Photo Courtesy: Christian Dinco

By Christian Dinco

Eastvale – Eastvale Little League welcomed 2002 World Series winner, four-time Major League Baseball All-Star, and 14-year Pro, Troy Percival, to Harada Heritage Park for their annual Coaches Training Day.

Eastvale Little League (ELL) is a non-profit community baseball organization that is committed to teaching leadership through baseball.  150 ELL volunteer coaches came out to receive training from the new head coach of the UC Riverside Baseball team, Troy Percival, and his coaching staff.

Coach Percival donated his time to pass on coaching tips in the areas of pitching, hitting and fielding.  He also took the time to discuss some of his experiences during his pro career, including the 2002 World Series, Game 7, where he closed out the game and brought the win to Southern California for the Angels.

Percival played baseball for UC Riverside as a college player, and was drafted by the California Angels in 1990.  He is a local product and is committed to giving back to the community and developing young baseball players.  ELL was extremely grateful to have our coaches learn from the best.

ELL has 93 teams this spring season with approximately 250 all-volunteer managers and coaches, and a 26 member volunteer Board of Directors.  Games are played at Harada Heritage Park and enrollment is open to all youth residents up to 18 years of age.

If you love baseball, and are interested in giving back to your community, ELL is looking for umpires of all ages to come out and umpire some games.