Oleksandr Trofimenko

Oleksandr Trofimenko (Sasha)

• Bats Right, Throws Left

• Born 1980

Biographical Information

Oleksandr Trofimenko has been a key pitcher for the Ukraine in international events. At age 16, he pitched for the Ukraine in the 1997 European Championship. He struck out 15 batters in the 2005 European Championship, second to Tetsuhiro Monna. He lost to France, beat Croatia and Jimmy Summers and lost to Sweden's Tomas Eriksson. He played the outfield when not pitching and went 2 for 11 with two doubles, tying Evgen Blizniuk and Oleksandr Mamontov for the team lead in extra-base hits. In the 2007 European Championship, he took the loss against the Italian national team. Against Ukraine's rival, the Russian national team, Trofimenko went 11 innings and threw 163 pitches in a 3-2 win, walking 7 and fanning 11 to beat Minnesota Twins farmhand Andrey Lobanov. He was 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA overall for the event and got the Ukraine's lone victory. In the 2008 European Championship Qualifiers, Trofimenko again played the workhorse role, going 10 innings and throwing 130 pitches in a 1-0 loss to Romanian ace Mihai Burlea. Trofimenko allowed 4 hits and fanned 11 while walking just one in that gem. The only run wasn't much his fault as two passed balls followed by a double. Trofimenko was 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA in 15 2/3 IP in the event, which Ukraine won to advance to the 2010 European Championship. Trofimenko's 13 strikeouts were second to Burlea.

Sources

• 2008 European Championship qualifiers
• Mister Baseball
• 2005 European Championship leaders
• Wayback Archive of the 2005 European Championship site
• Ukrainian Weekly