The pitcher had a devastating change-up.

Impregnated as he was with Satanophobia, he might perhaps have doubted still whether this distressed creature, all woman and nature, […]

cavernulous metal

... might conceivably imply that he did not live, as the custom had been for such boys, in the Abbot's own house, but lodged in the town of Winchester and perhaps attended the College as an oppidan, or townsman.