[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Ruthlandian Union East 2004 Final Standings

Elnora Wins RU East Title, Whips Sugar Valley in Playoff
At the end of a 154-game schedule, it was all even between the Elnora All-Stars and the Sugar Valley Rattlers. The two clubs had identical 89-65 marks. A one-game playoff was necessary to decide the 2004 Ruthlandian East regular season championship.

Sugar Valley got the home field advantage as the Rattlers had whipped the All-Stars in four of the five games during the season - but it didn't do them any good - Elnora took the title with a 5-1 victory. Charlie Murphy (22-12) tossed a 6-hitter, holding the Rattlers to just one run, striking out 8 and walking only two in a route-going performance. C Todd Simons (.312) had a great game with two homers and four RBIs to spark the All-Stars. 1B Kent Swain (.248) added a solo homer.

Elnora will be on the road today in the Sweet 16 Series against the RU West runner-up, the Volusia Vigilantes, while Sugar Vally will have to play the tough Middlefield Roosters, who won the title in the West. The Rattlers will be the home team in the first two games of the series.

Manager Zoggy White's pitching staff gave Elnora (3.30 ERA) the edge over Sugar Valley (3.75 ERA), which was a better hitting team. The All-Stars starters were tough to beat with Lou Horn (16-6 2.33), Charlie Murphy (22-12 2.75) and Taylor Gibbs (19-12 3.05). White's club also had the advantage of a good closer in Matty Wilkerson (8-3 3.20), who saved 20 games and made 67 relief appearances.

Elnora's (.266) line-up could compete with the Rattlers (.264) in batting average, but not in power. Sugar Valley led the division with 159 roundtrippers to Elnora's 126 and topped it in scoring, too. The Rattlers outscored the All-Stars 757 to 721. But White had some very capable hitters in RF Quincy Peterson (.278/27 HR/101 RBI/98 R/14 SB), 2B Gil Foster (.317/22 HR/97 RBI/97 R), C Todd Simons (.312/12 HR/84 RBI), 3B Dimitri Vrotsos (.303/16 HR/74 RBI/80 R) and SS Kyle Villere (.282/12 HR/71 RBI/71 R). But in the end it got down to pitching with Elnora emerging the winner.

Sugar Valley has a very tough competitor in charge of the ball club. Gibson Bobkins was great pitcher in the industrial leagues and a very intense player. Bobkins is the same way as manager. The Rattlers have a good starting rotation with three fine starters in Gregg Neal (20-8 2.62), Anthony Glaser (20-13 3.70) and Jay Washington (12-8 3.32), but Bobkins lacks a good closer.

What Sugar Valley lacks in pitching is more than made up with its bats. Bobkins has a talented array of batters in SS Flipper Bird (.305/30 HR/132 RBI/108 R/31 SB), 1B Ron Armstrong (.277/31 HR/108 RBI/86 R), 3B Jorge Vargas (.284/29 HR/94 RBI/89 R), CF Freddie Vaux (.292/8 HR/56 RBI/102 R/34 SB) and LF Bruno DiPirri (.291/5 HR/41 RBI/102 R/45 SB). Bird led the IPA with 132 RBIs.

The Marston Nine (82-72) led by skipper Johnny Walters ended up third and trailed the pennant winner by 7.5 games. A bad August (11-17) sent the Nine reeling and they never recovered. Walters, one of the best righthanders that ever stood on a mound, has created a strong staff that topped the division with a 3.20 ERA. Marston top guns are Nick Pace (17-12 3.39), Johnny Paris (15-11 3.20) and Vinnie Gardiner (13-14 2.82). Walters had a good arm in the bullpen, too, with Booger Burchfield (13-9 3.46). Burchfield racked up 22 saves and 61 relief appearances.

Marston hit .254, had the fewest home runs in the division (70) and scored the fewest runs (571) and they were the worst by far. Good hitters were few-and-far-between for the Nine. Only 1B Pat Farris (.314/9 HR/72 RBI) and SS Don Nichols (.300/10 HR/63 RBI) had decent seasons.

Boo Ladrieux's Belle Plaine Musketeers (75-79) never recovered from an atrocious April (6-19), but did do well enough to finish fourth in the standings, 14.5 games out of first. They were last at the All-Star Game intermission, but really turned it around in the last half of the year. Ladrieux predicted it would be the Musketeers best season and it was. Belle Plaine was last in 2002 and sixth in 2003.

Belle Plaine put up a .264 batting average (2nd-tied), hit only 80 home runs (7th), had a 3.72 ERA with a .979 FA (1st). Top players were pitchers Milo Anthony (17-7 3.35), rookie Tony Saroyan (12-8 3.55) and closer Kent Wells (4-6 2.22) with 23 saves and 75 game appearances. The Muskies don't hit with power, but got some production out of LF Juan Mendes (.313/10 HR/63 RBI/94 R), CF Dennis Riley (.274/23 HR/89 RBI/83 R) and 1B Scott Theriot (.296/13 HR/81 RBI).

2004 was wonderful season for Matt Donnelly and his Wynnamac Sundowners (74-80) until the All-Star Game. The Macs were elated and surprised everybody by being 9 games over .500 and in fourth place just three off the pace. Then reality set in and the Sundowners did a reversal with a 31-44 mark over the last three months. But it was not all-for-naught. In the end Wynnamac finished fifth, 15.5 games out, but it was their highest finish ever.

The Sundowners had fair hitting (.250-7th) and sufficient power (114 HR-5th), better-than-average pitching (3.64 ERA- 3rd) and very good fielding (.977 FA-3rd). Wynnamac's top pitchers were Caleb Browne (21-7 2.97), Matt Landrieu (15-10 3.48) and closer Liam Bristow (5-8 2.84) with 22 saves in 69 games.

Donnelly, quite a hitter in his heyday and a fancy dan first baseman, only had one strong batsman. 1B Nate Cockroft (.314/33 HR/94 RBI/89 R) had a fine season. CF Hawkeye Ingram (.239/21 HR/89 RBI/95 R/18 SB) didn't hit for high average, but was very productive and a fine flychaser.

Bret George and the Beechwood Bobcats (72-82) came in sixth in the RU East standings, but won more games than they did in their first two seasons. The Bobcats strong point was in the batter's box. They batted .262 (4th), rapped 119 homers (4th) and scored 690 times (3rd). It looks like some of George's hitting prowess rubbed off on his team. The famed industrial league third sacker had a bunch of good bats, sparked by 1B Ray Slater (.328/19 HR/103 RBI/106 R/36 SB), RF Clifton Czabo (.328/14 HR/73 RBI/107 R/28 SB), CF Lon Snider (.307/8 HR/50 RBI/102 R/31 SB), LF L. J. Aldridge (.265/21 HR/84 RBI) and SS Eldon Barker (.261/12 HR/85 RBI).

But it was not enough to lift Beechwood into the first division. The Bobcats couldn't get it done on the hill as the staff compiled a 3.78 ERA (7th). George only had two quality pitchers in Dek Jumonville (19-10 2.55), who had a sensational season, and Joe Hahn (14-16 3.28).

It was another down year in Cold Creek (70-84), a seventh place finish for manager T. Kelly Holmes and his Catamounts. They hit the ball OK with a .256 BA (5th) and 112 home runs (6th) and scored 666 runs (5th), but came up short on the mound. Holmes' hurlers were tied for fifth with a 3.75 ERA. Cold Creek had only two quality pitchers: starter Terence Gilbert (17-10 3.16) and closer Payton Saunders (10-2 2.07), who had an outstanding season with 16 saves and 69 relief appearances.

Hitters are also in short supply for Holmes. SS Russ Russell (.295/11 HR/92 RBI) and RF Emile Stosha (.317/25 HR/84 RBI/119 R/52 SB) were his most dependable bats.

The Eastshore Elegants (69-85) were in the first division in 2002 and 2003, but Killer Brewster's bunch took a turn-for-the-worse in 2004 and plummeted all the way down to the basement, 20.5 games behind. The only good thing that the Elegants do is hit home runs. They walloped 142 (2nd) with LF Darrel Alston (.242/30 HR/90 RBI/95 R/11 SB), RF Ron Dizon (.237/27 HR/102 RBI) and 2B Miles Sheehan (.276/21 HR/82 RBI/82 R) doing most of the damage. But overall Eastshore's hitting was atrocious as they hit only .236 as a team, the lowest average in the entire IPA.

Brewster's ball club is not any better when it comes to pitching. The Elegants are dead last in the RU East with a 3.91 ERA. Despite that lofty number, Eastshore has four quality arms in starters Stony Blackwell (19-12 3.57), Fred Duhon (14-14 3.31) and Ivar Jorgerson (13-10 3.79). Closer Thomas Williams (4-8 2.66) also pitched well with 19 saves in 67 games.