Liverpool Trojans Baseball Club Bootle Stadium, Maguire Ave, Bootle, Merseyside. L20 9PQ
Cartmel Valley Lions May 19th 2013
Sunday 12th May - Liverpool Trojans cruise past Menwith Hill Patriots taking both games of the double header
Liverpool Trojans travelled to the chilly North Yorkshire Moors to take on the Patriots at RAF Menwith Hill. A bitter wind made the day feel more like November than mid May, although mercifully the rain stayed away for most of the day. The Trojans soon warmed to occasion however, by taking both games comfortably 12 - 1 and 14 - 4, both games ending on the slaughter rule after five innings of play.
Liverpool's Venezuelan pitcher, Mario Escobedo, took the mound for game 1 and quickly found his rhythm striking out 10 giving up just one earned run off 4 hits. The top of the first saw Liverpool Trojans take an early lead, 2-0. A single by Harry Wren bringing home Alan Alger started the inning off. More runs came home for the Trojans when Wren scored on a ground out by Chris Luciano.
A bases loaded walk earned Escobedo an RBI as another run scored in the top of the second. Liverpool then opened the game up with 6 runs in the top of the fourth. An RBI single by Paul Smith, a two-run error, a two-run triple by Danny Byrne and a groundout by Dave Martin Baez. Chris Luciano doubled in the fifth driving in a couple, while Paul Smith's RBI single completed the scoring for the Trojans. The game ended on the slaughter rule as the Patriots failed to score in the bottom half of the inning.
Harry Wren And Alan Alger combined for 7 RBI's as the Trojans powered past the Patriots in game 2. Menwith Hill had thier moments as David Olivas homered in the first inning and a series of errors from the Trojans in the second gave the Patriots the lead. But Liverpool recovered to regain the lead in the top of the third inning mainly due to infield errors by the Patriots.
Liverpool Trojans scored six runs in the fourth on an error, a two-run single by Alan Alger, a ground out by Harry Wren, an RBI single by Paul Smith, and a bases loaded walk. Martin Godsall got the win for Liverpool Trojans. He allowed four runs over five innings. Godsall struck out nine, walked one and gave up four hits.
Liverpool's next game is an away fixture at the Cartmel Valley Lions on Sunday 19th May.
A rich history of baseball exists on Merseyside dating back to the 1930's. On July 20th 1933, appeared the first mention of an American style Baseball League. At this time, the game was already established in London and had existed for about 11 years under the banner of the Anglo-American Baseball Association. Teams such as the London Americans, the London Canadians and the London Japanese all competed.
The original team was formed in 1946 by ex-servicemen returning from the second world war. During the early years the team were on a very steep learning curve as the standard of baseball in the UK was extremely high. During the mid 70's and early 80's the Trojans won the British Championship 3 times and won their own division for nine consecutive years, at the time a British record. The current Liverpool Trojans are setting their own high standards and are keen to follow their predecessor's winning ways.
