[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times

Monday, June 23, 2008

Wynnamac Up by 5 Games in RU East, Cold Creek 2nd

Good blend of pitching and power has shot the Wynnamac Sundowners up into first place in the Ruthlandian Union East by 5 games over second place Cold Creek, 7 games over Belle Plaine and 8 games over Beechwood and Elnora, who are deadlocked for the fourth spot in the standings. The Eastshore Elegants and the Marston Nine are tied at number six and trail by 9 games, followed Sugar Valley in the basement, 11 games out.

Best Team BA: Marston Nine .287 (3rd)
Most Runs: Marston Nine 394 (6th)
Most HR: Beechwood Bobcats 90 (4th)
Best Team ERA: Cold Creek Catamounts 3.51 (4th)
Best Team Defense: Belle Plaine Musketeers and Sugar Valley Rattlers .975 (6th – tied)

Worst Team BA: Beechwood Bobcats and Elnora All-Stars .267 (19th)
Fewest Runs: Elnora All-Stars 343 (22nd)
Fewest HR: Belle Plaine Musketeers 47 (28th)
Worst Team ERA: Sugar Valley Rattlers 4.56 (29th)
Worst Team Defense: Marston Nine .967 FA (30th)

Waleska Westerners
Matt Donnelly, Manager
This season: 1st Place (44-29)
Last season: 6th Place (72-82)

Good pitching with 3.55 team ERA (5th)... headed by All-Star Lefty Paddison (11-3 2.57) and Skeets Hobart (10-4 3.89)... good hitting with a .273 batting average and decent power with 68 homers (14th)... can score with 384 runs scored (8th)... so-so defense with .970 FA... Manager Matt Donnelly has a solid line-up with LF Big Hoss Burkhalter (.324/13 HR/54 RBI/49 R), CF Dalton Leeds (.293/9 HR/49 RBI/43 R), 1B Nate Cockroft (.286/11 HR/45 RBI/40 R), free agent RF Mark Buchanan (.296/12 HR/34 RBI/55 R) and SS Warren Lee (.300/5 HR/34 RBI/36 R), all former All-Stars.

Cold Creek Catamounts
T. Kelly Holmes, Manager
This season: 2nd Place (39-34)
Last season: 1st Place (86-66)

Good pitching (3.51 ERA – 4th) and timely hitting (.271 – 17th)... fair defense with .969 FA... Holmes has solid starters in All-Star Payton Saunders (11-5 2.04), rookie Pat Dreux (6-2 2.44) and Tommy Weeks (7-8 3.19)... excellent hitters in All-Star Emile Stosha (.309/12 HR/65 RBI/51 R/22 SB) and All-Star CF Trip Holmes (.330/9 HR/40 RBI/49 R)... LF Fernando Baldera (.321/9 HR/38 RBI) has also supplied some offense.

Belle Plaine Musketeers
Boo Ladrieux, Manager
This season: 3rd Place (37-36)
Last season: 7th Place (69-85)

Good hitting with a .276 BA (9th), but little power... only 47 homers (28th)... average pitching with a 4.03 ERA (14th)... good defense with a .975 FA... best pitchers are Tony Pariseau (7-4 3.48) and Brad Anderson (9-8 4.20)... top batters are 1B Rory Dickenson (.324/4 HR/56 RBI/42 R), 3B Warren McDaniel (.281/13 HR/46 R), RF Jose Mendez (.392/1 HR/28 RBI/41 R), SS Floyd Vinson (.300/0 HR/24 RBI/49 R) and CF Cris Willis (.311/3 HR/18 RBI/41 R).

Beechwood Bobcats
Bret George, Manager
This season: 4th Place Tie (36-37)
Last season: 3rd Place (83-71)

power is team's strong point with 90 homers (4th)... adequate hitting with a .267 BA (19th)... weak pitching with a 4.25 ERA (22nd)... fair defensively with a .970 FA... best bats are All-Star 3B Guy Cassidy (.293/14 HR/38 RBI/52 R/29 SB), SS Jared McCarthy (.298/10 HR/46 RBI), RF Dale Strickland (.310/17 HR/41 RBI/40 R) and CF Clifton Czabo (.318/12 HR/39 RBI/51 R)... top pitchers are Bubba Lear (9-4 3.59), Dek Jumonville (7-10 3.27) and reliever Terry Kuznetsov (2-2 3.08).

Elnora All-Stars
Zoggy White, Manager
This season: 4th Place Tied (36-37)
Last season: 8th Place (65-89)

Only average in most areas of the game... .267 BA (20th)... 65 HR (15th)... Defense .975 FA... poor 4.50 team ERA (26th)... led at the plate by 2B Dmitri Vrotsos (.263/16 HR/50 RBI/48 R), RF Lloyd Voss (.319/5 HR/39 RBI/34 R), SS Allan Black (.259/10 HR/34 RBI/43 R) and LF Rick Mulloy (.285/5 HR/34 RBI/40 R)... best pitchers are Taylor Gibbs (5-11 3.94), Warren Paul (8-7 4.71) and Matty Wilkerson (7-7 4.53).

Eastshore Elegants
Killer Brewster, Manager
This season: 6th Place (35-38)
Last season: 5th Place (78-76)

Good power with 83 HR (5th)... average hitting with .272 BA (15th)... little below average pitching with a 4.15 ERA (18th)... average defensively with .973 FA... Quality pitchers: Ivar Jorgerson (10-5 3.31) and Thomas Williams (7-7 3.58)... top bats: All-Star RF Stan Cuccinello (.293/12 HR/45 RBI/39 R), LF Darrel Alston (.300/12 HR/38 RBI/39 R), 2B Tucker Hill (.326/4 HR/32 RBI/49 R) and C Fran MacIntyre (.279/8 HR/32 RBI/38 R).

Marston Nine
Johnny Walters, Manager
This season: 7th Place (35-38)
Last season: 4th Place (81-73)

Potent with the bats, but pitiful with the pitching and bad on defense... team BA .287 (3rd)... 394 runs (6th)... team ERA 4.35 (25th)... team FA .967... All-Star 3B Jimmy Holman (.344/21 HR/78 RBI/63 R) tops IPA with 78 RBIs and 63 runs... other top hitters are 1B Pat Farris (.332/3 HR/29 RBI/46 R), SS Charley Walton (.333/0 HR/28 RBI/36 R), LF Ronnie Horn (.312/8 HR/38 RBI/36 R), 2B Francisco Abreu (.282/10 HR/37 RBI/31 R) and CF Lou Fisher (.291/5 HR/30 RBI/56 R/15 SB)... best pitchers are Mark Falzone (10-4 3.93) and Rhett Townsend (6-5 3.83).

Sugar Valley Rattlers
Gibson Bobkins, Manager
This season: 8th Place (33-40)
Last season: 2nd Place (84-70)

Lousy pitching (4.56 ERA – 29th)... average hitting (.271 – 18th)... good power with 73 homers (11th)... and solid defense with a .975 FA... Ted Farentino (10-5 4.48) and Joel Lockett (5-5 3.38) are best pitchers... All-Star C Hal Stevenson (.302/16 HR/59 RBI/34 R) is the top batter, along with CF Austen Conover (.292/3 HR/30 RBI/58 R/34 SB) and LF Dennis Kernell (.317/11 HR/33 RBI/32 R).