“Can’t help it. We’ll be worse than crazy if we don’t win this little measly game. And think what will happen Friday and Saturday. Change back.”
So Peaches, Teeter and George were called from the bench again, and they played desperately. There was a general tightening all along the line, and the school nine began to see victory ahead. Joe got a little wild occasionally, principally because he was out of practice, but the best the school nine could do was to tie the score in the fifth inning, and it had to go to seven before they could win, though they had planned to play only five. The school nine won by a margin of one.
“That’s too close for comfort, boys,” said the coach. “Why didn’t you have a little mercy, Joe?” he asked of the young scrub pitcher.
“I will next time—maybe,” was the laughing answer. Luke and Hiram scowled at him as they passed. They would have witnessed with pleasure his withdrawal from the school. But Joe was going to stick.
“What are we going to do?” asked Luke of Hiram as they walked on.
“About what?”
“The nine. We’ve just got to win these two games.”
“Well, we’ll have to do some more shifting, I guess, and Brown and Akers have got to tighten up on their pitching. We’ll try some more shifting.”
“Oh, you make me sick!” exclaimed the captain. “Always changing. What good does that do?”
“Say, I’m manager of this nine!” declared the bully, “and if you don’t like the way I run things, you know what you can do.”