The San Francisco call., 1896-04-19
Berkeley aud Stanford Prepare
to Wrestle on the Green
Diamond.
STRONG POINTS OF THE TEAMS
Cardinal Ranks Pin Faith to McLaine's
Delivery, While Worden's Twirling
Inspires the Blue and Gold.

On Wednesday next the baseball nine of
the State University will meet the nine
from Stanford on the Berkeley diamond.
With the opening of the present season,
there has been revival of interest in the
national game, and although far from
what 1t should be, the Varsity players
claim that this seasons team is greatly
superior to those of previous years, and
that the chances of besting the Palo Alto
nine are better than ever before.
Since the latter part of February the
candidates for the various positions have
been practicing daily under Captain
Johnston and Coach Cohen, who from the
thirty-odd d men have at length practically y
sele cted the nine which will take the field
| IN the championship games. The batting
| order will be as follows:
w heeler, catcher: Worden, pitcher;
Hennessey, first base; Elston, second base /;
| krug or Goodwin. third base; McLaren,
shortstop; Johnston, left field: Proctor,
center held; Hoag, right field.
up TO the past two weeks the nine prac-
ticed In desultory fashion, but the neces-
| slty OF team work and fast playing became
| so evident that they have secured Alfred
h. Cohen of the University Club OF San
Francisco to act as coach.
de has the boys we'll in hand, and sys-
tematlc work has done much to strengthen
| the nine.
Coach Cohen is greatly pleased with his
mems work. and believes they will win
| from Stanford.
THE varsity has never had a first-class
| man In the field" said he, land | am sure
TINS Is the reason for the lack of interest.
In every other branch of sport California
ranks as high or higher than the colleges
OF the Middle States, and it seems pity
we should be so far behind in baseball. |
am sure though that from now on the
| game VIII be more popular Certainly the
| nine Is 100 per cent better than last
| years."
I'VE have some extraordinarily good
material from which to select, and the men
are all playing so well that it is hard to
decide just which candidates to choose.
we are exceptionally strong in the points.
In fact Worden, who will pitch in the
Stanford games, and Wheeler, Who will
be behind the bat, are the backbone of the
nine, and our success depends to big
extent on their work"
The Varsity men were present at the
game between Stanford and the Reliance
Club at the Berkeley grounds a week ago
yesterday, and watched the work of their
rivals carefully. Although they acknowl-
edge that Stanford is playing fast ball,
they feel that they are their superiors in
the field, though, perhaps. tho Stanford
team are harder hitters.
Captain Johnston saws that Berkeley
will win, but expects a hard fight. This
is my third year on the Varsity nine" said
he, ''and / know that we are stronger this
year than before. We have mad the ad-
vantage OF good coaching and the men are
taking great interest in the work. Yes,
most OF the men are new, but they are ali
enthusiastic and are doing their level best
to get into good shape.
The only trouble | anticipate in the
games with Stanford is in the batting.
It's not that our stick work is bad, but
| that McLaine, who will be in the box for
Stanford, is extraordinarily good His
pitching is all the Stanfords have to boast
about, and if we can hit him the rest looks
! easy. Coach Cohen is giving us daily
practice in batting, and most OF the boys
are hard and sure hitters. A tendency to
hit too high is the only trouble.
The nine has played q number of prac-
tice-games in which they have shown to
advantage. They were defeated by the
Reliance team two weeks ago by a score of
Z to 2, but as their regular battery was laid
up for repairs this cannot be counted
against them.
The game next Wednesday will be the
first OF series or three which will decide