March 29, 1954
Trolleys Capture Top Spot in the West in Battle of Pitchers
The Pulberry Trolleys earned the right of homefield advantage in the Western League Pennant Series with a hard-fought win against the Fort Richmond Generals. In a battle of starting pitchers, RHP
Alexander Ellacott pulled out a complete game victory over the equally impressive RHP Ch’ang-chieh Li of Fort Richmond.
At first though, it looked as though the Generals had seized the momentum early when 2B Benjamin Donahue opened the scoring in the top of the first with a one-out solo home run that travelled 428 ft. into the left-field stands. But Ellacott quickly shook off that early setback and gave up only five more hits in the game – a double and four singles.
Ellacott, in fact, would get that run back in the bottom of the 4th. After C Paul England led off with a walk and advanced to 2B when 3B Makani Kahale followed him with a single, 2B Wade Billyard hit into a fielder’s choice at second, allowing England to reach 3B. Ellacott then connected on a 1-0 pitch from Li that sailed out to leftfield. England tagged up and scored when he beat out LF Daniel Paterson’s throw home.
Neither team was able to break the tie until the 8th. In the bottom half with one out, LF Aidan Thirkettle battled Li for 10 pitches, fouling off 6 pitches until finally drawing a walk. 1B Gerad Koerner then promptly lined a single into right-centerfield, allowing Thirkettle to reach 3B. After Paul England struck out, Makani Kahale lined a single over the head of 1B Jacob Gadsden down the rightfield line that just stayed fair. Thirkettle scored easily giving Pulberry the lead, but the inning ended when Koerner was thrown out by RF Brandon Robinson on the play when trying to reach 3B.
Given a one-run lead, Ellacott looked to close things out in the 9th. CF Greg Cusack scratched out an infield hit to lead off that appeared to make things look interesting. But Ellacott needed just two more pitches to seal the win. On the next pitch, Daniel Paterson grounded into a fielder’s choice at second base. On the final offering, Jacob Gadsden grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that ended the game and gave the Pulberry Trolleys top spot in the West for the first time in franchise history.
These same two teams will face each other in the Western League Pennant Series with Games 1 and 2 set for Pulberry’s Trolleys Stadium. No. 4 starter, LHP
Diarmid Rowet (10-7, 3.72 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 110 ERA+) has been penciled in as the Generals’ starter for Game 1. Facing him will be Pullberry’s No. 3 starter, RHP
Taylor Folkard (16-10, 3.04 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 135 ERA+).
