ISLANDIAN PRO ALLIANCE (RUTHLANDIA and TYCOBBIA BASEBALL UNIONS)

[Eugene Church]

2019 RU Mid-Season Leaderboards

[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Thursday, June 20, 2019

2019 Tycobbian Union Mid-Season Leaderboards

[Eugene Church]

2019 Tycobbian Union Mid-Season Leaderboards

[Eugene Church]

2019 TU Mid-Season Leaderboards

[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Thursday July 20, 2019

2019 Ruthlandia North Final Standings and Team Batting Statistics

[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2019 Ruthlandian North Final Recap

Tars Take RU North By 4 Over Ancona and FM Redhawks
Ferocious firepower won the Ruthlandian North... The Taranto Tars hit their way to the title and overpowered Ancona and Far Mountain, who tied for the runner-up spot, winding up 4 games back... Kilkenny was in fourth place and 8 games off the pace... first half leader Ranford faded to fifth place in the second half and trailed by 10... Taranto and Ranford were tied for the top spot at the All-Star game. The Tars came within 2 runs of a new IPA mark for most runs... Middlefield holds the record with 943 set in 2006... Arroyo Grande is number one in homers in a single season with 260, hit in 2005... the top team batting average is held by Ozarka , who hit .295 in 2017.

Tommaso Lazzorda's Tars were paced by the heavy hitting of RF Augie Marshall (.319/40/130/111), LF Arnie Kennedy (.303/29/80/103), CF Phil Buckner (.314/11/79/133) and C Denny Radke (.327/14/101/87)... Taranto had adequate pitching led by Anthony Zinacola (21-9 4.32) and Yuri Dozhenko (17-11 4.22) with closer Vance Waters (6-4 2.17) doing a fine job in the bullpen with 26 saves.

Last year's division winner Ancona had a good season under manager Manny Mickens... the Red Elephants have good hitting with LF Kenny Willard (.28/32/94) and rookie phenom 3B Todd Nasso (.325/28/126)... Ancona has one fine pitcher in Clete Dukas (20-13 2.66) and a good rookie in Bud Garner (12-8 3.72)... Mickens just didn't have the offense and mound power to whip Taranto this year.

Alex Groveland ran a very good race with his Far Mountain Redhawks, but it hard to win with only one talented starter, a good closer and an average offense... Woody Crawford (20-11 2.57) won 20 games for the fourth time in his 8 seasons... and bullpen ace Konrad Braun saved 34 games with a 2.87 ERA, but was only 5-9 in the won-lost category... RF Tony Tanaka (.291/22/83/131), LF Phil Stewart (.312/13/81/103), 3B Mackie McAllister (.292/28/97/85) and 2B Don Nichols (.299/19/87/111) led the hit parade.

Fourth-place Kilkenny has a poor first half, but rebounded in the the last half and ended the year just 8 games off the pace... Kieran McKenna's Cats hit well for average with a .277 mark (2nd) and ranked fourth in scoring... Kilkenny needs help on the hill to contend seriously... Scotty McFarland (19-12 3.19) was the ace, but had no help... 1B Artie Frost (.283/14/100), CF Robby Campbell (.346/26/89), RF Jay Roche (.304/15/81/111) and 2B Stu Ashford (.301/19/97) were the best run producers.

The Ranford Bulls ran out of gas after being tied for first at the All-Star break and slipped to fifth, 10 games back... skipper Rick Fargnoli had fairly good pitching with ace Scotty Simmons (22-10 2.51) and Archie Young (17-17 3.35), but not enough hitting throughout his batting order... the Bulls did have two solid bats in CF Tyee Maska (.295/35/116) and 3B Vic Scalzi (.275/30/110).

The Valmara Vipers wound up 16 games off the pace in sixth place... the V's were never in the race... poor hitting holds Valmara back... manager Jet Kazmarek's only plus is two fine starters in 19-year vet Vanya Vasylenko (15-13 3.42) and 36-year-old Tad Janicki (18-12 3.33)... Vasylenko could top 300 victories next season... Overall he is 289-249 with a 3.47 ERA... 2B Ron Freiberg (.273/24/86) is a slick-fielding All-Star 2B with some power... He was the Vipers best bat... SS Tyler Ferguson (.313/12/56/92) also contributed.

The seventh-place Glasco Athletics were a bad ball club, finishing 27 games out of first... the A's hit only .236 and ranked last in the RU (32nd)... SS Lee Sullivan (.275/21/97/92) is Glasco's only decent hitter... on the mound Ike Plunkett's pitching was not a lot better with a 4.40 team ERA (26th)... vet closer Jack Hatcher (5-7) has a good year with 25 saves and a 2.62 ERA in 52 relief appearances.

It was another long season for Otto Kronvath and his LaGrange Sports... for the third straight season they have wound up near the bottom... the Sports were last for the second time in 3 years, 28 games behind... last year they were seventh... at the plate three oldtimers led the way... 42-year-old superstar Quincy Peterson, who had a remarkable season with a .336 BA, 32 HR, 122 RBIs and 106 runs... Peterson is one of the most productive bats in IPA history with 530 homers, 1838 RBIs and 1862 runs in 19 seasons with a .296 lifetime batting average... a sure-fire Hall-of-Fame caliber player... 14-year-vet 1B Dale Scoville had a solid year at age 39 with a .316 BA, 16 roundtrippers, 64 RBIs and 104 runs scored... another "oldie, but goodie" was 17-year man RF Joel Reed... at 39 Reed batted .284 with 18 home runs, 89 RBIs and 78 runs... it's a good thing that LaGrange has these veterans... the young players are only mediocre at best except for the 24-year-old closer Julian Buisson (4-4), who stood out this year with 24 saves and an impressive 2.20 ERA.

[Eugene Church]

2019 Ruthlandia South Final Standings and Team Batting Statistics

[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2019 Ruthlandian South Final Recap

Claxton Wins RU South, Nips CL Crushers In Playoff
What a whopping race! The Claxton Diamonds and the Crystal Lake Crushers had to go overtime in the season before deciding the Ruthlandian South crown... the Diamonds nipped the Crushers 5-4 in a single-game playoff as Tom Dahl bested Vic Bauer... the clutch victory gave Claxton the pennant by a game... it was the Diamonds second successive division title... First-half leader Grand City dropped out of contention in the second half of the season and was third trailing by 7.5 games... no one else was in the running.

Stacy Engel's Claxton Diamonds just outscored the opposition this season with a murderers' row that featured three players with 40 or more homers... all total, the Diamonds slugged 228 homers and led the RU, even outdoing Taranto... legendary 1B Mike Luzzatti topped the list with 44 home runs with LF George McKay and RF K. C. Moerdijk slamming 40 each...Luzzatti hit .316 with 134 RBIs and scored 105 times, McKay batted .320 with 121 RBIs and 131 runs, and Moerdijk added in 98 RBIs and an RU-leading 134 runs, while batting at a .273 clip... Engel had just enough pitching to get by... Both Tom Dahl (21-14 4.03) and Ernie van Riebeeck (22-13 3.78) won 20 games apiece to lead the club... closer Tony Haverkamp (3-5) saved 28 games and posted a very fine 1.57 ERA.

The Crystal Lake Crushers closed with a second-half surge... Herman "Baby" George's team was in fifth place and 12 games out at the All-Star break... then the Crushers went on a great 53-29 run and almost won the pennant... Give the mound staff almost all of the credit... the threesome of Duncan Welch (22-14 1.66), Vic Bauer (17-10 2.99) and Ralph McCullough (22-12 3.06) were just about the best in the IPA... coupled with veteran closer Jeff Jernigan (4-5), who broke the IPA saves record with 41... Arlon's Johnny Rabelais set it with 39 in 2013... Hall-of-Famer-to-be Phil Gravelli was the Crushers only bat, leading them with 30 homers and 90 runs batted in... the 35-year-old first sacker is the all-time IPA leader with 630 roundtrippers, 3437 hits and 2079 RBIs... lifetime Gravelli sports a .319 BA.

Wade Joslin's Grand City Cybercats blew a 5-game lead at mid-season as they crumbled in the second half with a 34-47 mark to drop down to third in the standings, 7.5 games back... the Cybercats were just a little better-than-average on the hill and at the plate and painfully poor in power with only 86 home runs (32nd)... Brent Sturgis (16-8 3.36) was the best pitcher, while RF Ricky Rich (.330/16/100/89), 3B Jug Slavin (.315/12/74/84) and CF Nick Baldini (.282/11/67/105) were the offense.

The Valka Blackhawks finished fourth, trailing by 14.5 games... Andrei Kokk has a solid pitching rotation with four quality starters... with better hitting the Blackhawks would be contenders... but they only hit .246 (30th)... Arno Vainmaa (19-15 3.15), Richie Jost (13-18 3.05), Eddie Lasky (12-17 3.20) and Ivo Jaanson (15-15 3.63) certainly deserved a better fate... Valka only hits homers, ranking 4th in the RU with 160... RF Glen Nance (.240/28/91), C Thomas Lawson (.251/36/98) and LF Kurt Jankauskas (.276/26/74) were the run producers, but don't consistently make contact.

It's been a downturn of late in Belair Beach... the Sunbirds were either first or second from 2011 to 2016... since then Marty Pedroza's ball club has ended up fifth each season... they were 15.5 games behind pennant-winning Claxton this year... Belair Beach doesn't have a lot of pitching and almost no hitting... Denny Whitaker (18-16 2.49) and closer Willy Mesko (5-7 2.35) both do a sterling job on the mound... Mesko chalked up 26 saves... the only semblance of offense is 1B Derek Krohn with 25 homers and 81 RBIs, but only a .259 BA.

Sixth-place Waleska suffers from a serious lack of scoring, but manager McGraw Johnson possesses some quality starters, a fine closer and one of the best all-around player in the IPA... the Westerners are next-to-last in scoring and home runs, but are 7th with a 3.46 team ERA... Jerry Chambers (15-14 3.64) leads the rotation... rookie closer Marv Cook is only 21, but has done a sensational job with a 10-5 record, 19 saves and a strong 2.05 ERA... Just about all of Waleska's offense comes from its splendid CF Roy Hobbs... he's a career .357 hitter in 7 seasons... this year Hobbs led the team with a .360 mark, 29 homers, 97 RBIs and 99 runs scored... 3B Grant Betzer chipped in with 12 home runs, 84 RBIs and a .303 batting average.

Paco Banderos has little talent in San Dimas... the Rancheros came in seventh this year, 24.5 games back... they are ranked near the bottom in offense (29th) and pitching (30th)... closer Raul Marroquin (9-4) had a fine year with a standout 1.61 ERA and 14 saves... star RF and Gold Glover Norm Owens led the Ranchero batters with a .272 BA, 23 homers, 100 RBIs and 88 runs... Owens was pretty much San Dimas' offense.

The hapless St. John Crusaders were 28.5 games out and ended up in the basement... Dickie Billings is short on talent, too... except for 25-year-old starting pitcher Pat Long (17-15 3.16) and 3B Vinny Sardisco (.280/25/76)... RF Johnny Celestine topped the team with 27 home runs and 92 runs batted in, but batted just .245.

[edog23]

Someday, the Crystal Lake Crushers will win the title. I hope.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by edog23

Someday, the Crystal Lake Crushers will win the title. I hope.

Oh, they came oh so close. They even led in the single-game playoff 3-2 after 6 innings, but lost it when Claxton racked up 3 runs in the last of the seventh.

Crystal Lake has an abundance of strong, young pitchers in McCullough (25), Bauer (20) and Welch (25), along with the old pro closer Jernigan (35)... all manager Herman "Baby" George needs is a few good bats to pull it off.

[Eugene Church]

2019 Ruthlandia East Final Standings and Team Batting Statistics

[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2019 Ruthlandian East Final Recap

Eastshore Wins RU East 4th Straight Time In Runaway
The Eastshore Elegants do everything well - they pitch, hit and field as good as anybody... and they nabbed the Ruthlandian East for the fourth year in a row, routing second-place Sugar Valley by 11 games, Beechwood by 13 and Marston by 15... The Rattlers, Bobcats and the Nine were close at mid-year, trailing by 2, 4 and 6 games respectively, but faded in the second half.

With pitchers Bix Hansen (25-7 3.36) and Danny Siegfried (20-14 2.98) leading Eastshore's excellent mound corps and 3B George Alford (.273/36/100/83) and CF Larry Lowe (.310/14/65/94) leading the offense, Killer Brewster's boys easily won another pennant and will now head to the Pro Cup playoffs... Eastshore will meet an old nemesis, the Rocky Rapids Snappers, in the opening round... the two teams tied for the best record in the league with 97-57 marks... The Snappers eliminated the Elegants 4 games to 2 last year in the first round and spoiled their dream of a third consecutive Pro Cup crown.

Sugar Valley manager Gibson Bobkins depended on his bats for the second-place finish... 37-year-old 1B Johnny Cole, obtained in late July from Bay St. Clair, hammered 46 for both teams and drove in 118 runs, while batting .278... C Hal Stevenson (.290/22/87/97) and SS Glenn Christian (.267/26/96/88) also swung good bats... 10-year-veteran Ed Clavell (18-13 3.38) was the Rattlers only pitcher of note.

The third-place Beechwood Bobcats relied on good pitching... Bret George's ace was Billy Ray (18-13), who compiled a ridiculously-low 1.96 ERA... Stephen Ladd (17-16 3.13), the number two starter, also was a solid starter with 16 complete games... closer Jeff Lyons (9-1) had a successful season with 20 saves and a terrific 1.38 ERA... Beechwood didn't hit very well... the Bobcats only quality bats were CF Vic Valenti (.304/27/91/99) and LF Ryan Ray (.279/28/89/86).

Skipper Johnny Walters in Marston had a pair of good starters, but only one solid hitter... the Nine wound up fourth in the RU East... Ronnie Flynn (20-15 3.81) and Anson Thomas (17-13 3.18) topped the staff, while 7-year star CF Russ Woodward (.323/36/117/113) continued to be one of the top hitters in the IPA.

With Sam Malone at the helm the Elnora All-Stars broke even and finished fifth in the race, 20 games back... leading the club was stud C Leon Carter, who walloped 40 homers, drove in 120, scored 104 and batted at a .324 pace... 2B Michael Griffin also furnished the long ball with 27 roundtrippers and 105 RBIs... Griffin, however, hit only .247... Malone's top arms were Matty Wilkerson (18-12 4.05) and Lou Horn (17-12 3.88).

Sixth-place Wynnamac had only average hitting and mediocre mound work, winding up 27 games off the pace... in his sophomore season 1B Pete Simmons had a wonderful year leading the league with a .361 BA, edging out Waleska's Roy Hobbs by a single point... the 24-year-old Simmons went deep 17 times with 83 RBIs and 98 runs... LF Joey Eaton enjoyed a good season with a .316 BA, 29 homers and 106 runs batted in... Matt Donnelly could really use a few more pitchers like 33-year-old southpaw Jerry Meeks, who won 20 games for the fifth time in his career... Meeks was 20-17 with a fine 2.80 ERA... he is 183-117 lifetime for the Sundowners, who have not finished above .500 the last five years... 25-year-old closer Jim Horton (4-6) looked very good this year with 18 saves and a 1.86 ERA.

Seventh-place Belle Plaine was 31 games behind and just barely stayed out of the cellar... the Musketeers have only two standout performers... SS Slick Hammill (.298/19/93/101) and last year's Rookie of the Year LF Jim Beauregard (.306/30/100/100) could play for anyone in the IPA, but manager Lou Dozier has little besides them... Beauregard managed to avoid the so-called sophomore slump.

Trip Holmes was one of the most popular Cold Creek Catamount players ever, but the team has suffered two real bad seasons the last two years under his leadership... suffice to say talent is very sparse in Cold Creek... this year the Catamounts sunk all the way to last place, 32 games behind... Holmes has no hitters and only one capable pitcher... closer Shannon Robinson (4-6) sparkled with a 1.86 ERA and recorded 18 saves... at 39 years of age oldtimer RF Emile Stosha is the only credible bat with a .292 BA, 9 homers, 60 RBIs and 89 runs scored.

[HGVoyager]

Oh Ancona, breaks my heart.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by HGVoyager

Oh Ancona, breaks my heart.

The Red Elephants just lost out to a terrific Taranto offense.
I doubt the Tars can score over 900 runs two years in a row.

And Tommaso Lazzorda's pitching is always suspect in the tiny Palazzo di Sport and on the road, too.

I look for the Red Elephants to be in the thick of things again next season.

Rookie 3B Todd Nasso (.325/28/126) had an exceptional season and rookie hurler Bud Garner (12-8 3.72) showed good promise.

[Eugene Church]

2019 Ruthlandia West Final Standings and Team Batting Statistics

[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2019 Ruthlandian West Final Recap

Rocky Rapids Snaps Up 3rd RU West Flag In Succession
It was no contest again in the Ruthlandian West this year... The Rocky Rapids Snappers racked up a third straight pennant by a wide 10-game margin over second-place Sligo... third-place Fort Benton was a distant 13 back... and fourth-place Volusia ended up 16 games off the pace... Six teams were in the hunt at the All-Star Game... only 6 games separated them... but Rocky Rapid fired the after-burners and rocketed way ahead in the final half of the season... the Snappers were a game behind the Sligo Rovers at the half-way point.

Ryan Noland has his Snappers primed for another run for the Pro Cup... Rocky Rapids equalled Eastshore's 97-57 record, which led the Ruthlandian Union... they will face the Elegants in the Elite 8 Series beginning tomorrow and the tough task of beating them two years in a row in the postseason playoffs... Like Eastshore, the Snappers can pretty much do it all and do it very well... Noland's only deficiency is fielding (.970 FA)... but he has wonderful pitching with Joe Anderson (23-11 2.63), Don Chaney (17-13 2.83), Junior Noland (20-11 3.08) and Mike Chaney (12-3 3.61), coupled with a super closer in Milt Baker (4-4), who had 34 saves and a 2.07 ERA... at the plate 2B Paul Shelton had a humongous year with 153 RBIs and 46 home runs... Shelton outpaced everybody in the IPA in RBIs, batted .340 and scored 124 runs... CF Carl Johnson reached the 2000-hit milestone with a .312 average, 29 homers, 91 RBIs and 100 runs... and LF Rob Barton stood out with a .306 BA, 106 runs, 8 home runs and 70 runs batted in.

Eddie Keys has the best starters in the league, but the Sligo Rovers still succumbed to the superior Snappers... Les Patterson (21-14 2.53), Ralph Odakota (20-15 2.81), Sam Tate (15-10 2.85) and Luka Abromowitz (19-14 3.27) form a truly fine starting four, but did not get any bat support... the Rovers batted a pithy .258 and ranked 28th in the league in batting and scoring... RF Clell Renshaw (.296/17/70/90) and 1B Avery Womack (.298/9/62/87) were Keys' only reliable bats, but nothing to compare to Rocky Rapids.

The Fort Benton Defenders, skippered by Robbie Brooks, were like Sligo - strong staff, but weak bats... Cal Walger (20-11 3.36), Vic Kessler (17-13 3.30), Pete Varisco (14-9 3.00) and Tucker Dawes (14-15 3.81) were all quality arms, but could have used more offense... 1B Stretch Stookey (.290/15/107) and RF Joe Darwall (.285/18/79) were Brooks' biggest bats.

Manager Alfonso Feliz guided his Volusia Vigilantes to the fourth spot in the standings... the V's hit much better than Sligo and Fort Benton, but are not as strong on the hill... superstar CF Joe DeLucca (.306/33/104/112) sparked them at the plate... DeLucca is also an outstanding glove man and one of the best players in the IPA at age 25... SS Vince Wilson (.320/24/79/89) and 1B Rafael Garza (.315/17/72/102) also wield good bats... 16-year vet and 38-year-old Todd Wolfe made a great comeback this season with an 18-8 mark and a fine 2.69 ERA... last year Wolfe was 11-20 with a 4.32 ERA, his worst season... 22-year-old Sixto Moreno proved his freshman year was not a fluke with an 18-15 record and a 3.64 ERA.

The fifth-place Forest City Lumberjacks hit well, but can't get anybody out...ther were 21 games in back of first place Rocky Rapids... long-time star LF Joe Judlin reached the 400-homer milestone this season with 31 homers and 108 RBIs, while batting .278... RF Sonny Harrison added 27 clouts with 95 RBIs, but hit only .254... two .300 hitters CF Luc St. Germain (.310/9/65/109) and 1B Andy Doiron (.325/11/80/83) topped the 'Jacks in batting average... manager Robbie Jackson has only one solid pitcher... Tommy Zenon went 19-16 with a 3.43 ERA... closer Andy Velasco saves 25 games with a fine 2.16 ERA, but went 2-7 in the won-lost column.

The Stoner Stars, managed by Benny Stern came in sixth, trailing by 26 games... pitching ace Billy Chapel had a strong second half and finish with 20-12 and a 2.83 ERA... at mid-season his ERA was a sky-high 4.23...relief specialist Myron Wood notched 31 saves with a 2.44 ERA, but was only 2-8 record-wise... offensively the Stars were bad... 1B Robert Dunbar was tops, but drove in only 73 runs with 22 homers and a .293 BA.

For the third successive year Clem Rogers and once-powerful Colfax Blasters ranked near the bottom of the RU West, winding up 30 games out... Rogers still has decent pitching, but no offense, ranking 30th in scoring... to show you how poor the team's offense is, all-time IPA great Ilya Szabo posted a standout 2.74 ERA this season, but was only 12-16 and came up 3 victories short of 300 at age 40... let's hope Szabo will come back and get them next season... 38-year-old Jimmy Joe Cartner (11-11 3.28) could have used some runs, too... at age 26 Cliff James is a better pitcher than his 13-17 and 3.61 ERA show... young reliever Matt Pedersen performed very well with a 1.45 ERA and a 5-4 mark in mainly middle relief... Pedersen will get a shot at closer next year... Colfax's best bats belonged to LF Billy Garrett (.312/26/81/83), long-time 3B Mike Janocko (.302/23/88/60) and RF Norm Payton (.268/29/86/90).

The Middlefield Roosters were way, way back and deep in the basement, 37 games out of first... horrific pitching is the reason... the Roosters were 31st with a lofty 5.05 ERA... Smitty Michaels only had two good arms this season... last year's Golden Arm winner Joe Schneider had to endure an injury-plagued season, but still posted a 15-9 mark with a 2.49 ERA... Schneider missed about 7 weeks of the season... Frank Dean (14-17 3.24) pitched well, too... when it comes to hitting Middlefield went deep 196 times (2nd), batted a solid .267 (6th) and ranked 6th in scoring runs... leading the way were youngsters RF Vic Ivarsson (.313/35/110/100), 3B Stu Butterworth (.291/39/109/89), CF Chuck Larkin (.273/25/87/87), along with aging 38-year-old SS Jim Rose (.273/14/73/94).

[Eugene Church]

2019 Tycobbian North Final Standings and Team Batting Statistics

[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2019 Tycobbian North Final Recap

Zorros Zoom To TU North Title Again, Runner-up Rascals 11 Games Back
For the third season in a row the Luxora Zorros are the champions of the Tycobbian North... The Z's won in easy fashion by 11 games over the White River Rascals... Hartsdale was third and 14 out, followed by Mahaska and Oxford, who trailed by 17 games and were tied for fourth place.

No one really challenged Luxora this year... The Zorros led Hartsdale and Oxford by 6 games at the All-Star break and then expanded over the final half of the season... No one in the TU North managed to have a winning year except for the Z's... Cristo Viaconte has two 20-game winners on his staff and a very competent closer... Tiago Torres (20-15 2.49) and Steve Aaron (20-12 3.19) sparked Luxora with a lot of help from closer Jay Brewer, who was 5-4 with a 1.97 ERA and 30 saves... Luxora will have trouble in the Pro Cup playoffs because of a weak offense... the Zorros are hitting only .248 (23rd) as a team and has trouble scoring... RF Jon Stafford (.267/31/91/74) is the best bat on the club and has little help offensively.

John Randison is in charge of division runner-up White River... he has a talented trio at the plate, led by 1B Marty Blake (.321/45/115/106), 3B Ken Mathers (.296/33/104/94) and RF Johnny Stratton (.310/14/88/91), but not much on the mound except for 40-year-old Joe Hudson (20-15 3.76).

The Hartsdale Hellcats were skippered by Zim Donner to a third-place finish... Donner has fair pitching and poor hitting... 40-year-old Don Weill is his best pitcher with a 13-15 mark and a strong 2.83 ERA... reliever Virgil Bowden did well with a 6-6 record, 21 saves and an impressive 2.24 ERA... 3B Kendry Moulton had an outstanding year with a .326 BA, 36 homers, 112 RBIs and 103 runs scored... Donner's only other productive bat was 2B Jud Turchin with a .279 mark, 11 home runs and 79 runs batted in.

The Mahaska Haymakers and Oxford Red Caps deadlocked for the fourth spot in the standings, 17 games off the pace... Mahaska's manager Rusty Tanussa has mediocre pitchers and hitters... however he got a lot of good starts out of 38-year-old Johnny Picou, who logged a fine 2.59 ERA, but only had a 13-14 record to show for it... Picou did reach the 200-win milestone in late August... Picou is 201-187 lifetime with a 3.50
ERA in his 16 seasons... C Bucky O'Brian was the Haymakers top bat with a .305 BA, 18 homers and 81 RBIs.

Overall Oxford is not a very good ball club... Tony Mack (14-12 3.90) was Campy Roy's top twirler and C Bryan Lewis (.329/13/65) his top hitter... not much talent after these two, although pitcher Rick Vaughan at age 27 has not reached his full potential... Vaughn was 15-17 this year with a 3.61 ERA... lack of control is his biggest drawback.

It was a really bad season for Harry Buckley in Fairfax as they fell all the way to sixth and were 20 games behind the leader... the Frogs were atrocious with a .233 BA (32nd), last in scoring and near the bottom with a 4.31 team ERA (31st)... that says it all... but the Frogs had two bright lights... Ken Hill had a fabulous year with a 19-11 record and 2.72 ERA... winning 19 games with the Frogs this year was quite a task... closer Floyd Burnett chalked up 35 saves, the third-highest total in the IPA this season... LF Dane Wesner topped the Frogs at bat with a .272 average, 24 homers and 79 RBIs.

It was another dismal year in Blue Lake for manager Cobb Tyson... the Blue Sox wound up in the seventh spot in the TU North, 24-games out... it's the fifth year in a row that Tyson's team has ended up in the second division and far out of the running... Blue Lake was rated near the bottom of league in pitching and hitting... it's hard to compete when your best batter CF Orlando Macias hits only .262 and drive in just 76 runs... Macias did hit with some power and went deep 25 times... Phil Wilkinson was the Blue Sox best pitcher with a 13-19 mark and a 3.59 ERA.

The last-place North Hills Hawks had a record-setting season with a horrendous 47-107 record... the terrible performance topped East Point's 48-106 mark in 2012... Belle Plaine holds the Ruthlanian record low of 54-100 established in 2001... A 5.15 team ERA (32nd) and a .246 team BA (26th) won't get you far in the pennant race... veteran LF Nicky Makovsky led the club with a .301 average, 88 RBIs and 88 runs... Makovsky hit 14 roundtrippers... Lenny Black was the top pitcher with an 8-24 record with a 4.15 ERA... he was the only starter with an ERA under 5.00.

[Eugene Church]

2019 Tycobbian South Final Standings and Team Batting Statistics

[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2019 Tycobbian South Final Recap

No Contest In TU South, Turon Triumphs Again
For the fourth year in a row the defending Pro Cup champ Turon Typhoons will hoist the Tycobbian South flag over Typhoon Stadium... Again Turon had an easy task, copping its 11th crown in the last 14 years and doing it by 11 games over second-place Ginza, 12 games over third-place Arroyo Grande and fourth-place Colchester by 16.

Manager Whitey Richburn has Turon primed and ready for another bid for the IPA Pro Cup... the Typhoons are a complete ball club with no apparent weakness, solid in all respects... Turon led the TU with 99 victories and were ranked high in all statistical categories... they were tops in pitching and scoring... Nicky Engstrom (22-9 2.02) won 20 games for the 9th time in his 10 years... Shane Farmer (24-10 2.02) was just as good... together they may be the best tandem starters in the IPA... they tied Harald Turi (21-13 2.02) of Bayview for the best ERA... last year's Pro Cup MVP Ted Farentino (19-13 3.67) was a valuable number three starter... Richburn has a wealth of hitters, paced by future HOF-er 1B Clyde Kingsford, who had the best year of his wonderful career... Kingsford led the IPA with 54 homers and the TU with 151 RBIs, while batting .339 and scoring 127 times... RF Dominick DiCaprio (.306/22/108) and CF Mac McCurnan (.279/25/89) also chipped in with good seasons... the Typhoons will be one of the favorites to win the Island championship, along with Ozarka, Eastshore and Rocky Rapids.

The Ginza Ninjas gave chase until the All-Star Game and trailed by just 3 games, but couldn't keep up with the Typhoons in the second half... Huroko Uchiyama has molded a fine team in Ginza with strong pitching, good offense and excellent fielding... his top pitchers are Joji Azuma with 19 complete games and a 2.38 ERA, but only a 17-16 record, along with Alec Sasek (19-13 3.66)... the Ninjas relief corps was outstanding and led by closer Juzo Takaki (7-6)... he posted 26 saves and a superb 1.99 ERA... superstar C Crash Davis (.346/28/101/104), RF Jack Vorland (.282/19/77/103), CF Augie Vitanza (.259/26/100/98) and 2B Ralph Hart (.266/28/103/85) provided the offense.

The third-place Arroyo Grande Suns had punch in their bats and decent mound work... leading the Cyclone Cobb powerful line-up were super SS Andy Pearson (.321/22/85/98), rookie sensation LF Eduardo Villanueva (.321/28/110/84), RF Buddy Brechtel (.297/30/60/100) and C Gary Troxel (.275/40/111/73)... the Suns were 4th with 195 homers... on the hill, leaders were Earl O'Reilly (20-14 2.71) and Sixto Zamora (18-12 2.43), who was even better in his sophomore season... closer Jason Patrick (6-4) had a great 1.74 ERA and 24 saves.

Uncle Robbie Wilbertson has a youthful and talented staff in Colchester, headed up by Brian Britt (15-9 2.92), Jon McGinn (18-12 3.16) and Tommy Tuckman (16-12 3.49)... in the bullpen Don Richard excelled with 37 saves, a brilliant 0.57 ERA and a 6-2 mark... better offense would have lifted the fourth-place Elites higher in the standings... C Tommy Booker (.316/24/88) and 1B James McCall (.310/18/81) carried the offense.

The Summerland Sunsets came in fifth under the guidance of manager Will Hackett, 21 games off the pace of division champ Turon... the Sunsets had solid pitching, but feeble bats... Hackett's top hurlers were Sparky DeWey (18-14 3.24) and Ryan McGhee (17-12 3.84)... Summerland's best pitcher is 39-year-old Denny Coulon, who had another fine season with a standout 2.61 ERA, but suffered badly from poor defense and poor run support... Coulon was only 12-18... last year he was 9-23 with a superb 2.48 ERA... in the bullpen Leon Mullin (4-5) stood out with 34 saves and a 3.08 ERA... the Sunsets were not much in the batter's box... RF Vann Kelter (.274/22/75), 1B Johnny Brenner (.264/19/74) and CF Jim Garrison (.282/14/73) were only average hitters at best.

The Southport Sun Sox wound up in sixth place, 23 games behind... skipper Charley Oscar had a good pitching corps, but not much in the way of offense... on the hill Bob Montgomery (18-14 2.47) had another very good year... Neil Howell (15-19 3.40) was also steady and consistent... they both didn't get the run support they deserved... 1B Bill McCann (.280/27/103/80) and SS Walt Brown (.299/4/51/82) were the most productive bats.

It was another down year for Huggy Miller and his Cape Coral Hurricanes... they ended up in the seventh spot in the standings, 29 games out... CF Derek Ryckman was the only quality bat in the batting order with a .284 BA, 23 home runs, 83 RBIs and 107 runs... Santiago Castillo (21-15 3.99), a 35-year-old rookie, topped the staff... the biggest winner in IPA history Cody Burg had to endure another 20-loss season, his second in a row... Burg still can compete... he was 10-22, but with a solid 3.15 ERA and 247 strikeouts... the 37-year-old Burg has a fair chance of going over the 5000 mark in Ks next season... lifetime the brilliant Burg is 333-234 with a 2.69 ERA.

For the sixth straight year the San Alejo Montaneros finished at the bottom of the TU South, 32 games behind... manager Marcellion Zuniga has no hitting and only average pitching... closer Robby Franks is his best moundsman with a 7-5 record, 2.96 ERA and 22 saves... RF Warren Love is his best bat with 37 roundtrippers, 98 RBIs and 93 runs scored, but he batted only at .259 pace.