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Eugene Church · 07-30-2011, 03:51 PM

The Islandian Times
Monday, September 22, 2025

2025 Ruthlandian East Final Recap

Sundowners 2nd-Half Surge Clips Muskies By 1
Matt Donnelly's club was 7 games behind with four good teams ahead of Wynnamac at the All-Star break and no one predicting that the Sundowners could come back and win it - but they did with a sensational second-half 36-12 surge to sweep past everybody in the Ruthlandian East... Belle Plaine couldn't match that pace and lost out by one game... the Beechwood Bobcats also turned it on the the second half and moved up to third place, trailing by 4 games... last year's division champ Sugar Valley leveled off after mid-season and only played .500 ball, falling to fourth place and 9 games off the pace... fifth-place Marston stayed close to the top until August, but then fizzled out badly, finishing 12 games out.

The Wynnamac Sundowners (92-62) were a perfect blend of excellent pitching and fairly good offense... manager Matt Donnelly had a splendid rotation, perhaps the best in the IPA... four fine starters were all under 3.00 in ERA and had two 23-game winners... Lon Marshall (23-10 2.85), 39-year-old Jerry Meeks (23-12 2.66), Jimmy Nichols (16-12 2.65) and Meeks' 21-year-old son Jason Meeks (14-7 2.54) formed a great rotation... Jason had a strong season despite missing almost 7 weeks due to injury... this is the only time, that a father and son were part of the starting rotation... Arroyo Grande closer Jason Patrick and his son Poochie were on the staff at the same time in 2023 and 2024, but were not as successful as the Meeks... at the plate the Sundowners had a trio of reliable bats: All-Star LF Lil Hoss Burkhalter (.289/29/108/77), 2B Liam Cadbury (.300/13/58/111) and 1B Pete Simmons (.301/8/72/71)... look for Wynnamac to do well in the postseason... the Sundowners have won the RU East 4 times now and one Pro Cup... they were the IPA champ in 2008 and last won the division in 2022.

The first-half leader Belle Plaine Musketeers (91-63) went into a summer funk in August and September, just barely playing .500 down the stretch... skipper Dave Torregrossa just didn't have the starters to keep up... Mitch Graves (19-13 3.53), Lucien Record (18-11 4.25), Rick Lafleur (17-13 3.64) and Johnny Davenport (12-17 3.41) couldn't match Wynnamac, but the Muskies had a great relief corps, led by Fabian Moreau (3-2 1.19), Tiny Ladrieux (4-4 1.63) and Mac Shaw (7-0 0.33)... Moreau and Ladrieux shared the closer role with 21 and 10 saves respectively... Torregrossa had lots of good bats, who did their part, led by C Derek Roman (.322/12/91), All-Star RF Leon Bourque (.274/17/65/85), All-Star 3B Tyler Verret (.264/17/65/85), CF Noel Norbert (.271/5/52/97), SS Slick Hammill (.283/8/80/74) and 2B Tony Polochak (.313/16/80)... if the Musketeers can improve its starting rotation, the future bodes well in Belle Plaine.

The third-place Beechwood Bobcats (88-66) ended up in the RU East first division for the 11th successive season... the only time the Bobcats have been in the playoffs was in 2020... at year's end, they were the second-best team, only 4 games out of first... manager Bret George possesses a very good starting threesome: vets Ken DeGraw (20-11 2.58), Frank Mullins (20-13 2.95) and rookie Maury Patterson (12-7 2.10), who came aboard at mid-year... number four starter Marty Panko (15-9 4.01) was also a reliable starter... sparking the offense were all-time IPA superstar CF Vic Valenti (.271/27/103/94) and 1B Eric Townsend (.292/23/100/67).

Last year's division champion Sugar Valley (83-71) came in fourth this season, 9 games behind Wynnamac... it was Gibby Bobkins' staff that let him down this year, mainly his starters... his usually reliable offense didn't do well, either...only star 1B Dean Woods and All-Star SS Jan Kessinger had a good years... Woods with 33 homers, 129 RBIs and a .329 BA... Woods paced the RU with in RBIs and was second to Waleska's Loco Dillinger in home runs... Dillinger went deep 35 times... Kessinger batted .329 with 6 homers, 61 RBIs and 83 runs... long-time ace Benny McConnell was the only dependable starter with a 21-7 record and a 2.57 ERA... the other three starters had ERAs above 4.00... the bullpen was fine with closer Dallas Casey (6-5) standing out with 31 saves and a 2.13 ERA.

Johnny Walters' Marston Nine (80-74) was second last year and was expected to seriously challenge this year... the Nine did contend until August, but went into an 18-30 spiral and plunged to fifth in the standings, losing out by 12 games... losing their ace Ronald Schmitt for almost the entire season was a severe loss... Schmitt only made 5 starts in April before going out with back problems... he was 2-0 with a 2.34 ERA at the time... still Marston managed to hang in the race... they were only 2 games behind Belle Plaine at the All-Star game and in second place... Walters had three dependable starters: Warren Tate (18-12 3.42), Anson Thomas (15-18 3.09) and Wayne Taylor (16-17 3.46)... Schmitt was a critical loss... superstar CF Russ Woodward (.298/32/101/98) and 25-year vet SS Danny Church (.288/6/59/98) were Marston's best bats, along with 1B Mel Hawkins (.242/27/105/68)... looks for the Nine to come back strong next year, if Schmitt recovers.

The sixth-place Cold Creek Catamounts (76-78) improved this year and almost had a winning season, winding up just two games under the .500 mark and 16 games out... Mike Butler (19-16 3.00) was manager Trip Holmes' best hurler... 1B Steve Daniels (.308/16/62/87) and LF Carl Glick (.284/20/72/94) were the offensive leaders.

After surprisingly winning the pennant in 2023, the Elnora All-Stars (68-86) stumbled badly for the second year in a row ... Sam Malone's club was seventh again and 20 games behind the leader... Elnora has two solid pitchers with All-Star Lucien Vachon (16-15 2.27) and Will Hamilton (16-16 2.98) and a fine bullpen with a 2.41 ERA (5th), but has trouble scoring (24th)... 3B Jeff Matthews (.307/12/81/72) is Malone's best bat... other contributors are RF Travis Glass with 24 homers, 76 RBIs and 89 runs scored, but he batted only .242... 1B Benny Cortazzo hit 18 roundtrippers and batted in 87 runs, while hitting just .254 for average.

Once-mighty Eastshore (63-91) was the pride of the IPA a few seasons ago, but since its glory years from 2016 to 2021 when the Elegants copped 2 Pro Cups and 4 back-to-back RU East pennants, manager Killer Brewster's crew has been a second-division club... descending down to the cellar this year, 29 games behind... last in hitting (.231 BA) and near the bottom in pitching with a 3.86 team ERA (27th)... long-time ace Melvin Key fell to 11-21 this year with a 4.06 ERA... Randy Boone was Eastshore's top pitcher with a 16-18 mark and a solid 3.04 ERA... CF Robbie Foster (.280/1/54/84) was the Elegants only decent bat... RF Ivan Borkowski topped the team with 28 homers and 87 RBIs, but batted only .236... veteran standout 2B Gerry Garner had a down year at age 33 with a .237 BA, but he did drive in 70 runs with 14 homers and scored 79 runs.

07-30-2011, 03:51 PM	#2650
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,944	*The Islandian Times* Monday, September 22, 2025 2025 Ruthlandian East Final Recap Sundowners 2nd-Half Surge Clips Muskies By 1 Matt Donnelly's club was 7 games behind with four good teams ahead of Wynnamac at the All-Star break and no one predicting that the Sundowners could come back and win it - but they did with a sensational second-half 36-12 surge to sweep past everybody in the Ruthlandian East... Belle Plaine couldn't match that pace and lost out by one game... the Beechwood Bobcats also turned it on the the second half and moved up to third place, trailing by 4 games... last year's division champ Sugar Valley leveled off after mid-season and only played .500 ball, falling to fourth place and 9 games off the pace... fifth-place Marston stayed close to the top until August, but then fizzled out badly, finishing 12 games out. The Wynnamac Sundowners (92-62) were a perfect blend of excellent pitching and fairly good offense... manager Matt Donnelly had a splendid rotation, perhaps the best in the IPA... four fine starters were all under 3.00 in ERA and had two 23-game winners... Lon Marshall (23-10 2.85), 39-year-old Jerry Meeks (23-12 2.66), Jimmy Nichols (16-12 2.65) and Meeks' 21-year-old son Jason Meeks (14-7 2.54) formed a great rotation... Jason had a strong season despite missing almost 7 weeks due to injury... this is the only time, that a father and son were part of the starting rotation... Arroyo Grande closer Jason Patrick and his son Poochie were on the staff at the same time in 2023 and 2024, but were not as successful as the Meeks... at the plate the Sundowners had a trio of reliable bats: All-Star LF Lil Hoss Burkhalter (.289/29/108/77), 2B Liam Cadbury (.300/13/58/111) and 1B Pete Simmons (.301/8/72/71)... look for Wynnamac to do well in the postseason... the Sundowners have won the RU East 4 times now and one Pro Cup... they were the IPA champ in 2008 and last won the division in 2022. The first-half leader Belle Plaine Musketeers (91-63) went into a summer funk in August and September, just barely playing .500 down the stretch... skipper Dave Torregrossa just didn't have the starters to keep up... Mitch Graves (19-13 3.53), Lucien Record (18-11 4.25), Rick Lafleur (17-13 3.64) and Johnny Davenport (12-17 3.41) couldn't match Wynnamac, but the Muskies had a great relief corps, led by Fabian Moreau (3-2 1.19), Tiny Ladrieux (4-4 1.63) and Mac Shaw (7-0 0.33)... Moreau and Ladrieux shared the closer role with 21 and 10 saves respectively... Torregrossa had lots of good bats, who did their part, led by C Derek Roman (.322/12/91), All-Star RF Leon Bourque (.274/17/65/85), All-Star 3B Tyler Verret (.264/17/65/85), CF Noel Norbert (.271/5/52/97), SS Slick Hammill (.283/8/80/74) and 2B Tony Polochak (.313/16/80)... if the Musketeers can improve its starting rotation, the future bodes well in Belle Plaine. The third-place Beechwood Bobcats (88-66) ended up in the RU East first division for the 11th successive season... the only time the Bobcats have been in the playoffs was in 2020... at year's end, they were the second-best team, only 4 games out of first... manager Bret George possesses a very good starting threesome: vets Ken DeGraw (20-11 2.58), Frank Mullins (20-13 2.95) and rookie Maury Patterson (12-7 2.10), who came aboard at mid-year... number four starter Marty Panko (15-9 4.01) was also a reliable starter... sparking the offense were all-time IPA superstar CF Vic Valenti (.271/27/103/94) and 1B Eric Townsend (.292/23/100/67). Last year's division champion Sugar Valley (83-71) came in fourth this season, 9 games behind Wynnamac... it was Gibby Bobkins' staff that let him down this year, mainly his starters... his usually reliable offense didn't do well, either...only star 1B Dean Woods and All-Star SS Jan Kessinger had a good years... Woods with 33 homers, 129 RBIs and a .329 BA... Woods paced the RU with in RBIs and was second to Waleska's Loco Dillinger in home runs... Dillinger went deep 35 times... Kessinger batted .329 with 6 homers, 61 RBIs and 83 runs... long-time ace Benny McConnell was the only dependable starter with a 21-7 record and a 2.57 ERA... the other three starters had ERAs above 4.00... the bullpen was fine with closer Dallas Casey (6-5) standing out with 31 saves and a 2.13 ERA. Johnny Walters' Marston Nine (80-74) was second last year and was expected to seriously challenge this year... the Nine did contend until August, but went into an 18-30 spiral and plunged to fifth in the standings, losing out by 12 games... losing their ace Ronald Schmitt for almost the entire season was a severe loss... Schmitt only made 5 starts in April before going out with back problems... he was 2-0 with a 2.34 ERA at the time... still Marston managed to hang in the race... they were only 2 games behind Belle Plaine at the All-Star game and in second place... Walters had three dependable starters: Warren Tate (18-12 3.42), Anson Thomas (15-18 3.09) and Wayne Taylor (16-17 3.46)... Schmitt was a critical loss... superstar CF Russ Woodward (.298/32/101/98) and 25-year vet SS Danny Church (.288/6/59/98) were Marston's best bats, along with 1B Mel Hawkins (.242/27/105/68)... looks for the Nine to come back strong next year, if Schmitt recovers. The sixth-place Cold Creek Catamounts (76-78) improved this year and almost had a winning season, winding up just two games under the .500 mark and 16 games out... Mike Butler (19-16 3.00) was manager Trip Holmes' best hurler... 1B Steve Daniels (.308/16/62/87) and LF Carl Glick (.284/20/72/94) were the offensive leaders. After surprisingly winning the pennant in 2023, the Elnora All-Stars (68-86) stumbled badly for the second year in a row ... Sam Malone's club was seventh again and 20 games behind the leader... Elnora has two solid pitchers with All-Star Lucien Vachon (16-15 2.27) and Will Hamilton (16-16 2.98) and a fine bullpen with a 2.41 ERA (5th), but has trouble scoring (24th)... 3B Jeff Matthews (.307/12/81/72) is Malone's best bat... other contributors are RF Travis Glass with 24 homers, 76 RBIs and 89 runs scored, but he batted only .242... 1B Benny Cortazzo hit 18 roundtrippers and batted in 87 runs, while hitting just .254 for average. Once-mighty Eastshore (63-91) was the pride of the IPA a few seasons ago, but since its glory years from 2016 to 2021 when the Elegants copped 2 Pro Cups and 4 back-to-back RU East pennants, manager Killer Brewster's crew has been a second-division club... descending down to the cellar this year, 29 games behind... last in hitting (.231 BA) and near the bottom in pitching with a 3.86 team ERA (27th)... long-time ace Melvin Key fell to 11-21 this year with a 4.06 ERA... Randy Boone was Eastshore's top pitcher with a 16-18 mark and a solid 3.04 ERA... CF Robbie Foster (.280/1/54/84) was the Elegants only decent bat... RF Ivan Borkowski topped the team with 28 homers and 87 RBIs, but batted only .236... veteran standout 2B Gerry Garner had a down year at age 33 with a .237 BA, but he did drive in 70 runs with 14 homers and scored 79 runs. Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-31-2011 at 05:46 PM.