As the end of the week drew near, James said goodbye to his family and once again boarded a train for what would become a weekly trip to a new destination for the remainder of the season. His destination this week was Ithaca, New York, home to Cornell University. Upon completing his train ride, James was a little shocked to find the train depot in such a rural location. He was met there by Cornell University President Gary Weaver.
"Forgive me, but where is Ithaca?" James questioned.
"The terrain is too steep for the railroad, so it's just a short wagon ride away," Weaver answered. "The grade is just too much for the trains, seeing as how the town is built on a hill just south of the Cayuga Lake."
"Good view of the lake, I take it?" James asked.
"The best!" replied Weaver.
The two men talked as they rode the horse drawn wagon to the town of Ithaca, population 8,462. Weaver was concerned, as the other presidents were, about attendance at the games. "We had a great turnout for opening day, but it's been declining ever since."
When they arrived, they were greeted by Cornell's Athletic Director, Terrence Walker. Walker provided James with a tour of Big Red Ballpark, which held 1400 people. The field measured 331 feet down the left field line and 321 down the right. It was 385 and 365 feet in the left and right alleys, with center field 422 feet away. While touring the park, James was introduced to Manager Mitchell Workman. Both men were struggling to explain their team's poor start. The team was 2-9 and currently suffering through a four game losing streak. "It will turn around for us at some point, but we're going to have to play better defense," said Workman. "I've got a great pitcher, but the lack of defense is killing us." The pitcher Workman spoke of was Adrian Powers and they considered him the team's best player. "He's called 'Hypnotist' for a reason," Workman continued, "because his stuff just leaves guys standing at the plate wondering what happened. But if you ain't got no defense when the ball is hit, it don't matter what kind of stuff you're throwing."
The game was going to be tough for Cornell, as 11-1 Rutgers was in town for the three game, weekend series. The weather was decent, 42 degrees with clear skies and the wind blowing out to left. There were 356 people at the game, which was not a great number, but a better turn out than the last two games. Workman was right, though, this team made a lot of mistakes. They committed four errors in the 1st inning to allow Rutgers to take a 2-0 lead. But once they settled down, the game went well. Cornell actually had one player who was excellent in the field, right fielder Rich Davis. He made a couple of great plays and threw a runner out at third base to keep his team in the game. After seven innings, the team was only down 4-1, but they kept missing chances to score. Rutgers added three runs in the 8th, though, keeping the game out of reach and winning 7-3.