[Eugene Church]

2033 Ruthlandian East Final Recap

All-Stars Top RU East 3rd Year In A Row
After a slow start in April, the powerful Elnora All-Stars played in sterling fashion the rest of the season and captured the Ruthlandian East by 5 games over the Belle Plaine Musketeers. It was the third year in a row Elnora claimed the pennant. The All-Stars drew even with the Muskies at the end of August and pulled away in September. Belle Plaine held a 3-game lead at mid-season, but folded the final two months of the season. The Cold Creek Catamounts, favored in many quarters to win the flag, came in third, trailing by 8 games. Wynnamac has a good season and wound up in fourth place 11 games behind. Sugar Valley and Eastshore also finished well above the .500 mark and tied for fifth place. They were 12 games back in the race. The RU East is one of the toughest divisions in the IPA with six teams posting winning records.

Manager Leon Carter did another impressive job directing Elnora (93-61) to the division title... The All-Stars won more games than anyone in the RU. When you bat .280 (1st) as a team, score 758 runs (1st), go deep 121 times (20th-tied), chalk up a splendid 3.05 team ERA (2nd) and play defense with a .976 FA, it's tough to beat you... top to bottom Carter has quality pitchers led by Freddy Pfeffer (21-8/2.96), Jeremy Sellers (22-12/2.81), Jesus Robles (15-5/2.88) and Paul Martina (13-11/2.94)... Stan Kivas (6-3/2.44/10 saves) heads up a solid bullpen... the potent starting lineup boast five .300 hitters in RF Pettis Pentleton (.318/15/90/85), CF Travis Glass (.314/29/112/95), 2B Akihiro Samurakami (.324/10/72/83), 1B Matt Boyd (.323/12/76/74) and 3B Danny Bierhoff (.320/16/71/61)... LF Clint Thomas almost joined the elite group with a .299 mark, 14 HR, 49 RBIs and 118 runs... it's no surprise that Elnora just might win its first IPA Pro Cup... the All-Stars are the second-seeded team in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES Pro Cup poll... Carter has the goods to win it all this season.

2031 (8th) and 2032 (6th) were dismal seasons for the Belle Plaine Musketeers (88-66), but manager Dave Torregrossa kickstarted them this year and brought them home in the second spot in the standings... weak showings in the final two months cost him the pennant... the Muskies could match Elnora offensively with a .278 BA (2nd), 716 runs (4th) and 132 HR (13th-tied), but fell short on the hill with a 3.74 team ERA (22nd)... defensively they were only a .970 fielding team... Belle Plaine's best bats were RF Noel Martin (.319/28/96/97) and C Derek Roman (.290/16/86/76) with solid help from CF Harry Tashina (.332/7/47/58), 2B Patrice Jourdan (.313/12/55/48), rookie 1B Tony Thayer (.286/12/62/54) and rookie LF Felix Jobin (.292/15/53/67)... closer Johnny Duncan (11-7/2.03/25 saves) had a superb season appearing in 74 games... Rocket Richard (21-14/3.50) and Mac Shaw (18-8/3.70) were the most reliable starters... the Musketeers are just a pitcher or two away from being a top-level team.

Much was expected from the Cold Creek Catamounts (85-69) this year... after five years near the bottom of the division, Scoop Lemieux's Cats suddenly jumped to second in 2032 and then were forecast to be a serious challenger this season... slumps in April and June hurt the club... they ended up in third place and 8 games behind Elnora... Cold Creek's mound corps is excellent... they topped the entire IPA with a near-record 2.72 ERA... Crystal Lake of the RU South set the mark in 2022 with a sensational 2.66 ERA... the foursome of J. J. Gillespie (22-8/2.03), Bobby Reid (21-10/2.30), George Bailey (14-13/2.72) and Harvey Fullerton (11-16/3.31) were outstanding... at the plate the Catamounts were only fair and only average with gloves (.973 FA)... it's hard to win consistently without good run support... Lemieux's most productive performers were vet Roland Campbell (.288/11/59/73), LF Kelly Milligan (.278/15/65/67), 1B Steve Daniels (.238/21/70/69) and CF Guy St. Laurent (.250/11/76/76).

The Wynnamac Sundowners (82-72) have been a quality team in the RU East under skipper Matt Donnelly with nine straight seasons .500 or above with two pennants to show for it... the Sundowners came in fourth this year, 11 games off the pace... slumps in June and August dropped them out of the race... Donnelly still has a strong ball club with a very good offense with power, good pitching and average defense, but a shaky bullpen... Wynnamac had 151 roundtrippers (6th) and scored well with 700 runs (9th)... CF Terry Weigand (.317/19/78/63), LF Allen Dundee (.303/20/63/62) and 3B Lou Borcellino (.301/6/34/47) paced the hitters... SS Ed Lane played well on defense and scored 99 runs with 14 homers, but hit only .248... 33-year-old free agent John Kaltenbach (16-11/2.67) from Pro Cup champ San Alejo certainly did his part along with 35-year-old Jeremy Vincent (13-11/2.16), who came over in a trade with Stoner for longtime 3B Dorak Arando (.253/20/64/57)... vets Killara Bardo (16-16/3.90) and Jason Meeks (19-12/3.99) saw their ERAs soar, but still were effective most of the time... the bullpen was not up to par.

In a turnaround season, the fifth-place Sugar Valley Rattlers (81-73) ran a great race until August... Gibby Bobkins' club was right in the thick of things at mid-season, tied with Elnora for the runner-up spot, 3 games behind Belle Plaine... the year prior the Rattlers were buried deep in the RU East cellar with a 68-86 record... Bobkins features a lot of firepower offensively, but the small ballpark takes its toll on the pitching staff... Sugar Valley was sixth with 709 runs scored and second in homers with 177... despite giving up 196 homers (32nd) the staff registered a fine 3.49 ERA (11th)... 36-year-old Dallas Casey (17-12/2.68) keeps getting better with age... young 26-year-old Juan Navarro (20-12/2.91) had his best season and Jeremy Blanchard (15-18/3.39) was a solid starter... Eddie Petre (10-6/3.32/16 saves) did well in the bullpen... LF Tyler White (.273/44/123/105) had a tremendous break-out season... 20-year-old rookie CF Bobby Gamble (.292/28/96/113) also was a standout... rookie SS Jesse Burns (.270/0/32/90) showed good promise in his first season.

The sixth-place Eastshore Elegants (81-73) had their third good season in a row, but faltered in the last two months and fell 12 games out... manager Killer Brewster's club hits well with a .266 BA (9th), 702 runs (8th) and 121 HRs (20th-tied), but is just fair on the mound with a 3.72 ERA (21st)... and just a little better than average on the defensive side with a .974 FA... CF Scotty Lagrange (.322/32/93/105) is a talented all-around player with a good bat and a good glove... SS Larry Romney (.252/10/69/60) is also a solid player... Killer's son 3B Harmon Brewster (.288/12/65/40) made good progress this year... 35-year-old ace Randy Boone (4-5/3.21) missed most of the year with an elbow problem and made only 9 starts... Ramon Contreras (20-16/3.51) and Koy Clampett (15-13/3.60) paced the pitching corps.

The Marston Nine (76-78) finished seventh and 17 games behind Elnora, but was just two games under the .500 mark... the Nine has been stuck in the second division since skipper Danny Church led them to the RU East pennant in 2028... Marston has the offense, pretty fair starters and fine defense (.976 FA), but lacks a bullpen... the team hit .265 (12th) with 687 runs (11th) and walloped 172 out of the park (3rd), while the team ERA was a 3.68 (20th)... the bullpen ranked 31st with an atrocious 4.77 ERA... the starters are impressive with 22-year-old Pat Brown (20-11/2.23), veteran Alex Ehrlich (18-13/3.10) and Ryan Ledbetter (20-13/3.66)... 1B Marco Ameche (.284/34/117/102 had an exceptional year in his sophomore season... 7-year-vet LF Ken Armstrong (.327/25/73/81) also made an impression, along with C Ron Marlowe (.269/21/69/59) and 1B Lonnie Trekell (.293/26/67/44)... rookie 3B Andy Ruffino (.306/3/31/31) made his mark, too.

The Beechwood Bobcats (74-80) and skipper Bret George have fallen on hard times in recent years after winning the division crown in 2026 and 2027... this year the Bobcats sunk to last place, winding up 19 games out... the team hits well with a .268 BA (6th), 686 runs (12th) and fair power with 117 home runs (26th)... but fall short on the hill with a 3.92 ERA (26th) and on defense with a poor .969 FA... bat leaders are 3B Leonard Mason (.283/18/76/104), along with platooners CF Pat Pizarro (.315/4/29/42), RF Freddie Baxter (.284/12/49/33) and SS Ralph Hammond (.304/5/32/18)... RF Jojo Davis (.279/2/35/61), a career .329 hitter with three batting crowns had an off-year at age 34, missing the .300 mark only for the second time, when he hit .282 in 2025... veteran Maury Patterson (18-15/2.90) was the biggest winner and most effective starter... the others struggled... former RU MVP and Golden Arm winner Ken Arby (17-14/4.07) posted his worst-ever ERA... aging vets 35-year-old Hans Becker (13-18/4.36), obtained in a trade with Far Mountain, and 36-year-old Pete Woods (14-15/4.06), picked up in a trade with Eastshore, both failed to live up to expectations.