[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, June 24, 2014

7-Team Race, Mahaska Has Slight Lead In TU North
At the halfway mark in the season the Tycobbian Union is still up for grabs with a 7-team tangle. The Mahaska Haymakers have a slight 1-game lead over North Hills, 3 over Hartsdale and Oxford and 5 over Blue Lake, defending champ Fairfax and Luxora. Cellar-dwelling White River is the only club that has no chance for the pennant.

Manager Rusty Tanussa has greatly improved his pitching and the Mahaska Haymakers (41-32) are doing quite well, but they have a task to stay on top in the last half of the season. There are quite a few clubs within striking distance and ready to take over if they slip... Mahaska has two good starters in 37-year-old Bill Sunday (11-5 4.05) and 42-year-old Johnny Spears (6-8 3.04), a strong relief corps and two strong bats in All-Star C Bucky O'Brian (.349/17/54/45) and 1B Johnny Carducci (.290/13/51)... In addition the Haymakers have a veteran player at almost every regular position.

Much-improved hitting has made the North Hills Hawks (40-33) a threat this year... they were sixth last season... Skipper Hub Carlson has them right on Mahaska's tail and in the thick of things, just one game out of first... the Hawks are strong defensively with a .979 FA... Carlson's batting order is full of veterans, led by 1B Rob Pearson (.278/15/55/46), LF Brodie Blackburn (.320/8/34/39) and CF Charley Walton (.309/0/22/41)... on the mound North Hills has Lou Dozier (7-3 3.61) and Ronnie Kerensky (9-6 3.45) as two reliable starters and closer Denny Stuart (5-2) in the bullpen with 11 saves and a strong 2.10 ERA... the Hawks look like they are in the race to stay.

Zim Donner's hard-hitting Hartsdale Hellcats (38-35) are back on track after a disasterous eighth-place finish in 2013... a good offense and improved mound staff have made the difference... Hartsdale is only 3 games off the pace and deadlocked with Oxford for third in the standings... top hitters are All-Star SS Jud Turchin (.326/19/46/58), 1B Tom Brabant (.330/14/54) and 3B Kendry Moulton (.319/17/57)... you would be hard put to find a better trio of 3-4-5 batters in the IPA... Donner also has two reliable starters in Rip Arnold (8-7 3.28) and Ronnie Jernigan (10-4 3.45)... Ben Clermont (3-3 3.00) gets the bullpen work done well with 11 saves... The Hellcats will make their presence known in the second half of the season.

The Oxford Red Caps (38-35) are again hitting the ball like they did in their heyday, when Campy Roy's crew won four flags in its first six seasons in the IPA... The Red Caps have some scoring power with LF Mack Spencer (.273/16/51), 1B Eddy Dowler (.295/14/51/45), RF Ozzie Takach (.333/6/28/40) and C Sollie Rees (.308/9/32/33)... the team is hitting .270 (6th) and has 93 home runs (4th)... Roy has some capable arms in Del Anderson (8-4 3.49), Norm Mann (10-4 4.24) and Emerson Carnell (6-9 2.98)... Oxford could use some help on defense as they are near the bottom with a very poor .965 FA.

Cobb Tyson's Blue Lake Blue Sox (36-37) are tied with Fairfax and Luxora for fifth place in the TU North, all 5 games back... the Blue Sox are keeping close with 7-year vet Justin Eckhardt (8-7 3.12) and young 24-year-old Nick Walker (7-5 2.81)... 22-year-old closer Tony Reed (0-1 1.77) has impressed in 19 games... Reed has 8 saves... Tyson needs vets Neil Krogstad (5-11 4.06) and Dan Whitfield (9-8 4.27) to have better second halves to contend for the pennant... Blue Lake is also in dire need of some offense, batting only .246 (30th) with only 58 homers (27th)... when asked who his best hitters are, the blunt Tyson replied tersely, "I have none."

The Fairfax Frogs (36-37) are the defending champion in the TU North, but have suffered a devastating loss... Superstar RF Dane Wesner dislocated his shoulder while diving for a ball in the first week of the season and could be back the last few weeks of the year... Wesner hits .341 lifetime and averages almost 40 home runs, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored each year... No team can replace a talent like that... Manager Harry Buckley is hanging in with vets Steve Aaron (7-6 3.16) and Ken Hill (8-8 3.29) in his starting roles and quality closer Floyd Burnett (4-2 3.24) with 10 saves... but it is tough to win when your team is batting a lowly .240 (32nd)... the Frogs best bat belongs to SS Wes Hickox (.276/14/46/44)... Buckley needs his other two starters Joe Hampton (5-9 4.57) and Dan Hunt (6-5 3.53) to pick up where they left off in pennant-winning 2013... Hampton was 18-13 with a 2.97 ERA, while Hunt was 18-16 with a 3.49 ERA... the Fairfax batting order could pick it up, too... Better pitching and better batting might lift the Frogs back to the top rung of the TU North.

The Luxora Zorros (36-37) are also tied for fifth, but are just five games off the pace of Mahaska... Alejandro Rodrigo has seen his pitching corps take a drastic dive to mediocrity from a solid 3.50 to a poor 4.20 team ERA... Last season Elio Laurente was 20-14 with a 2.98 ERA and Tommy Wrightman was 19-13 with 2.91 ERA... this year they have stumbled to 7-7 and 4.34 for Laurente and 4-7 and 6.13 for Wrightman... The Z's top pitchers are Marcus Zamora (8-6 4.06) and Anthony Glaser (7-6 4.09)... nowhere near what you need to compete in the IPA... Luxora's strong points this year have been the play of All-Star 3B Pablo Santa Cruz (.345/5/38/53/17 SB), LF Gene Watson (.307/12/63) and 1B Billy Whitney (.332/2/24/46).

It's another bad year for the White River Rascals (23-50)... John Randison's club has made the first division in the TU North only once in its 13-year history... that was a fourth-place finish in 2008... the Rascals have never come close to the playoffs... this looks like it will be the worst season ever... they are in last place, 18 games out, and have only 23 victories so far... Not much talent on the Rascals... Randison's best performers are pitcher Mick Cronyn (5-7 3.86), 1B Marty Blake (.317/17/38) and 3B Jess Crockhart (.292/7/31).