CHAPTER XXVII
BAD NEWS
Joe was plainly nervous.
Being called on so suddenly had its effect as did the unexpected action of Sam in resigning
because Joe had supplanted him.
But the young pitcher knew that he must pull himself together.
The game was slipping away from the Stars and the crowd of shouters that accompanied
the Blues would redouble their efforts to get Joe's "goat" as soon as he got in
the box.
He had a foretaste of what they would do when he got up to bat in Sam's place and struck
out.
It was no discredit to Joe, for the Blues had a fine pitcher, still it added to his
nervousness.
"If that's a sample of what your new pitcher can do we'll take a few more runs!" yelled
a Blue sympathizer.
"Oh, he only did that for fun!" yelled Rodney.
"Yes," added Tom Davis.
"He's saving his arm to strike you fellows out.
Go to it, Joe!
Don't let 'em rattle you."
[216]
The Stars took a brace, whether it was the knowledge that Joe was to pitch or not, but
they certainly braced, and in that inning got enough runs to make the score six to eight
in favor of the visiting team.
"Now, Joe, hold 'em down!"
pleaded Darrell, "and we can do the rest, I think."
"I'll try," answered our hero.
It would be too much to expect Joe to do wonders, but he did very well.
He only allowed two hits in the inning when he first pitched and only one run came in,
chiefly through an error on the part of the third baseman.
"I guess we've got their number now," exulted Darrell, when it came the turn of
the Stars to bat.
"Keep up the good work, boys.
We've got 'em going."
The Stars managed to knock out two runs in their half of the third inning and that made
the score eight to nine—one extra tally only against them.
And then began what was really a remarkable game for one played between amateur nines.
For the next four innings neither side got a run.
Talk of a "pitchers' battle" began to be whispered, and for the credit of the visitors
be it said that they no longer tried to get Joe's "goat."
[217]
Both pitchers were on their mettle.
Of course they were not perfect and probably some deliveries that the umpire called strikes
were balls, just as some that he designated as balls were good strikes.
But it was all in the game.
Joe was doing good work.
There were only a few scattered hits off him and these were easily taken care of by the
in or out fielders.
In this the Blues rather excelled, however, there being more errors charged up against
the home team than to them.
But the Stars had this in their favor; that, while there were a number of good stick men
among the visitors, they were not speedy base-runners and thus a number of men were nabbed on the
sacks, through playing off too far, or not connecting in time, who otherwise might have
brought in runs.
"Oh, fellows, we've got to do something!" cried the captain at the close of the usual
lucky seventh, when no runs had been registered for either side.
"Can't some of you pull off a run?"
But it was the Blue team who scored first, getting one run on a ball hit by the first
man up.
It was manifestly a foul, but the umpire called it fair and the man held his base.
Then Joe's arm gave him a twinge and he was hit for a three bagger by[218] the next
man up, scoring the player preceding him.
But that was all.
With grimly tightened lips Joe faced his next opponent and after that not a man got to first,
and the player on third dared not steal home, so keenly was he watched.
With the score eight to ten against them the Stars came in more confidently than might
have been expected.
And when they had hammered out two runs, tieing the score, there was wild enthusiasm.
"Here's where we walk away from them!"
yelled Rodney, as the second run came in, and with only one man out.
But there came a slump and the opposing pitcher braced up, striking out two men in succession.
The ninth inning saw a single run tallied up for the visitors, and in this connection
Joe did some great work, pulling down a fly that was well over his head and receiving
a round of applause for his pluck, for it was a "hot" one.
The unexpected happened in the ending of the ninth, when the visitors were one ahead.
Seth Potter, never reckoned as a heavy hitter brought in a home run, and the score was once
more a tie for no one else crossed home plate.
"Ten innings!" was the cry and the spectators[219] began "sitting up and taking notice" as
Rodney Burke said.
"Now, Joe, it's up to you to shut them out," advised the captain.
The young pitcher nodded and then he cut loose.
His arm was paining him very much for by a sudden twist he had wrenched the muscles injured
in saving the lad from the trolley car.
But Joe would not give up, and he struck out three men neatly, only one, the second up,
getting any kind of a hit, and that only good for the initial bag.
"A goose egg!" yelled Rodney Burke.
"Now one run will do the trick!"
"Snow 'em under!" cried Darrell.
And the Stars did, for they rapped out the necessary run amid a jubilant riot of cheers,
making the final score twelve to eleven.
"Oh, I knew you could do it!
I knew you could!" cried the captain, trying to embrace all his lads at once.
They had won handily though at one time it looked like defeat.
"Good work, Joe," complimented Darrell.
"You're the regular pitcher from now on."
"But if Sam reconsiders his resignation?"
"He can't," rejoined the manager.
"He's out for good."
Joe could hardly wait to get home and tell the[220] good news.
He fairly raced into the house, but he stopped short at the sight of his father and mother
in the dining room.
They were seated at the table and a look of anxiety was on their faces.
"What's the matter?"
gasped Joe, all his joy in the victory and his new position leaving him as he looked
at his parents.
On the table between them lay a number of papers.
"I've been served with a summons from the court," said Mr. Matson slowly.
"It's a move on the part of Benjamin and Holdney.
The court has taken my patent models and documents away from me, and I may lose everything.
It's hard, just as I was about to succeed—very hard."
"And you may lose everything, dad?" asked Joe huskily.
"Yes—everything son—I may have to start all over again.
I'm out of the harvester works now."
For a moment one disappointing thought came to Joe.
He would not be able to go to a boarding school as he had hoped.
Then the look of trouble on his father's face drove all other thoughts from his mind.
"Don't you care, dad!" he exclaimed stepping close to him.
"You can beat those fellows yet.
We whipped the Blues to-day, and I'm the regular pitcher for the Stars!"
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