The first team had met with two reverses during the recess, having been beaten by Hoskins and Goodwin. The two remaining contests had been won from Grayhold and Highland. So far, out of seven games, Wyndham had won four and lost three. Coach Connover, none too well satisfied, tried several new combinations in his infield during the week following vacation and, on Thursday, drafted Frost from the second to strengthen his pitching staff. The loss of Frosty left Mr. Wadleigh in something of a hole, for he had left only Purdy and a third-rate twirler named Ferry. Ferry usually played left field and confined his pitching to serving them up to the net in practice. Since the second had three games of her own scheduled for later on, Tusks began to look about for new talent, while the members of his team set up a loud howl of protest. None of them begrudged Frosty his good fortune, but they did wish he might have been left to the second. A boy named Fawkes, who had been pitching on one of the scrub nines, was given a try-out, but he showed small promise and was soon released. After that Ferry was taken in hand and groomed as an alternate for Billy Purdy. And Ferry, to the surprise of all and sundry, responded remarkably to the call to service. Relieved of the drudgery of pitching to the net every day, he remembered two or three tricky curves with which he had started out three years before to become a great twirler, brushed the cobwebs off them and, with Purdy standing by with advice, managed to make something of them. Ferry had no speed, but he had his curves and a fair degree of control, and on the first occasion of meeting with the big team puzzled the rival batsmen through three innings. The first got just four hits in those chapters. In the fourth, though, Van Dyke met one of Ferry’s curves and slammed it for three bases, and after that Ferry went from bad to worse and gave way to Purdy in the fifth. That afternoon Clif played a whole game through at center field. He made one difficult catch, misjudged another rather badly and, toward the end of the one-sided contest, heaved a fine throw from short center to Jack Cooper in time to catch a runner at the plate and retire the side. At bat Clif had no luck that day, knocking a short fly to third baseman his first time up, striking out the next time and hitting into a double the next. He would have come to bat again in the eighth, but there were two away and Connell was on second and Tusks sent Pringle in to pinch-hit. Clif somehow couldn’t feel very sorry when Pringle hit at the first delivery and dropped a fly into the hands of Greene in center field.