The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-15
BARONS DEFEAT
 HOWARD COLLEGE Fans Had Chance to Size Up
 the Men D0WNEY LOOKS GOOD
Bill AK Says Things Looked Like Last Summer When Meek Got Three Bagger-Story of the
 Game.
BY BILL AK.

BY BILL AK.
 R.H.E. Howard College :. ................ O
 Batteries: Ables, Ragan and Turner and Mahon; Allen, Crenshaw and Moon and Burns.
 The Barons unlimbered their guns yes terday afternoon against the strong and aggressive Krowardf college team, and the result was a victory for Birmingham.
 The game within itself, amounts to nothing, However, the fans were given an opportunity to size up the Barons. and to enjoy the sunshine of a beauti- full March afternoon.
 And everyone had a great time. even the coca-cola boys. The players were in an exceedingly good humor, and there were shouts of derision. cries of bravo, heaves of disappointment just as if the Barons had been tied up in a death grip with Charlie Franks Pelicans. The game gave the fans an opportun- ity, too, of seeing Howard college per- form. The collegians are strong this year beyond question. Their defensive work Is exceedingly good The boys played an errorless game and used their noodles. Several double plays are scored to their credit
 The outfield is fast as lightning. The infleld Is capable and in spots brilliant. Smith on third is very valuable man, and Denny at second promises to become | a star.
 In the box the collegians are strong, | too. Allen and Crenshaw impressed the | fans with having ability. Their strength | will be better shown when they are | lined up against men of their own class
 The boys were a little timid in facing 1 the professional pitchers, and did not 1 hit as hard as they should have done the professionals not using their curves l and speed. However, the Howard boys | promise to be formidable this season on the diamond and the bigger colleges will l have to hustle to trim them. l Birmingham did well, too. The field ing was good. But one pebble was made on the infield,- and that is charged to silent" Lew Walters. He fumbled a | That pebble was the only error of the l game.
 The star of the infield was Tom Dow | ney Yes. he has come He arrived yes- ] terday afternoon, jumped into uniforms l and tenl minutes later was warming up. He revealed unmistakably that he is cap- able of holding down the third pillow | He accepted about dozen chances per fectly, some of them being difficult ones. He showed ability to throw the ball from any position in which he picked it up. Too, he revealed great speed on the | paths. He will be one of the fast men | of the league this season. 1 Downey is about five feet and eight inches high, weighs about 16O pounds, and looks like ballplayer. If the writer is not mistaken he will make good with a rush.
 Ables pitched the first three innings of | the game. He looks like the goods" with a capital G.
 Just about the middle of June Ables will be throwing them across at the rate of a mile second He held the collegians without a hit during his period of twirling, struck out three men and | walked two
 Ragan pitched the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. The boys touched him up | for three hits, and made their single run while he was doing the slab work. Once he got in hole, and got out again by flaming three men in succession. Turner pitched the last three innings of | the game, and he got off without a hit He walked no one, hit no man in the small of the back, and did splendidly. l McNeal played right field. McNeal must be seen to be appreciated. He is a tall man, and a stout man, and a man with great strength withal. In addition it is said that he Is good pitcher. He | ripped off one or two clean hits yester- day afternoon and impressed the fans l most favorably.
 Speaking of hitting-Molesworth was the star. He went to bat five times, smashed out three longs singles and got two walks. He still has his batting eye, and still slides up to the plate with his | left side over the stone Meek awoke | dreams of the long ago when he smashed | one to right field fence, and could have gone three bags had he chosen Demont | hit the ball when he wanted to, and ran about the bags as if he was no older | than 30 years.
 | Catcher Mahon pleased the fans. too. He | is so long that one thinks of Carlos l Smith when seeing him. He did another ! thing that made Carlos famous. He turned his back to the ball. got it square 1x in ba frOu nfl rnnsilpr4 raced down to first, and then smiled