[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2019 Ruthlandian West Final Recap

Rocky Rapids Snaps Up 3rd RU West Flag In Succession
It was no contest again in the Ruthlandian West this year... The Rocky Rapids Snappers racked up a third straight pennant by a wide 10-game margin over second-place Sligo... third-place Fort Benton was a distant 13 back... and fourth-place Volusia ended up 16 games off the pace... Six teams were in the hunt at the All-Star Game... only 6 games separated them... but Rocky Rapid fired the after-burners and rocketed way ahead in the final half of the season... the Snappers were a game behind the Sligo Rovers at the half-way point.

Ryan Noland has his Snappers primed for another run for the Pro Cup... Rocky Rapids equalled Eastshore's 97-57 record, which led the Ruthlandian Union... they will face the Elegants in the Elite 8 Series beginning tomorrow and the tough task of beating them two years in a row in the postseason playoffs... Like Eastshore, the Snappers can pretty much do it all and do it very well... Noland's only deficiency is fielding (.970 FA)... but he has wonderful pitching with Joe Anderson (23-11 2.63), Don Chaney (17-13 2.83), Junior Noland (20-11 3.08) and Mike Chaney (12-3 3.61), coupled with a super closer in Milt Baker (4-4), who had 34 saves and a 2.07 ERA... at the plate 2B Paul Shelton had a humongous year with 153 RBIs and 46 home runs... Shelton outpaced everybody in the IPA in RBIs, batted .340 and scored 124 runs... CF Carl Johnson reached the 2000-hit milestone with a .312 average, 29 homers, 91 RBIs and 100 runs... and LF Rob Barton stood out with a .306 BA, 106 runs, 8 home runs and 70 runs batted in.

Eddie Keys has the best starters in the league, but the Sligo Rovers still succumbed to the superior Snappers... Les Patterson (21-14 2.53), Ralph Odakota (20-15 2.81), Sam Tate (15-10 2.85) and Luka Abromowitz (19-14 3.27) form a truly fine starting four, but did not get any bat support... the Rovers batted a pithy .258 and ranked 28th in the league in batting and scoring... RF Clell Renshaw (.296/17/70/90) and 1B Avery Womack (.298/9/62/87) were Keys' only reliable bats, but nothing to compare to Rocky Rapids.

The Fort Benton Defenders, skippered by Robbie Brooks, were like Sligo - strong staff, but weak bats... Cal Walger (20-11 3.36), Vic Kessler (17-13 3.30), Pete Varisco (14-9 3.00) and Tucker Dawes (14-15 3.81) were all quality arms, but could have used more offense... 1B Stretch Stookey (.290/15/107) and RF Joe Darwall (.285/18/79) were Brooks' biggest bats.

Manager Alfonso Feliz guided his Volusia Vigilantes to the fourth spot in the standings... the V's hit much better than Sligo and Fort Benton, but are not as strong on the hill... superstar CF Joe DeLucca (.306/33/104/112) sparked them at the plate... DeLucca is also an outstanding glove man and one of the best players in the IPA at age 25... SS Vince Wilson (.320/24/79/89) and 1B Rafael Garza (.315/17/72/102) also wield good bats... 16-year vet and 38-year-old Todd Wolfe made a great comeback this season with an 18-8 mark and a fine 2.69 ERA... last year Wolfe was 11-20 with a 4.32 ERA, his worst season... 22-year-old Sixto Moreno proved his freshman year was not a fluke with an 18-15 record and a 3.64 ERA.

The fifth-place Forest City Lumberjacks hit well, but can't get anybody out...ther were 21 games in back of first place Rocky Rapids... long-time star LF Joe Judlin reached the 400-homer milestone this season with 31 homers and 108 RBIs, while batting .278... RF Sonny Harrison added 27 clouts with 95 RBIs, but hit only .254... two .300 hitters CF Luc St. Germain (.310/9/65/109) and 1B Andy Doiron (.325/11/80/83) topped the 'Jacks in batting average... manager Robbie Jackson has only one solid pitcher... Tommy Zenon went 19-16 with a 3.43 ERA... closer Andy Velasco saves 25 games with a fine 2.16 ERA, but went 2-7 in the won-lost column.

The Stoner Stars, managed by Benny Stern came in sixth, trailing by 26 games... pitching ace Billy Chapel had a strong second half and finish with 20-12 and a 2.83 ERA... at mid-season his ERA was a sky-high 4.23...relief specialist Myron Wood notched 31 saves with a 2.44 ERA, but was only 2-8 record-wise... offensively the Stars were bad... 1B Robert Dunbar was tops, but drove in only 73 runs with 22 homers and a .293 BA.

For the third successive year Clem Rogers and once-powerful Colfax Blasters ranked near the bottom of the RU West, winding up 30 games out... Rogers still has decent pitching, but no offense, ranking 30th in scoring... to show you how poor the team's offense is, all-time IPA great Ilya Szabo posted a standout 2.74 ERA this season, but was only 12-16 and came up 3 victories short of 300 at age 40... let's hope Szabo will come back and get them next season... 38-year-old Jimmy Joe Cartner (11-11 3.28) could have used some runs, too... at age 26 Cliff James is a better pitcher than his 13-17 and 3.61 ERA show... young reliever Matt Pedersen performed very well with a 1.45 ERA and a 5-4 mark in mainly middle relief... Pedersen will get a shot at closer next year... Colfax's best bats belonged to LF Billy Garrett (.312/26/81/83), long-time 3B Mike Janocko (.302/23/88/60) and RF Norm Payton (.268/29/86/90).

The Middlefield Roosters were way, way back and deep in the basement, 37 games out of first... horrific pitching is the reason... the Roosters were 31st with a lofty 5.05 ERA... Smitty Michaels only had two good arms this season... last year's Golden Arm winner Joe Schneider had to endure an injury-plagued season, but still posted a 15-9 mark with a 2.49 ERA... Schneider missed about 7 weeks of the season... Frank Dean (14-17 3.24) pitched well, too... when it comes to hitting Middlefield went deep 196 times (2nd), batted a solid .267 (6th) and ranked 6th in scoring runs... leading the way were youngsters RF Vic Ivarsson (.313/35/110/100), 3B Stu Butterworth (.291/39/109/89), CF Chuck Larkin (.273/25/87/87), along with aging 38-year-old SS Jim Rose (.273/14/73/94).