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Manchester Express 2002
Northern Playoff : Menwith Hill - by Roger Young
The Express (9:9) travelled to the undefeated Menwith Hill (18:0), wondering which team would turn up; the Express who had challenged the other play-off teams, or the team that struggled to shut out less experienced opposition.
Respective records proved meaningless and this turned out to be a great game of tight baseball. Rick Garcia started for the Express and participated in a great pitching duel with Menwith's pitcher Mike Shanks. Menwith took the lead in the 1st, but the Express pulled back level in the 2nd with Dave Gould getting a single, stealing 2nd and Sam Allen bringing him home. In the 3rd Roger Young took a fast ball strike on the arm, then hammered the next pitch for a double to left field, and scored on two uncharacteristic fielding errors to give the Express the lead 2-1. In the top of the 5th Express leadoff Rick (who started the game with a double to centre) nearly extended the lead but his home run shot was pulled back by an excellent catch from right field by Pete Hamann. Instead Menwith levelled the match with an error in the bottom of the same inning, but Rick and catcher Matt Cooper plus a tight infield of Jim Gunn, Dave Gould, Rob Denham and Hervé Boutin held the game all square until the bottom of the 7th when a 2 RBI single from Menwith's shortsop Rob Schneiter took Menwith clear 4-2. A single run was added in the 8th (pitched by Sam Allen) by Bobby Benetez (playing in his first match this season) to give a final score of 5-2 to Menwith as the Express failed to score in the last 6 innings, with WP Shanks recording 11 Ks in 9 complete innings.
Mike at bat against Menwith Hill
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total | Hits | Err |
| Express | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Menwith Hill | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | - | 5 | 10 | 2 |
Stats: Rick Garcia has now pitched 3 times at Menwith and has 1 win, 1 loss and 1 save. Updated MBC records here.
After a great game Menwith join Liverpool (who comfortably beat Shropshire 12-2) and head off to the finals weekend - much to the Patriots' relief having already paid for the hotel! For the Express long time regulars Hervé and Rick finished on a high before they are both due to move back to France and the US respectively, MBC will certainly miss them. Updated Stats here. Photos in the gallery.
