[Eugene Church]

Islandian Pro Alliance

Thursday, July 5, 2001

Ruthlandian Union - South Division

Rattlers Deal Marston 4th Loss in a Row
Sugar Valley survived a 15-hit barrage and knocked off first place Marston 6-4 at Farmers Memorial Stadium to capture the opener in a 5-game series and deal them a fourth loss in a row. Winner Harvey Hines (7-6 4.11) was tapped for 14 of them, but he was tough and stranded 11 runners. Hines allowed four runs in seven innings. Closer Gregg Neal (5-5 2.11) helped him out with two scoreless innings to protect the lead and get his 11th save. Heading the Rattler bats were first baseman Phil Taylor (.211), who put them ahead for good with a three-run clout in the sixth and right fielder Karl Dietz (.263), who had a two-run double in the fourth. Leading Marston were right fielder Chris Deangelo with a double and two RBIs, shortstop Lenny Torricelli (.243) with 2-3 and an RBI and catcher Mo Chappell (.311), who had 3-4 and drove in a run. Nick Pace (11-7 2.86), in a poor performance, was tagged with the defeat, going seven innings, allowing six runs and seven hits, while striking out seven and walking four.

Marston (44-32) has a 5.5-game margin over third place Sugar Valley (39-38) in the RU South Division. The Rattlers are tied with Waleska (39-38).

FC Outlasts Claxton 6-5 in 12 Innings
At Avalon Stadium in Claxton, Tetsunori Nakashima (9-5 4.83) and Vinny Edelman (6-6 3.33) battled to a 5-5 draw after seven innings, then turned it over to the bullpens. For the second place Lumberjacks, it was Timmy Brooks (2-3 1.59) and for the Diamonds, it was Chris Jauvert (0-1 3.94). They matched goose eggs until the top of the twelfth, when second baseman Jesse Wolf doubled, tagged up on deep fly out and moved over to third, then rode home on Jesse Pearson's single. That put Forest City up 6-5. Claxton threatened in the last of the twelfth with a lead-off two-bagger by left fielder Dan Molnar (.414). He was moved to third by a sacrifice bunt, but he never came close to scoring as Brooks struck out the final two batters to seal the verdict. Lots of hits in the game, 15 for Forest City and 16 for Claxton. For the 'Jacks, Pearson (.265) had 2-6 and three RBIs, shortstop Pops Keller (.305) hit his 6th homer, a two-run blast, and Wolf (.311) went 3-6 and scored scored three times. Claxton right fielder Dixie Baker (.331) cracked his 25th home run this season for two runs and center fielder Wayne Wilson (.294) smashed his 6th and was 3-7 and scored once.

The second place Lumberjacks (42-37) shaved a game off Marston lead and now trail by 3.5 games. Claxton (37-42) had rung up victories in the last four games and is in the fifth slot in the division and 8.5 games behind.

Smokey Joe Wins 12th, Stops Sunbirds 4-2
Smokey Joe Carter of Waleska has joined the other two 12-game winners in the IPA. Carter (12-6 2.95) did it with a six-hit performance to stop the Belair Beach Sunbirds 4-2. The Westerners trailed 2-0 after five as Lyndon Yarbrough shut them out, but rallied late to claim victory. Reserve third baseman Eddie Fletcher (.250) hit a solo homer in the seventh to put them ahead 3-2 and left fielder Big Hoss Burkhalter (.320) hit his 20th in the eight inning for an insurance run. Both of the roundtrippers came off Yarbrough (0-2 4.53), who lost it. He gave up four runs in eight innings, fanned five and walked one. The Sunbirds sub first sacker Nickie Gulino (.235) slammed a two-run shot off Carter in the fifth to break up a scoreless tie. Burkhalter had three hits and two runs batted in to top the Westerners. Waleska outhit Belair Beach 9 to 6 in the game.

The other 12-game winners are Kojiro Matsumoto of Ginza, who is 12-4 with a 2.64 ERA and Ron Benson of Sugar Valley with a 12-6 record and a 2.79 ERA.

With the win Waleska (39-38) remained tied with Sugar Valley for third place in the Ruthlandian Union South, 5.5 games off the pace of the top team, the Marston Nine (44-32). The Sunbirds (32-46) sunk a little deeper into the cellar, 13 games back.