such support. He had not yielded a single hit or passed a man to first, and yet his opponents had made three runs and taken the lead. Yet Bobby’s face was as serene as a summer sky when he drew off his glove and went in to the bench.
Devlin and Howell were bitterly angry at themselves because of their errors, and Fred and Sparrow were limping from the effects of their collision, while the rest of the team were more or less upset by the sudden change in affairs.
“Never mind, fellows,” cried Bobby encouragingly. “Those fellows have certainly had the breaks of the game so far. That collision was an accident and we didn’t know that that stone in the infield would give that bad bound to the ball. But those things generally even up, and they may have their turn of bad luck next. Anyway, they’re only one run ahead and we have time to overcome that. Just let’s brace and we’ll beat them yet.”
But if they were to beat them it was not to be done in the sixth or seventh inning, for those chances passed without Rockledge scoring. Once they got a man as far as third, but there he stayed for want of the necessary hit to bring him in.