Waterloo Sunday Courier
April 4, 1908
The Lulus hosted Burlington for the third game of a 4 game set Saturday morning. Manager Flemming decided to pencil in the young
Charles Carpenter, of Des Moines as the day’s starting pitcher against Jim Hill. The 18 year old right-hander managed to get two quick outs in his professional debut before two Pathfinder safeties rattled the rookie. Wide with a nervous fastball, Carpenter walked the next batsmen but regained composure and struck out the next, his second in the inning. Carpenter again faced a challenge in the second by surrendering a double but managed another strikeout after a bit of wildness. The Lulus plated a run in their half of the inning with the help of two errors. Vigue scored on Mackey’s single who later killed the rally when he was caught sleeping at second.
Trouble found Carpenter in the third frame, again after two outs. With men on first and third, the young pitcher fooled Lenard again, this time a soft fly to center. In the fifth inning, the Pathfinders barely lifted the bat of the shoulder as a walk, two tough chances and a wild pitch led to two tallies against the Lulus to make the score 2-1. The boys failed to score Wolfe after his two-bagger and Carpenter’s wildness continued in the sixth. After a hit batsmen and another strikeout, Carpenter surrendered a triple to left which unnerved him and an ensuing wild pitch allowed Burlington’s third run to score. But just as quickly, Carpenter fired a strike past Newton again for a strike out to end the rally. Carpenter has a quick fastball with a wonderful change of pace. His curve is a bit raw but a solid frame and strong wrists look to solve that during the course of the summer's schedule.
Baserunning woes continued for the Lulus as Vigue was cut down stealing second to erase a lead off single. In the bottom of the seventh, our town’s fanatics began chanting “Chuck, Chuck, Chuck!” before every pitch of the young hurler. Two slow balls later led to dramatic strikeouts which fired up the crowd even more. The Lulus responded to the cheers and scored three runs on sharp base hits by Stearns and Vigue. Thomas relieved Carpenter and the Lulus wrapped up the game in short order. The location of the fourth game, on Sunday, is not known. Kitts is expected to take the mound.
Charles "Chuck" Carpenter
Pitching line: 6 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. Carpenter is now 1-0 on the season for the Waterloo Lulus, Central Association, Class D.