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Eugene Church · 01-28-2010, 08:56 PM

The Islandian Times

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

September Surge Wins Belle Plaine RU East Crown
The Belle Plaine Musketeers came out of nowhere and edged the defending Pro Cup champs, the Wynnamac Sundowners by one game to win the RU East this year. In a dramatic turnaround Boo Ladrieux's boys put up a 14-5 record in September, while Matt Donnelly's team went into the tank with a 5-14 mark, thus enabling the Musketeers to past them and Cold Creek in the final weeks of the campaign to take the 2009 pennant.

Belle Plaine (81-73) copped the flag mainly because of a pretty good group of starters in Jorge Bonilla (14-12 3.57), Tony Saroyan (17-13 3.75) and Danny Griffin (15-13 3.91... closer Denny Reynaud (6-5 4.11) was a plus, despite sometimes being inconsistent, but he saved 25 games... Ladrieux's line-up was solid with a .276 BA, but not too powerful with only 105 home runs... the Musketeers were led by RF Juan Mendez (.326/7/45/96), 1B Rory Dickenson (.314/16/92/101), CF Harry Klyman (.285/26/107/79) and 3B Warren McDaniel (.273/17/78/87)... 2B Floyd Vinson (.286/1/64/89) played good defense and chipped in some offense, while SS Dave Torregrossa (.330/4/53) really had a great year after taking over at midseason... Torregrossa only played in 103 games.

The Wynnamac Sundowners (80-74) seemed headed for the Pro Cup playoffs to defend their title, but Matt Donnelly's club collapsed down the stretch and were edged out by one game... Wynnamac had the bats with a .275 BA and 152 homers... they were one of the higher-scoring squads in the IPA with 812 runs, but Donnelly's pitchers were awful (4.61 ERA)... the Sundowners were also the worst fielding team with a poor .969 FA... Wynnamac was strong throughout the batting order with All-Star LF Big Hoss Burkhalter (.346/30/103/91), 1B Nate Cockcroft (.305/21/93), CF Dalton Leeds (.310/12/66/101), RF Mark Buchanan (.274/20/87/87), 2B J. L. Lawrence (.310/9/72), C Juanito (.262/13/61/94) and SS Warren Lee (.274/9/59/93)... the Sundowners won with their hitting... none of the pitchers were under 4.00 this year... Skeets Hobart (16-14 4.41), Lefty Paddison (16-8 4.58), Jay Clay (10-14 4.71) and Angus Conroy (12-7 4.14) suffered sub-par seasons and did not perform like last year... the staff ERA jumped from 3.86 to 4.61 this season... the Sundowners still almost hit their way to a second straight division pennant.

The Cold Creek Catamounts (76-78) skippered by T. Kelly Holmes rode the fine arm of Terence Gilbert (20-11 3.14) and a few good hitters to the third spot in the RU East standings, 5 games back of the leader... the Catamounts hit well (.275) with 158 homers with a 3.88 team ERA... LF Nickie Troxell (.284/37/124/90) had another fine year finishing high among the leaders in RBIs and home runs... RF Emile Stosha (.336/25/94/107) and CF Trip Holmes (.284/25/85/114) were also standouts... SS Russ Russell (.312/13/70/74) and C Trace Crittenden (.299/10/74) had good years with the bat, too.

The Elnora All-Stars (73-81) claimed fourth place in the RU East, trailing first-place Belle Plaine by 8 games... Zoggy White's team put up some good numbers offensively with a .277 BA and 138 home runs, but fell short in the pitching department with a 4.29 ERA... Elnora's only effective pitchers were Jim Tarzetti (15-7 3.38) and Lou Horn (15-16 3.27)... the All-Stars boast a potent line-up with four .300 hitters: All-Star 2B Dmitri Vrotsos (.313/26/121/78), the RU's leading batter RF Lloyd Voss (.368/20/89/101), LF Rick Mulloy (.300/18/90/97) and 1B Ricky Page (.320/13/69/97)... 3B Erik Bernhardt (.267/13/57/102) had his best season at age 38... he walked 132 times to lead the IPA.

Bret George at Beechwood (72-82) was 9 games behind Belle Plaine in the pennant chase, winding up in fifth place.. George has never made the playoffs in his eight-year tenure, primarily because of mediocre pitching... the Bobcats have had adequate hitting in the past, including this year... This season Beechwood batted .273 with 138 homers, but the mound staff compiled a poor 4.47 ERA... only Dek Jumonville (17-17 3.06) consistently gave them good outings... all the rest were over 4.00 in ERA... at bat the Bobcats were sparked by 2B Jared McCarthy (.323/26/97/79), C Billy Gorham (.286/24/89), LF Jakie Creekmore (.329/12/66/74), CF Clifton Czabo (.279/16/73/89), 3B Guy Cassidy (.279/10/68/83) and 1B Ray Slater (.299/7/61/81).

Marston (71-83) and Sugar Valley (71-83) tied for sixth, 10 games off the pace... the Nine had little pitching with 4.24 ERA and little batting with a .264 batting average and 114 roundtrippers... Mark Falzone (19-14 3.81) was Johnny Walters' best pitcher... Ernie Arredondo (13-16 3.89) was second in the rotation... Marston had an All-Star closer in Johnny Updike (5-8 3.83), who had 19 saves, but he really faded in the second half of the season... Walters had another All-Star in C Davis Teed (.279/23/91)... free agent SS Danny Church (.308/8/65) had his best offensive year and was strong in the field as usual... the team finished with a .975 FA... 1B Pat Farris (.343/5/56) hit for average, but not with much power... outstanding 3B Jimmy Holman (.251/19/71) had a bad year... in 2008 he batted .334 with 33 homers and 132 RBIs.

The only thing the Sugar Valley Rattlers do very well is hit home runs (164)... they batted only .260 and registered a sky-high 4.48 ERA... good defensively with a .975 FA... it was another dismal season for manager Gibby Bobkins, who didn't make the playoffs for the third successive year... All-Star C Hal Stevenson (.313/43/127/94) had a terrific year and ranked highly in home runs and RBIs... 6-year man 1B Val Schlagel (.290/22/101/90) blossomed with a career year... and All-Star CF Austen Conover (.303/7/64/110) sparkled as well... 2B Johnny Smith (.287/22/72) had by far the best year of his 8-year career... Charles Darby (20-11 3.93) was the ace of the mound staff.

The Eastshore Elegants (66-88) finished last in the RU East, 15 games back... Killer Brewster's crew hit with authority (.270) and power (144 homers), but did poorly on the hill (4.34)... top hitters are 2B Tucker Hill (.358/5/70/91), LF Darrel Alston (.273/30/84/70) and RF Stan Cuccinello (.307/19/68/68)... Eddie Lance (14-13 3.61) was Eastshore's top pitcher.

01-28-2010, 08:56 PM	#1509
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,216	The Islandian Times Tuesday, September 22, 2009 September Surge Wins Belle Plaine RU East Crown The Belle Plaine Musketeers came out of nowhere and edged the defending Pro Cup champs, the Wynnamac Sundowners by one game to win the RU East this year. In a dramatic turnaround Boo Ladrieux's boys put up a 14-5 record in September, while Matt Donnelly's team went into the tank with a 5-14 mark, thus enabling the Musketeers to past them and Cold Creek in the final weeks of the campaign to take the 2009 pennant. Belle Plaine (81-73) copped the flag mainly because of a pretty good group of starters in Jorge Bonilla (14-12 3.57), Tony Saroyan (17-13 3.75) and Danny Griffin (15-13 3.91... closer Denny Reynaud (6-5 4.11) was a plus, despite sometimes being inconsistent, but he saved 25 games... Ladrieux's line-up was solid with a .276 BA, but not too powerful with only 105 home runs... the Musketeers were led by RF Juan Mendez (.326/7/45/96), 1B Rory Dickenson (.314/16/92/101), CF Harry Klyman (.285/26/107/79) and 3B Warren McDaniel (.273/17/78/87)... 2B Floyd Vinson (.286/1/64/89) played good defense and chipped in some offense, while SS Dave Torregrossa (.330/4/53) really had a great year after taking over at midseason... Torregrossa only played in 103 games. The Wynnamac Sundowners (80-74) seemed headed for the Pro Cup playoffs to defend their title, but Matt Donnelly's club collapsed down the stretch and were edged out by one game... Wynnamac had the bats with a .275 BA and 152 homers... they were one of the higher-scoring squads in the IPA with 812 runs, but Donnelly's pitchers were awful (4.61 ERA)... the Sundowners were also the worst fielding team with a poor .969 FA... Wynnamac was strong throughout the batting order with All-Star LF Big Hoss Burkhalter (.346/30/103/91), 1B Nate Cockcroft (.305/21/93), CF Dalton Leeds (.310/12/66/101), RF Mark Buchanan (.274/20/87/87), 2B J. L. Lawrence (.310/9/72), C Juanito (.262/13/61/94) and SS Warren Lee (.274/9/59/93)... the Sundowners won with their hitting... none of the pitchers were under 4.00 this year... Skeets Hobart (16-14 4.41), Lefty Paddison (16-8 4.58), Jay Clay (10-14 4.71) and Angus Conroy (12-7 4.14) suffered sub-par seasons and did not perform like last year... the staff ERA jumped from 3.86 to 4.61 this season... the Sundowners still almost hit their way to a second straight division pennant. The Cold Creek Catamounts (76-78) skippered by T. Kelly Holmes rode the fine arm of Terence Gilbert (20-11 3.14) and a few good hitters to the third spot in the RU East standings, 5 games back of the leader... the Catamounts hit well (.275) with 158 homers with a 3.88 team ERA... LF Nickie Troxell (.284/37/124/90) had another fine year finishing high among the leaders in RBIs and home runs... RF Emile Stosha (.336/25/94/107) and CF Trip Holmes (.284/25/85/114) were also standouts... SS Russ Russell (.312/13/70/74) and C Trace Crittenden (.299/10/74) had good years with the bat, too. The Elnora All-Stars (73-81) claimed fourth place in the RU East, trailing first-place Belle Plaine by 8 games... Zoggy White's team put up some good numbers offensively with a .277 BA and 138 home runs, but fell short in the pitching department with a 4.29 ERA... Elnora's only effective pitchers were Jim Tarzetti (15-7 3.38) and Lou Horn (15-16 3.27)... the All-Stars boast a potent line-up with four .300 hitters: All-Star 2B Dmitri Vrotsos (.313/26/121/78), the RU's leading batter RF Lloyd Voss (.368/20/89/101), LF Rick Mulloy (.300/18/90/97) and 1B Ricky Page (.320/13/69/97)... 3B Erik Bernhardt (.267/13/57/102) had his best season at age 38... he walked 132 times to lead the IPA. Bret George at Beechwood (72-82) was 9 games behind Belle Plaine in the pennant chase, winding up in fifth place.. George has never made the playoffs in his eight-year tenure, primarily because of mediocre pitching... the Bobcats have had adequate hitting in the past, including this year... This season Beechwood batted .273 with 138 homers, but the mound staff compiled a poor 4.47 ERA... only Dek Jumonville (17-17 3.06) consistently gave them good outings... all the rest were over 4.00 in ERA... at bat the Bobcats were sparked by 2B Jared McCarthy (.323/26/97/79), C Billy Gorham (.286/24/89), LF Jakie Creekmore (.329/12/66/74), CF Clifton Czabo (.279/16/73/89), 3B Guy Cassidy (.279/10/68/83) and 1B Ray Slater (.299/7/61/81). Marston (71-83) and Sugar Valley (71-83) tied for sixth, 10 games off the pace... the Nine had little pitching with 4.24 ERA and little batting with a .264 batting average and 114 roundtrippers... Mark Falzone (19-14 3.81) was Johnny Walters' best pitcher... Ernie Arredondo (13-16 3.89) was second in the rotation... Marston had an All-Star closer in Johnny Updike (5-8 3.83), who had 19 saves, but he really faded in the second half of the season... Walters had another All-Star in C Davis Teed (.279/23/91)... free agent SS Danny Church (.308/8/65) had his best offensive year and was strong in the field as usual... the team finished with a .975 FA... 1B Pat Farris (.343/5/56) hit for average, but not with much power... outstanding 3B Jimmy Holman (.251/19/71) had a bad year... in 2008 he batted .334 with 33 homers and 132 RBIs. The only thing the Sugar Valley Rattlers do very well is hit home runs (164)... they batted only .260 and registered a sky-high 4.48 ERA... good defensively with a .975 FA... it was another dismal season for manager Gibby Bobkins, who didn't make the playoffs for the third successive year... All-Star C Hal Stevenson (.313/43/127/94) had a terrific year and ranked highly in home runs and RBIs... 6-year man 1B Val Schlagel (.290/22/101/90) blossomed with a career year... and All-Star CF Austen Conover (.303/7/64/110) sparkled as well... 2B Johnny Smith (.287/22/72) had by far the best year of his 8-year career... Charles Darby (20-11 3.93) was the ace of the mound staff. The Eastshore Elegants (66-88) finished last in the RU East, 15 games back... Killer Brewster's crew hit with authority (.270) and power (144 homers), but did poorly on the hill (4.34)... top hitters are 2B Tucker Hill (.358/5/70/91), LF Darrel Alston (.273/30/84/70) and RF Stan Cuccinello (.307/19/68/68)... Eddie Lance (14-13 3.61) was Eastshore's top pitcher.