“One thing I have noticed, though, Beach is still weak when it comes to getting caught at third. Do you remember how last year King caught him off third three times when with Church on first and Tommy on third, they attempted a double steal? I’ve seen him get caught twice this year the same way. Funny, isn’t it, that he can’t get over that play. He just can’t resist the temptation if the catcher makes a motion as if to throw to second to stop a steal, to make a false start toward the plate, and when the catcher throws to third instead of second, Beach gets caught almost every time. Hope you can work it on him this year again. [Illustration: “Beach gets caught this way every time.”] “Warcford in left is only a fair fielder, but a wonder with the bat. He comes from Kansas and is likely to make trouble at any time with his stick. He hits all kinds of pitching. “You will have finally to deal with George Mellen in the pitcher’s box. He is better than ever. He has won twelve straight games this year and is almost as good a batter as any man on the team. There is also a young pitcher named Cam who promises to be a wonder. For catcher they have a youngster, a freshman named Roger Brest. This fellow is a wonder also. Of course, with Gibbie on the team--and I think he ought to be fine this year--you may have the advantage of a catcher with experience on big college teams, but Brest seems to be a find, and I think is as good as any. On the whole, they seem to have had remarkable luck out here with the team this year. “It will take all your ability as manager and as good a team as you had last year to beat them, and if they keep up the pace they have set with the smaller colleges out here, you may have the fight of your life on your hands. They haven’t been scored on as yet. I hope you have something good up your sleeve. If you have had any luck with your recruits, we ought to have the best series of games of college ball ever played between two nines in the history of the sport, and with an even break of the luck, it will be the best team to win.” Of course all of the reports from all sources were laid before a committee consisting of Hughie, Everson, Larke, Gibbie, and one or two others. It made even Hughie a little anxious. In the enthusiasm over his team he hadn’t given much thought to Lowell’s great rivals, because he couldn’t see how another school could have such luck as he had in finding stars. Every fellow on the nine was a wonder, in his opinion. It looked like an all-star team. They went over the reports together and compared the two teams, man for man, as best they could. The result was enough to make them anxious and they finally decided to send Young, the coach, who could tell a real ball player across a fifty-acre lot, out to Jefferson to look over the rival team and get as many pointers as he could.