Thursday, October 28, 2077
STALLIONS SLIGHT FAVORITE OVER CLIPPERS IN PRO CUP SERIES... STARTS SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN SOUTH FORK
Two well-tested and fined-honed ballclubs face one another in this year's IPA Pro Cup Series that begins Saturday afternoon at Jock Ewing Stadium in South Fork... no one reaches this far
in the postseason playoffs that doesn't have a solid squad... a quick look at each club, their strengths and their weaknesses, shows the South Fork Stallions have the better pitching and
better defense, the Elnora Clippers the better bats... the main question in the minds of most baseball scribes and pundits is whether the Clippers will continue to get the standout pitching
they have shown so far... South Fork skipper Jay Murphy and Elnora manager Enos Conrad have their teams primed and poised to win the Holy Grail of Islandian baseball - The Islandian
Pro Alliance Pro Cup Trophy... about a week from now, the best baseball team in the Islands will be proclaimed.
The best-of-seven Pro Cup Series kicks off in South Fork... the Stallions get the homefield advantage because they had a better record in the regular season... South Fork was 88-68 during
the season, while Elnora was 86-68... South Fork will host games one and two this Saturday and Sunday... Monday is a travel day... games three, four and five are slated for State Fair Park
in Elnora... the teams will take another day for travel... should they be necessary, the series will revert to South Fork for the final two games.
Jay Murphy is depending heavily on his starting trio of Mick Flanders, Mitch Hynes and Russ Redford to put a clamp on the big bats of the Clippers... South Fork has a fine bullpen, too, with
relievers Ron Halloran and Billy Lake... the Stallions will live and die on how well they hit... Murphy needs big series from his main weapons Carroll Ezzell and Carroll Coxe... his lesser lights
have done very well in the postseason... Murphy is hoping Patrick Packenham, Jake Glazer, Jojo Bond and Billy Hollander can continue to come through with solid offense... pitcher Mick
Flanders and shortstop Carroll Ezzell both made the Ruthlandian Union All-Star team... South Fork soared past two higher-rated clubs to reach the Pro Cup Finals... in the first round they
swept past #4-ranked La Claire four games to one, then upset Pro Cup favorite Turon in a four-game sweep for the Tycobbian title.
The Elnora Clippers under Enos Conrad had also been a surprise in the postseason... the Clippers knocked off two highly-regarded opponents... in the opening round they eliminated #3-rated
Valka in a hard-fought 7-game series... Elnora did even better in the Ruthlandian Title Series, sweeping #2-ranked Kilkenny in four games.
Not only did the Clippers hit well and score runs in the early rounds, unexpectedly they pitched even better... offensively Elnora batted .293 with 67 runs in 11 games and 11 roundtrippers...
they only allowed 3 homers, 44 runs and posted an impressive 2.85 ERA against high-caliber teams... Conrad has a rock-solid core of hitters, top to bottom in his lineup... the South Fork
hurlers will be severely tested in the Pro Cup Series... All-Star third baseman Ronald Bayless, Andre Langdon, Troy Young and Ardell Armstrong can put runs on the scoreboard, but they
don't have to do it alone... the rest of the batting order is very sound, too... yep, the bats have been very productive in the postseason, but the trio of starters, Javis Packham, Hamilton
Burger and Hawk Templeton have really shined... the question mark is the bullpen... the good thing is the starters go deep in the game and don't require a lot from the bullpen.
2077 IPA Pro Cup Forecast: The Pro Cup Series should go to South Fork in 7 games... the Stallions are more fundamentally sound, play standout defense, are strong in the starting
rotation and in the bullpen... but, and this is a biggy, South Fork just comes up short at the plate in comparison to the Clippers... Elnora big weakness may be defense... they gave up a
lot of unearned runs, a total of 15 in the first two rounds... South Fork only gave up one unearned run.
IPA Pro Cup Series - Game 1 - Saturday
South Fork Stallions Home Page
Elnora Clippers Home Page
