[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Turon Retakes TU South, CC Hurricanes 2nd
The powerful Turon Typhoons reestablished themselves as the class of the Tycobbian South in 2013. They busted open a tight race with the defending champs, the Cape Coral Hurricanes, with a sensational September to pull away and win by 9 games. Turon has now won five of the last six years. This was its sixth overall crown. It was only a two-team race with no other real challengers. The Colchester Elites copped third place and trailed by 15 games and the Ginza Ninjas were fourth, 18 games behind.

RU South Team Rankings

Batting Average
1. Arroyo Grande .275
2. Turon .272
3. Southport .262
4. Cape Coral .261

Home Runs
1. Colchester 172
1. Arroyo Grande 172
3. Turon 161
4. Cape Coral 154

Runs
1. Turon 882
2. Arroyo Grande 803
3. Cape Coral 754
4. Colchester 696

ERA
1. Turon 3.11
2. Southport 3.26
3. San Alejo 3.38
4. Ginza 3.50

Fielding Average
1. Ginza .979
2. Colchester .976
3. Southport .973
3. Arroyo Grande .973
3. Cape Coral .973

After a close loss to Cape Coral last season, manager Ashton "Whitey" Richburn righted his Turon Typhoons (95-69) and they won handily this season, tallying up the second-best win total in the Tycobbian Union, outdone only by Tuckanarra of the TU East. The Blue Jays chalked up a great season and 100 victories. The Typhoons strong pitching and strong bats are a hard combination to beat. Young Nicky Engstrom was again brilliant with a 25-6 record and 2.10 ERA. It was his fourth straight 20-win season. Engstrom had plenty of help from veterans Jeb Pickett (21-12 2.94), James Stuart (18-13 3.08) and Jacques Lemaire (16-9 3.57). There is no better starting rotation in the entire IPA. Turon put up a splendid 3.11 team ERA (2nd), bested only by Tuckanarra's microscopic 2.92 ERA (1st).

At the plate the Typhoons were just as good with a .272 mark (4th), 161 homers (13th) and 882 runs (1st). Leading the hit parade was the truly-gifted 1B Clyde Kingsford, who was even better in his sophomore year. The 27-year-old Kingsford ripped 46 home runs, batted .316 with 147 RBIs and 117 runs scored. He led the IPA in RBIs and ranked high in other power categories. CF Mac McCurnan had a standout year with 27 homers, 106 RBIs, 102 runs and a .288 batting average. LF Raphael Semmes (.274/19/88/89) and 2B Alan Hansen (.285/3/50/113) also were important run producers.

Cape Coral (86-68) just didn't have the hitting and the pitching to compete with Turon this year, although Huggy Miller's charges tried hard and stayed with the Typhoons until September, when they fizzled and faded. Pitching-wise Cody Burg (19-11 3.20) and closer Bobby Maas (6-3 2.63) carried the Hurricanes. Maas finished with 32 saves. Other starters Nasty Naymick (15-14 4.15) and Adam Lundgren (11-9 4.08) had down years. Cape Coral only had a few quality bats, none to compare to Turon's. White's best performers were 3B Bobby Josker (.291/18/87/90) and C Todd Boyd (.292/20/89/76).

It was a good year for the third place Colchester Elites (80-74), but they still wound up 15 games off the pace, never posing any threat. Uncle Robbie Wilbertson depend on home runs to get by. The Elites clubbed 172 this year (18th-tied), paced by one of the all-time IPA stars 1B Harlan Roscoe, who delivered for them again and now has over 350 homers, 1250 RBIs and has scored over a 1000 times. Roscoe hit .302 with 26 roundtrippers, 107 RBIs and scored 76 runs. Another solid veteran CF Douglas Tilford chipped in with a .305 average, 17 home runs, 99 runs and 66 RBIs. Colchester only had a couple of quality pitchers. 38-year-old starter Jimmy Simmons (17-16 3.23) has registered a great 183-127 record in his 10 seasons with a very impressive 2.83 ERA. Closer Don Richard was superb in the bullpen with an astronomically-low 0.99 ERA in 49 appearances with a 3-3 record and 36 saves.

Down in Ginza (77-77) the Ninjas broke even for the year and finished 18 games back of Turon. Manager Huroko Uchiyama has a very good starting rotation with Joji Azuma (21-14 2.97), Carl Trebek (17-14 2.71) and Al Myers (15-10 3.11), but suffers batting woes. Ginza just simply doesn't score enough to compete with the likes of Turon, Cape Coral and Colchester. But Uchiyama found a jewel in rookie C Crash Davis, who debuted in grand style with a .329 batting average, 30 home runs, 91 RBIs and 100 runs.

The Southport Sun Sox (76-78) were fifth in the TU South standings, 19 games behind. Skipper Charley Oscar has fine pitching, but mediocre hitting. His top performers are Neil Howell (16-16 2.70) and RF Big Stick Takala (.276/34/99/72).

The San Alejo Montaneros (69-85) wound up in the sixth spot and were 26 games back. Manager Lando Peceda has wealth of good arms, but little in the way of offense. His most capable players are starters Mateus Salinas (19-15 3.28) and rookie Sam Sloat (14-12 3.64), along with 1B Dominique Poirot (.328/25/89/72) and CF Adam Manzoni (.300/4/41/84).

Lousy hitting and average pitching tells the story of the 2013 Summerland Sunsets (66-88), who wound up 29 games behind and in seventh place. Manager Will Hackett has two good pitchers in starter Denny Coulon (12-18 3.16) and closer Frank Gerber (5-6 2.09). Gerber had 21 saves in 44 games this season. 33-year-old Coulon has won over 200 games in his 13-year-career. CF Jim Garrison (.268/19/61/65) is Summerland's only decent bat.

Jean-Luc Marchand's Arroyo Grande Suns (65-89) are right near the top in all of the offensive categories, but are dead last in pitching. The Suns batted .275 (3rd), scored 803 runs (3rd) and hit 172 homers (8th), but had 4.91 team ERA (32nd). That translates to a last-place finish and 30 games away from first place. Aydan Havilland (13-13 3.58) is Arroyo Grande's only pitcher under a 4.00 ERA, most of them are over 5.00.

At the plate LF Jet Kazmarek still gets the job done at age 38. The 9-time batting title winner didn't win it this season, but he did hit .327 with 9 homers, 73 RBIs, 84 runs and 27 stolen bases. Vet 1B Sherm Miles cracked 31 out of the park, batted .288 with 114 RBIs and scored 82 runs. 11-year veteran Kenny Edelstein had another solid season with a .290 mark, 18 home runs, scored 108 runs and batted in 68. Sensational rookie SS Andy Pearson put up an awesome first season with a .322 BA, 16 homers, 116 RBIs and scored 100 times.