[Eugene Church]

5-Team Chase in TU East, Ozarka Leader at Mid-Season

The first half leader in the Tycobbian Union East is the Ozarka Naturals. The Nats are one game up on second place Midway, two games ahead of third place Tuckanarra and six in front of fourth place High Mesa. The pennant winners for the past three years, the Red Bluff Red Sox, are still close enough to come back and put in its bid for this year's crown. The Red Sox are 8 games off the pace.

Manager Joe Mac Carney has done a masterful job manipulating the Ozarka Naturals (44-28) to the top of the TU East this season. Everybody has been platooned, but it seems to have worked. The Nats are near the top in batting average with a .275 mark (6th), a little less than average with 62 homers (19th), but almost the best in pitching with a standout 3.34 ERA (2nd).

Ozarka's fine rotation consists of Karl Kleinert (8-4 2.84), Sid Hyder (11-3 3.60), Alec DiMaggio (7-5 3.44) and Pat Schwartz (6-7 2.82). Sparking the Naturals at the plate are 2B Todd Chadwick (.324) with 6 homers and 33 RBIs, LF Vic Weinstein (.333) with 5 dingers, 39 RBIs and 39 scored and 3B Nathan Ferrell (.285) with 14 home runs, 42 RBIs and 47 runs scored.

Midway Wolves (43-29) manager Cochise Chandler has made steady progress the last two seasons and now has his team poised to contend for the division flag. The Wolves trail by only one game.

Chandler's crew is one of the better contact-hitting clubs in the league with a .275 batting average (5th), fair in the long ball department with 67 this season (17th) with pretty fair pitching. Midway's mound staff has chalked up a respectable 3.89 ERA (12th).

The Wolves top bats are RF Flying Eagle Wayra (.336) with 5 homers and 21 RBIs, SS Tommy Kawatoose (.331) with 3 home runs and 31 RBIs and LF Johnny Gillespie (.314) with 5 homers, 25 RBIs and 36 runs scored. The top RBI man has been OF Jan Szymanski (.259) with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs. Piper (.265) has 7 roundtrippers, 34 runs batted in and 38 runs scored. Chandler will have to do without his solid SS/2B Little Johnny Yuma for the rest of the season. He suffered an elbow injury two weeks ago and required surgery. Yuma was hitting .315 at the time.

Midway's best twirlers are All-Star Nosyt Sani (7-6 2.34), Russ Cheasequah (7-4 3.06) and Matty Schubert (4-1 1.40). Schubert has been outstanding in middle relief and has been promoted to the starting rotation. Ditto for Lanky Elsu (3-0 2.53).

After the Tuckanarra Blue Jays (42-30) had their worst season ever last year - a fifth place finish. Skipper Carlton "Lefty" Stevens now has them back in the thick of the battle this season. The third place Blue Jays are just two games behind in the race. Tuckanarra hits well for average (.272 - 7th), has some power (69 homers - 14th) and is a little better than average with a 3.93 team ERA (14th).

Stevens' top hurler is All-Star Titus Bristow (14-3 1.86), who is having a super season with the most wins in the IPA and the second best ERA. Tuckanarra also can rely on two other quality arms in Roy Spence (9-4 3.86) and Anthony Montgomerie (7-5 3.61).

The Blue Jays best batters are CF Monty Draycott (.280) with 10 home runs and 49 RBIs, LF Corey Tavington (.271) with 9 homers and 45 RBIs, 2B Owen MacArthur (.303) 3 homers, 34 RBIs and 49 runs and 3B Duncan Renwick (.311) with 6 roundtrippers, 29 RBIs and 44 runs scored.

The High Mesa Cowboys (38-34) are fourth in the TU East 6 games in back of first place Ozarka. Frisky Franks is the Cowboy skipper and his club plays ball in one of the smallest parks in the IPA. Homers come in abundance at Queen Ranch Stadium. High Mesa is always among the stats leaders in batting and among the worst for pitching. The Cowboys are hitting .281 (3rd) with 97 homers (2nd - tied), while sporting a very lofty 5.07 ERA (30th).

Pacing High Mesa at the plate are rookie 3B Nat Thurlow (.306) with 18 homers and 48 RBIs, LF Adam Zitek (.283) with 15 home runs and 42 RBIs, CF Billy Adenauer (.361) with 7 homers and 37 RBIs, 2B Ed Granberg (.301) with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs, C Jay Fessler (.304) with 1 home run, 32 RBIs and 40 runs and rookie SS John Asbury (.277) with 12 roundtrippers, 31 RBIs and 48 runs scored. Pitcher Joey Popovich (8-6 4.60) is the only Cowboy hurler with an ERA under 5.00.

Red Bluff (36-36) has won three straight pennants in the TU East, but this year they are in fifth place and 8 games out, suffering from a drop in both offense and pitching. Mack Connery's pennant-winning streak may come to an end this season. The Red Sox are hitting only .262 (18th) with 75 homers (11th) and a 4.02 ERA (18th).

Connery still has three very good starters in veterans Frank Beaudoin (10-5 2.58), John Dougherty (9-6 2.93) and Mila Mohoski (7-9 3.98), but little else. Leland Urban (2-6 5.87), who has won 18 games in each of the last two seasons had been relegated to the bullpen.

Red Bluff's best run producers are C Virgil Carpenter (.250) with 13 home runs and 41 RBIs, All-Star SS Jose Aguilar (.353) with 11 homers, 38 RBIs and 56 runs scored and LF Tony Blundell (.266) with 11 homers and 32 runs.

After winning the division championship in its first two seasons in 2001 and 2002 DeRoche "Lips" Leon has not had much to talk about as the South Fork Stallions (33-39) have wallowed in the lower rungs of the TU East. This year Leon's ball club is in the sixth spot in the standings and 11 games behind. The Stallions are one of the weakest hitting teams in the IPA, batting only .245 (31st) at the All-Star break with only 48 roundtrippers (30th) and a 4.05 ERA (22nd).

South Fork has only a few quality players. Leon's best pitchers are Ken Marsh (7-6 3.60) and Ken Olson (4-9 3.22). Only 2B Jim Helwig stands out with a .304 batting average, 6 homers and 28 RBIs.

The East Point Panthers (33-39) are seventh in the TU East and 15 games off the pace. Manager Griff Clarke's ball club has not tasted success since it wound up third in 2002. The Panthers have a weak-hitting team with a .260 average (22nd) and 79 homers (9th) and a crummy pitching staff, too. East Point has a 4.88 ERA mark (29th) this season. A good part of the poor ERA is the short fences at Armed Forces Stadium. It is a very tough place to pitch.

East Point has three capable starters in Zach Owens (7-11 3.90), Frenchy Domengeaux (5-10 4.17) and Jack Black (4-0 3.60). For hitting Clarke depends on 2B Karol Zodoka (.233), who is in a season-long slump with a 233 batting average, but still had 15 homers, 46 RBIs and has scored 44 times. RF Jerry Lee Presley (.283) has 13 home runs, 38 RBIs and 46 runs, while 3B Benny Rotella (.314) has 6 homers and has batted in 26 runs.

Arky Spanderson is the long-suffering pilot of the Hillsboro Blazers (25-47). who have ended up last four of the last five years. This season the Blazers are well-entrenched in the basement with little chance of escaping it. Hillsboro is hitting .263 (15th) with 69 homers (14th), but possesses a 5.09 ERA (31st). Hanford Stadium is also a small stadium where balls fly out of it with great regularity.

Spanderson's best batters are SS Barry Bassett (.279) with 14 home runs, 48 RBIs and 41 runs, CF Lonnie Snider (.292) with 4 home runs and 36 runs batted in and 3B George Longmire (.306) with 4 dingers, 22 RBIs and 45 runs scored.