Thursday, November 1, 2063
IPA GOLD BATS TO SUTTON AND MARCUM
The two best bats in Islandia belonged to Hugo Sutton of the Rolling Hills Racers and Eliot Marcum of the Belle Plaine Musketeers... they were recently honored with the IPA Golden Bats, emblematic of the top hitting stars in the league... Sutton received the Tycobbian Union Golden Bat Award and Marcum got the Ruthlandian Union Golden Bat Award.
Sutton is just in his second year with Rolling Hills... in his first full season the 23-year-old center fielder put up astronomical numbers... in 153 games, he batted .343 with 209 hits, 32 doubles, 21 triples, 32 homers, 141 RBIs and scored 134 runs... Sutton also stole 17 bases... he is also a standout defender... Sutton led the Tycobbian Union in batting average, runs, hits and triples... he sparked the powerful Rolling Hills Racers to 106 victories... they easily won the TU West title.
Eliot Marcum is a six-year veteran of the IPA... the Belle Plaine left fielder has really come into his own the last two seasons... this year he swatted .338 in 153 games with 198 hits, 35 doubles, 9 triples, 42 homers, 113 RBIs and 122 runs... Marcum is also a fine defender... despite his great season the Musketeers still wound up near the bottom of the Ruthlandian East Division with a poor 68-86 mark... the Muskies came in seventh... Marcum topped the RU in runs, homers and RBIs... lifetime he is hitting .303 with 193 homers and 560 runs batted in his six seasons.
Sutton beat out his teammate Teddy Stonich for the Tycobbian Golden Bat trophy... High Mesa's Roy Roberts was third in the voting... Stonich had a fantastic year, too... he posted a .335 BA in 152 games, and led the TU with 57 doubles and 152 RBIs... the 29-year-old Stonich has played with the Racers for seven seasons and carries a .335 career average.
Roy Roberts is a 24-year-old first sacker for the High Mesa Mustangs... in his fourth year he hit .323 in 154 games, slammed 49 home runs out of the park and drove in 122 runs... the Mustangs finished tied for fifth in the TU East with a 79-75 mark.
Marcum's competition in the Ruthlandian Golden Bat poll came from two Colfax stars, who led the Black Sox to the RU West pennant... first baseman Bralen Josephson was the runner-up... the 27-year-old played in all 154 games this year, his seventh season with club... Josephson hit .356, had 30 roundtrippers and 91 runs batted in and scored 114 runs... Josephson came in a close second for the batting title, losing out to Marlon Hazard of Fort Benton, who hit .359.
At age 25, Lenny Waldrep is already a seven-year vet... this past season he batted .319 with 31 homers, 100 RBIs and scored 103 times in 153 games... Waldrep was third in the RU Golden Bat balloting.