A run was almost certain, especially with Larry up. He made good with a long fly to Talkington, who made a great catch and a fine throw to the plate, but a perfect slide by Church made it impossible for Gibbie to tag him, and the score was 1 to 0 and two out, with Hollins on second and Warcford at bat. Sam drove a long liner to left center, and Larke starting with the crack of the bat got it after a hard run and the inning was over. [Illustration: “A perfect slide by Church made it impossible to tag him.”] In the fifth inning Lowell didn’t get a hit, but did get two on base. Robb first hit a grounder to Church but was out, Church unassisted. Hans, taking time to study Mellen’s curves, walked. Hal hit a grounder to Hollins, who fumbled and both runners were safe. Lowell now had men on bases for the first time and were where Jefferson was in the fourth inning, but Delvin hit a fly to Beach and Gibbie struck out, so Lowell did no better than Jefferson in their first effort with men on the bases. In the Jefferson half, Twitchell bunted, and Delvin, just to even up things, fumbled the ball. Brest bunted toward first, but Hal again fielded perfectly and throwing to Hagner, forced Twitchell. Then Mellen singled to center and Talkington’s throwing arm came into play, for he caught Roger trying to get to third by a fine throw to Delvin. Laird rolled an easy one to Hagner and was out at first. In the sixth, Hughie told the boys they would have to show something or their chances would dwindle. He told Black to get on if possible but the best Black could do was to hit an easy roller to Mellen, who threw him out at first. “All right,” said Hughie, “we don’t expect pitchers to tire themselves out running.” Then he signaled Everson to try to get a base on balls. Johnny let the first one go by. “Strike one,” announced the umpire. “Ball one,” he said as the next one came over. The third ball looked good, but Johnny had been told to wait it out and the umpire announced “Strike two.” The next one sent up by Mellen was intended to fool Johnny. It was all but over the plate but Johnny didn’t move. “Ball two,” said Lafflin. The fifth one was just like the last one, and the umpire shouted “Ball three” and the Lowell rooters began to hope. It was now three balls and two strikes. The next ball would be the important one. On it came, almost waist high. It looked like a strike, sure, and Johnny was about to hit at it when suddenly it began to drop downward and before it had hit the ground in front of the plate (which it did do) Johnny was off to first for he knew it was a ball. Captain Larke walked up to the plate with a confident air. “Now’s the time,” shouted Hughie from the coaching line. “You can do it, Fred,” he continued. “Make it a two-bagger while you’re at it and we’ll only need one more.”