The morning of the game did not prove very auspicious, as it had rained in the night, and was still threatening. But when the two nines went out to the diamond the sun broke through the clouds and it cleared off. "Now, fellows," said Coach Leighton, as he gathered the captain and his men about him, "you've got to play fast, snappy ball to win. We're up against a better team than either Boxer Hall or Fairview, and I want to see what you can do." "If they don't do what's right they'll answer to me," said Tom, with a grim smile. "And if you fellows lose you'll have to walk home," added Manager Kerr. "Sure, then we'll not allow 'em a hit," prophesied Bricktop Molloy. "We'll whitewash 'em," added Dutch Housenlager, as he tried to trip up Joe Jackson, but failed. It was a fast, snappy game from the very start, Tom doing some superb work in the box, but being fully matched by Marshall, the Wescott twirler, who was "a southpaw," or left hander. "He certainly's hard to hit," conceded Holly Cross, when the Randallites came to bat in the fifth inning, with never a run scored, while Wescott had two, one each having been garnered in the second and third innings. "We ought to have some left-handed batters to sort of fool him," remarked Tom. "I can bat left handed," said Sid, who had been unusually quiet during the trip and the game. "Get out! Then it's something new!" exclaimed Mr. Leighton. "Yes," admitted Sid, "and yet it isn't either. I used to bat left handed before I came to Randall, but I gave it up. I've been practicing it on the quiet, lately, and if you like I'll try it now." "It's risky," objected Tom. "Wait until we see what we can do this inning." But they couldn't do anything, and after three men had gone down, one after the other, under the scientific twirling of Marshall, Mr. Leighton, Kerr and Tom, after a consultation decided to let Sid try, as he was to bat first in the next round. Wescott managed to get two more runs, as the players were "finding" Tom, and things began to look black for the visiting team. "See if you can't rap out a home run," begged the captain, as Sid went to the plate in the sixth. There was manifest surprise when he took the left-handed position, and Marshall and Bradshaw, the latter being the Wescott catcher, held a whispered consultation. Whatever line of play they decided on availed them nothing, however, for Sid caught a "beaut" on the end of his bat, selecting the first ball pitched, and he sent it away over in the right field bleachers, easily making a three-bagger of it. He could have come on home, except for ground rules, which allowed only three bases on a ball that went among the spectators, of whom there was an enormous crowd present, almost up to the base lines.