[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Friday, July 31, 2037

HAWKS FLY HIGH IN TU NORTH, BLUE SOX CLOSE
The North Hills Hawks are the prevailing IPA Pro Cup champions in quest of their fourth consecutive Tycobbian North Division crown, but there are several teams around that are going to make them earn it... a super July gave the Hawks the top spot in the standings... they went 19-10 and surpassed Blue Lake by two games... the Blue Sox were 16-13... North Hills expanded it lead over third place White River to 5 games... the Rascals were 15-14 for the month... the Fairfax Frogs in fourth place fell back six games after a 15-14 month... those three clubs are the most logical challenges to North Hills' hope for back-to-back Pro Cup trophies.

North Hills has rock-solid starters with Jeff Owens (13-9/2.77), David Michael (11-8/2.93), Nelson Hooper (10-6/3.36) and Frankie Lambert (12-5/3.70)... and some strong arms in the bullpen which has a 2.69 ERA (3rd)... and some reliable bats in Adam Thurgood, Gerry Rice and Kris Anastas... Thurgood is the club leader with 26 HRs, 67 RBIs and 63 runs, but he is batting only .277 for the year, well under his lifetime .313 BA... after a very slow April-May Thurgood's bat has really perked up... Rice is hitting .310 with 10 homers, 47 RBIs and 49 runs... and Anastas sports a .283 BA with 10 HRs, 47 RBIs and 46 runs... pitching is the Hawks' forte and it should see them through to another division title... a Pro Cup repeat is a far more difficult task, but the Hawks have the stuff to do it.

Blue Lake matches up well with North Hills except in the bullpen (15th) and in longballs (31st)... Frankie Quinn (18-4/2.53) has the most wins in the IPA along with Randell Perkins (18-6/3.27) of Colfax in the Ruthlandian Union... Quinn has plenty of help from Pat Brown (9-4/3.24), Sal Mays (10-6/3.64) and Lee Price (10-6/3.89)... the best bats are Jack Ryan (.337/4/38/52), Matt Thompson (.314/6/46/38), Joe Korman (.275/5/59/58) and Egon Ojamaa (.263/16/61/55)... the Blue Sox will make it tough for North Hills.

White River's mound staff keeps them in the race... J. C. Hudson (15-8/2.76) has really blossomed in his sophomore season... vets Paul Sardini (12-11/3.61) and Kenny Nikas (10-11/3.79) need to step it up to Hudson's level for the Rascals to be a pennant threat... Billy Trakas (4-3/3.69) has been inconsistent in the bullpen, but has rung up 17 saves, the third-best total in the IPA... the offense has been unproductive... Stevee Dee Daniels (.255) has 24 HRs and 56 RBIs and Davey Sloan (.238) has 18 HRs and 60 RBIs to lead the club... Buford Cross has the top BA with a .313 mark, 15 HRs and 49 RBIs... more offense is needed for the Rascals to get real serious in the race.

The Fairfax Frogs can put runs on the scoreboard, ranking third in runs with 547 and sixth in batting with a .277 BA, but they lack firepower with only 88 HRs (27th)... on the hill the Frogs are just average with a 3.82 team ERA (14th)... veteran Lucien Vachon (12-8/3.08) and youngster Harold Dorman (13-8/3.59) are the 1-2 starters... third-year man Leonard Crawford tops the club with a .362 BA... other .300 hitters are veterans Eric Kusek (.315) and Sonny Oliver (.311)... Dorak Aranda is batting .283 and leads the team with 72 RBIs... Oliver has 63 ribbies and a club high of 14 HRs... Fairfax is still within striking distance of first place, but will need better pitching to accomplish it.

Fifth place Oxford's home-run power makes them the best of the rest... they have clouted 156 HRs (2nd) this far... Dalton Ward (.230) leads the team with 28 HRs, followed by Alonzo Norris (.274) with 21... another plus for the Red Caps are two quality pitchers B. B. Dristoll (13-5/3.12) and Cody Quackenbush (13-10/3.73)... Oxford is 9 games behind in the race and too far back to make much noise in the pennant chase.

Mahaska, Hartsdale and Luxora have pretty much called it a season and will just be playing out the schedule... Mahaska has two pretty good talents in young shortstop Rocco Bertara (.317) and first sacker Johnny Watts (.343)... Wayne Dawson has had a fine year for Hartsdale with a 16-8 record and a 2.82 ERA... Hayden Richardson has led the Hellcats offense with 18 HRs, 50 RBIs and a .352 BA... the Luxora Zorros have several good performers in Kent Halloran (10-12/2.47), Benny DeVito (13-11/3.24), reliever Francisco Sanches (2-5/2.94/18 saves), Todd Dubbins (.313/26/79) and Gerry Hathaway (.297/28/67).

SAN ALEJO SHOOTS 6 GAMES AHEAD IN TU SOUTH
As each month has gone by in the 2037 season the San Alejo Montaneros have gotten better record-wise... in July they scorched everyone with a 20-9 mark to shoot six games in front of Turon and Summerland... the Typhoons and Sunsets played well at 18-11, but still fell two more games back in the standings... fourth place Ginza slumped to 14-15 and is now 11 games off the pace... six of the division's eight teams have winning records... fifth place Arroyo Grande and sixth place Cape Coral have posted better than .500 marks, but trail by 13 and 14 games respectively.

San Alejo is rollicking along with strong pitching and scoring ability... the Monties are fifth in runs with 545, tied for 11th with 121 HRs, batting .260 (18th) and sport a 3.29 team ERA (3rd)... Lupe Olmedo (12-6/2.20), Tommy Smith (13-9/3.06) and Johnny Brown (14-9/3.14) head up the starting rotation, while Filipe Zamora (.312/22/85/57) and Charlie Wilberforce (.327/14/47/73) are the team's main bats... San Alejo has the second-best record in the IPA, toppled only by Elnora in the Ruthlandian East with a 71-36 mark... the Monties are poised for a good run at the their second Pro Cup in their team history... they won it in 2032.

The Turon Typhoons are a talent-laden club with impressive pitching and better-than-average offense... they are batting .278 (5th), scored 523 runs (12th), hit 110 HRs (16th-tied) and chalked up a 3.33 ERA (4th)... the Typhoons also have a splendid bullpen that rates first in the league with a 2.24 ERA... Turon has four quality starters with Nate Scottsdale (16-6/3.06), Wes Brynnton (13-11/3.34), Russell Larsen (8-4/3.64) and Clyde Engstrom (12-14/3.57)... Ralph Fulton (3-2/1.52/10 saves) is the bullpen specialist... at the plate it's C. C. Kingsford (.354/19/80/70), Guido Gervasio (.335/18/72/64) and J. P. Trevenot (.299/17/48/75) leading the way... probable finish would be second place to San Alejo.

The Summerland Sunsets are long on pitching, but somewhat short on bats... they have registered a solid 3.46 ERA (7th) and a .267 BA (9th), but rank only average in scoring runs with 496 (16th-tied)... on the hill the leaders are Freddi Rossi (14-8/2.81) and Johnny Young (10-10/2.78)... bullpen leaders are Ronald Shaddock (6-5/2.11/7 saves) and Jayson Hallstrom (6-4/3.15/8 saves)... the most productive batters have been Antonio Vasquez (.319/5/53/65), John Bedell (.305/7/49/39) and Eamon O'Toole (.278/11/50/37)... third place is where the Sunsets will wind up... Turon is better on the mound and in the batter's box.

The Ginza Ninjas have a potent offense with a .281 BA (2nd), 552 runs (2nd) and 110 HRs (16th-tied), but has suspect pitching with a 4.15 ERA (20th)... they will contest for fourth place with Arroyo Grande and Cape Coral... playing manager Sadaharu Uchiyama (.306/10/49/61) has more good hitters than he can play at one time... Sogo Takagi leads the club in everything but BA... he has 22 HRs, 76 RBIs, 75 runs, while batting .313... Dave Sulligent has the best average with .318, followed by Steve Daniels with .316... Whip Harrell (.292/19/53/49) and Scott Sparks (.271/19/64/41) have added some long balls with 19 apiece... Emil Kaltenborn (13-6/4.56) and Hollis Pace (12-11/3.90) are the biggest winners, while Glenn Downing (11-9/2.96) has been the most effective... the Ninjas have a good shot at fourth place in the standings.

The Arroyo Grande Suns are just a run-of-the-mill team... the best starter is Matt Stevens (11-9/3.74) and the best reliever is Cody Simmons (7-4/2.17/14 saves)... Pip Gleason (.271/22/58/45) and Gregorio Oliviera (.281/16/54/56) are the best of the few at the plate.

The Cape Coral Hurricanes are outhitting everyone in the IPA with a .288 BA (1st) and rank second in runs with 558... only Sugar Valley of the Ruthlandian East outscores the 'Canes... the Rattlers are easily the highest scorer with 612 runs... but the Hurricanes have a mediocre 4.23 team ERA (23rd)... they should end up higher in the standings than Arroyo Grande... looks like fifth for Cape Coral and sixth for the Suns.

The Colchester Elites won the TU South last year with a powerful offense, but have fallen off tremendously this year and slumped to seventh place... Billy Christianson is the leading hitter in the Tycobbian Union with a .358 BA, but he missed a month of the season with an injury... Christenson has 9 HRs, 51 RBIs and 58 runs in 80 games... last year Blake Barrister blistered the league with a .311 BA, 49 HRs, 129 RBIs and 111 runs... this year his numbers so far have dropped to 30 HRs, 73 RBIs, 60 runs and a .264 BA... Christenson and Barrister have carried the team this year and gotten very little support... the lack of offense has taken its toll on the mound staff... Dan Scott (7-7/4.09) was a 22-game winner last season... Roy Watson (9-9/3/44) was a 19-game winner... Dave Lacoste (9-8/4.28) won 15 and Eduardo Rivera (12-14/3.63) chalked up 12 wins... what a difference a year makes.

Down at the bottom of the pile are the hapless Southport Sun Sox and rightly so... the eighth place Sun Sox are hitting just .247 (28th), rank 31st in scoring, 28th in homers and have posted a dismal 4.48 ERA (31st)... the only bright spot on the club is 22-year-old Gordon Forbes with a 10-4 record and a 3.67 ERA... it's been a poor season for all the rest.