[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times

Sunday, September 16, 2001

South Fork, Forest City Favored in IPA Playoffs
The Baseball News Network has picked South Fork of the TU East as the favorites in the first Islandian Cup Series, which begins play today with four Elite 8 games. The baseball journalists give the Stallions the edge because they have a very strong pitching corps and have been playing very well the last six weeks. Rating the teams is difficult because they do not play each other during the regular season. Games are only inter-divisional. Division champions got the home field advantage over the wild card teams in the IPA first round games.

Here is how BNN rated the playoff teams:

1. South Fork (1st TU East)
2. Forest City (2nd RU South)
3. Blue Lake (2nd TU West)
4. Marston (1st RU South)
5. Far Mountain (1st RU North)
6. Volusia (2nd RU North)
7. Ginza (2nd TU East)
8. Fairfax (1st TU West)

Two of the best clubs in the Islandian Pro Alliance will be first round foes in the Elite 8 playoff series. Top-ranked South Fork will play host to the tough Blue Lake Blue Sox at Jock Ewing Stadium. The Blue Sox are rated the third-best team by BNN. The Stallions have an outstanding mound staff with a 2.90 team ERA, by far the best in the IPA, headed by starters Flint Battle (20-11 2.71), Vince Bernini (12-6 2.48) and Ken Conner (15-8 2.63). But it doesn't stop there. Skipper Duroche "Lips" Leon's bullpen is just as strong with Ken Olson (16-14 2.93), Billy Joe Gordon (4-6 2.43 7 saves) and closer Glenn Turnbull (7-5 2.66 13 saves). Olson started during the season, but will be used in middle relief in the playoffs as Leon will go with a three-man rotation. South Fork has a quality line-up with Glenn Holliday (.283/36 HR/97 RBI), Art Atkins (.313/14 HR/62 RBI/80 R), Ronnie Lee (.309/4 HR/41 RBI/69 R) and Keith Burke (.287/12 HR/47 RBI/69 R). They don't have to score a whole lot of runs with the mound staff they have, but they can if need be.

Manager Cobb Tyson of the third-ranked Blue Sox will try to counter that with a potent batting order and a solid pitching rotation. Just look at this batting order: Doyle Osbourne (.343/4 HR/26 RBI/37 R), Cy Orgeron (.278/12 HR/48 RBI/58 R), Ken Bennett (.287)/25 HR/98 RBI), Donnie Frazier (.281/20 HR/86 RBI), Fred Taranto (.278/20 HR/71 RBI), Fred Collins (.288/11 HR/40 RBI/59 R), Timmy Smith (.290/11 HR/58 RBI) and Curly Smith (.241/11 HR/50 RBI). Blue Lake's home run power might be able to upset the favored Stallions. In addition Tyson has one of the best fielding clubs (.980) in the IPA to go with his good pitching. He has three very good starters in Bennie West (19-10 2.87), Jay Clay (16-7 3.10) and late season acqusition Happy McManus (5-3 2.56) to go with closer Russ Courtney (6-4 2.31 20 saves) and two good middle relievers, Neil Krogstad (5-7 3.16) and Paddy O'Rourke (2-0 1.80). It will be no great surprise if Blue Lake knocks off the South Fork Stallions. This is the premier match-up in the first round of playoff action. One of these clubs will probably be in the finals.

The Forest City Lumberjacks are rated the second-best club in the playoffs and will host the Far Mountain Redhawks in the first round at Riverside Stadium. The 'Jacks were runners-up to Marston in the RU South, but beat the Nine 18 times out of 30 games this year. Manager Robbie Jackson's crew has plenty of firepower and topped the IPA with 173 homers this season. Jackson boast a bunch of fine batsmen in Chuck Hill (.339/36 HR/118 RBI/109 R), Jesse Wolf (.293/32 HR/107 RBI/100 R), J. T. Edmonds (.304/21 HR/84 RBI) and Ryan Morse (.338/13 HR/64 RBI/104 R). He has adequate pitching. Herm Bahr (16-7 3.50) and Glenn Moore (17-13 3.85) are quality, but inconsistent starters. Recent roster add, Johnny Marsh (1-0 0.82) hurled a one-hitter in his only start in the last days of the season. If he can perform well, it will certainly give the Redhawks a big boost. In middle relief Groveland will have Knucks Nomellini (6-2 3.38), Vinny Edelman (13-14) and Brian Charles (8-8 3.93), all three were in the starting rotation at various times this season. At closer will be Timmy Brooks (5-6 2.00 13 saves). Forest City can win a lot of games by just outslugging the opposition.

Don't be surprised if Alex Groveland's Redhawks pull a mild upset in the opening round. They were the number five pick in the BNN poll and have four excellent hurlers, two starters in Sonny Elliott (18-13 2.86) and John Luzzatti (19-9 3.30) and two relievers in Mike McCabe (6-5 2.33 11 saves) and Doc Randolph (7-7 2.82 14 saves). Far Mountain can score runs, but they have to scrap for them.They only hit 94 roundtrippers during the regular campaign, but led the RU North in scoring with 705 runs. They can put some runs on the scoreboard with Dave Davis (.355/9 HR/81 RBI), Johnny Strickland (.274/19 HR/86 RBI/77 R), Royce Benson (.306/10 HR/64 RBI/86 R/47 SB), Hawk Gallagher (.292/7 HR/59 RBI/102 R/52 SB) and Karl Dietz (.237/26 HR/82 RBI). At mid-season Joey Cannizzaro (.328/6 HR/36 RBI/48 R/16 SB) added some punch to the line-up and in the last six weeks Sid Cameron (.350/1 HR/25 RBI/31 R/18 SB) earned a starting role. Far Mountain compiled a .266 batting average and led the IPA with 220 stolen bases.

The Marston Nine, the RU South champs, are piloted by Johnny Walters and they finished fourth in the BNN poll. Walters has the second-best pitching staff in the IPA, compiling a 3.44 ERA on the season. Pacing Walters' hill corps is his ace Nick Pace (21-13 2.90). Booger Burchfield (11-12 3.09) has also given him some quality starts since being obtained in a trade at the All-Star break. He is 8-6 with a 2.90 ERA for Marston. Casey Ledbetter (15-14 3.55) had been hot and cold this year, but still a good starter. The Nine will depend on them in the playoffs. The relievers also sport a superb 2.84 ERA. Kenny Bagby (7-3 3.16), Jorge Bonilla (4-0 2.63), Vinnie Gardner (3-4 3.26) and Walt Sellers (6-6 2.95) have piled up 30 saves this year. Marston also hit .275 and is one of the best-hitting clubs in the league with good power, finishing second to Forest City with 134 home runs. Sparking the Nine's attack this season has been Roland Thomas (.359/5 HR/83 RBI), Tommy Reinhold (.313/12 HR/52 RBI/93 R/53 SB), Ken Green (.306/14 HR/74 RBI/84 R), Ronnie Horn (.295/20 HR/66 R/89 R/20 SB) and recent signee, Kerby Jost (.287/7 HR/28 RBI/26 R), who played in 41 games. However, defense is sometimes a problem. Marston was one of the lowest-rated team with a poor .973 fielding average.

The Nine will be at home at Legends Field against the Volusia Vigilantes, who were voted sixth in the playoff poll. The V's came out second to Far Mountain in the RU North. In the playoffs, manager Alfonso Feliz will have as starters Raul Sandoval (18-15 3.15), Lenny Collins (15-11 3.81) and newcomer Tommy Betanzos (3-2 1.99), who just joined the team three weeks ago. The V's bullpen has been quite capable with Brian King (5-7 2.54) and Manny Seguin (3-2 3.13) in long relief. Closer Ricky Moreno (5-5 1.76) has been outstanding and leads the IPA with 26 saves. They have compiled a very respectable 3.73 ERA. Feliz also has decent hitters that put up a .270 batting mark in the season. Topping the Volusia line-up card is the number two hitter in the IPA, Scooter Perez (.374/8 HR/ 45 RBI/105 R/62 SB), Alejandro Salazar (.285/19 HR/82 RBI/79 R), Fernando Abreu (.274/26 HR/85 RBI/87 R), Winky Rush (.285/13 HR/75 RBI/70 R), Alex Luna (.282/9 HR/76 RBI/67 R) and Jesus Arroyo (.290/12 HR/75 RBI). Marston's pitching, hitting and power looks too strong for Volusia.

The final match-up in the Elite 8 pits the Ginza Ninjas and the Fairfax Frogs. The Ninjas will be on the road at the Frog Pond. Ginza was picked seventh in the poll, while Fairfax came in eighth and last. the Ninjas were second to the South Fork Stallions in the TU East and even won 19 of the 30 regular season contests, but they faded at the end of the season, while the Stallions turned it up a notch. Ginza could be dangerous with three fine starters in Kojiro Matsumoto (19-11 3.00), Toshiharu Ito (17-8 2.74) and Kazuhiro Nakayama (13-13 2.68). Manager Huroko Uchiyama has three potent bats, too. Kenshin Yamamoto (.308/23 HR/89 RBI), Charley Campbell (.291/19 HR/ 88 RBI/70 R) and Takashi Fujimoto (.286/23 HR/78 RBI) are no slouches with the sticks.

Fairfax was the best club in the IPA for most of the season, when they lost one of the top sluggers in the league. Gregg Vincent (.326/38 HR/106 RBI) missed the last 30 games of the season and the Frogs went from the best team to just an average team. Manager Harry Buckley's almost squandered a 12-game lead in the tailspin, but they managed to win the TU West in a one-game playoff with the red-hot Blue Lake Blue Sox. Vincent will not be available for the playoff as he is recovering from a severe ankle injury. Buckley will depend on one solid pitcher Robbie Meredith (15-9 2.92) and the talented closer Tadehide Takahashi (11-7 1.43 18 saves) to upend the Ninjas. Despite the loss of Vincent, Fairfax still has Gator Davis (.269/28 HR/98 RBI), Stan Cobb (.300/14 HR/81 RBI), Warren Lee (.316/12 HR/65 RBI) and newcomer Cecil Parmenter (.322/9 HR/40 RBI). Parmenter only played a third of the season. The Frogs batted .275 for the year, tied with Marston for the IPA best team batting average, and hit 138 roundtrippers to finish number two to Forest City.