"Gee!" he exclaimed to Tom, ruefully, "this is certainly what you might call tough luck. Here I am, with my arm feeling better than it ever did before, and just on account of a few pesky burns I can't pitch." "It's tough, all right, and no mistake," sympathized Dick, "but never mind. If Winters can only do half way decent pitching, we'll come through all right." Bert said nothing, not wishing to discourage his friend, but to himself he admitted that things had a rather bad aspect. The team they were to play to-day was noted for its heavy batters, and he knew that it would take a pitcher in the most perfect condition to stand the strain of nine long innings against such sluggers. His thoughts were not of the pleasantest, therefore, as he sat on the bench, nibbling a blade of grass, and watched the practice of the two teams with critical eyes. Murray, reputed to be the heaviest hitter on the Maroon team, was knocking out flies to his teammates, and Bert was forced to admire the confident way in which he lined the ball out, without ever missing a swing. His own team was playing with snap and ginger, though, and this fact comforted Bert somewhat. "Well," he thought to himself, "the teams seem to be about equally matched, and if nothing out of the ordinary happens, we ought to have a good show to win. I only hope that all the rumors I've been hearing about Winters lately are not true." As Bert had seen, both teams showed up well in the preliminary practice, and each made several plays that evoked applause from the grandstands and bleachers. Soon the umpire walked out on the field, adjusting his mask and protecting pads, and the crowds settled down for a couple of hours of what they realized would be intense excitement. "Battery for the Maroons, Moore and Hupfel!" shouted the umpire. "For the Blues, Winters and Hinsdale!" As they were the visitors to-day, the Blues of course went to the bat first. They were quickly retired by snappy work and took the field. Winters seemed in fine form, and struck out the opposing batters in good shape, only one getting a hit, and he was caught stealing. This ended the first inning, with no runs scored for either side, and Reddy began to feel more confident. However, little could be prophesied regarding the outcome at this early stage of the game, and Reddy walked over to the bench and sat down beside Bert. "Well, my boy," he said, "if they don't get any more hits off us than they did in that inning, we won't be so bad off, after all. Winters seems to be in fine shape, don't you think?" "He certainly does," replied Bert, "he's holding them down in fine style. You couldn't ask for better pitching than he's putting up." "Ye couldn't, fer a fact," said the trainer, and both settled back to see what the Blues would accomplish in their turn at bat.