[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 20, 2016

2016 Tycobbian South Final Recap

Typhoons Late Surge Overtake Hurricanes
Turon trailed Cape Coral most of the season by 6 games or more, but the Typhoons surged past the Hurricanes with a terrific 23-5 record in August to go ahead by 3 games. Turon built it up to 5 games in September then held off Cape Coral's closing rush, which was too little, too late. The Hurricanes shaved the lead down to 2 games with two remaining, but the Typhoons won them both and took the Tycobbian South by 2 games. Ginza and Southport wound up tied for third, 12 games back.

Whitey Richburn won the division crown for the 8th time in 11 seasons... The Turon Typhoons (92-62) are a well-balanced club with good bats (.272 BA-4th) and strong pitching (3.13 ERA- 2nd), decent power (139 HR-16th) and average defense (.973 FA)... Richburn has a solid rotation with Nicky Engstrom, Ted Farentino, James Stuart and Jeb Pickett... the 27-year-old Engstrom (21-7 2.02), the IPA ERA leader, won 20 games for the 7th straight season, while 35-year-old Farentino (21-13 2.59) has found new life in Turon after laboring for 6 frustrating years in Hillsboro... Stuart (15-10 3.48) and Pickett (15-12 3.95) were Richburn's three and four starters... closer Merle Studebaker (4-5) notched 32 saves and a 3.15 ERA to head up a solid bullpen... All-Star superstar Clyde Kingsford (.326/46/141/119) remains one of the best players in the IPA at age 30... CF Mack McCurnan (.282/22/98/101), RF Jack Brown (.286/20/97/78) and LF Andy Porter (.289/21/86/63), all veterans give Turon a strong outfield.

Most of the year it looked like defending champion Cape Coral (90-64) was headed for its second successive division crown season, but the Hurricanes got blown away by Turon torrid August... still Huggy Miller has a fine ball club with a .273 BA (4th), 783 runs (3rd), fairly good pitching with a 3.81 ERA (16th) and standout defense with a .979 FA... strikeout king Cody Burg (20-13 2.74) had another standout season... Burg leads the IPA in wins with a 290-177 record and also with over 3900 strikeouts... Burg led the TU for the 13th time in Ks with 298... it was also the best in the IPA... second-year starter Ray Salisbury (21-11 3.04) made the All-Star team and won 20 games again... number three starter Zane Robinson (18-9 3.66) had his best year in a lackluster career... 16-year veteran 3B Flipper Bird (.299/20/70/124) had his best season in 10 years... All-Star 2B Lonnie Moon (.289/18/85/92) had his best year in a while... 1B Avery Womack (.321/15/83/67) topped the 'Canes in BA... and CF Derek Ryckman (.254/14/82/100) hit productively and fielded brilliantly with no errors in the outfield.

The Ginza Ninjas (80-74) and Southport Sun Sox tied for the third spot in the TU South standings and finished 12 games off the pace... skipper Huroko Uchiyama's top performers were All-Star pitchers Carl Trebek (19-17 3.36) and Kakuzo Harimoto (3-5 3.10)... both tailed off in the second half of the season, when the Ninjas fell well back of the top two teams... Harimoto wound up with 29 saves... superstar C Crash Davis carried the club with a .367 BA, 34 home runs, 104 RBIs and 116 runs scored... helped out by CF Jack Vorland (.277/24/95/86) and 1B Hiroji Fujikawa (.286/9/81/97).

Southport (80-74), managed by Charley Oscar, got better pitching and moved up from sixth place to a third-place tie and the first division, playing over .500 baseball for the first time since its only playoff season in 2002... Wilcy Lord (17-10 3.12) and rookie Bob Montgomery (18-15 2.93) paced the Sun Sox mound staff, aided greatly by closer Danny Fontaine (2-3), who registered 24 saves with an excellent 1.81 ERA... LF Walt Muller was the top batter with a .289 mark, 25 homers and 94 RBIs.

The Summerland Sunsets (76-78) came in fifth, 16 games away from first place Turon... Will Hackett's club hit poorly with a .246 BA (27th), had only 124 homers (22th), were fairly good in the hill with a 3.54 team ERA (11th), but they stood out with one of the best bullpens in the IPA with a 2.74 ERA... The Sunset relievers led the TU... closer Leon Mullin compiled a 6-4 record with 27 saves and an impressive 2.29 ERA... rubber-armed vet Denny Coulon (18-16 2.82) was Summerland's top starter... Coulon has posted a 259-217 mark with an outstanding 2.92 ERA in his 16 years in the league... CF Jim Garrison (.310/26/82/99) and 3B John Reynaud (.281/20/71/96) led the batters.

Uncle Robbie Wilbertson's Colchester Elites (72-82) ended up near the bottom again for the second consecutive season... they came in sixth, 20 games out in the pennant race... Wilbertson doesn't have a lot of talent except for All-Star 1B Harlan Roscoe (.314/28/82/83) and even he had deflated numbers this year, despite a good first half showing... Roscoe could be slowing down at age 36 and 15 years in the IPA... the Elites hit only .257 (18th) with 114 homers (13th), ranking 18th in scoring... on the mound the team ERA stood at a mediocre 4.14 (24th)... best starter was Shannon Hayden (14-16 3.29)... closer Don Richard (5-9) had 27 saves and a strong 2.37 ERA.

In 2015, the Arroyo Grande Suns (71-83) unexpectedly popped up from 7th to 3rd in TU South, but this year came back down to earth and back into 7th place again, trailing by 21 games... Jean-Luc Marchand's charges, playing in hitter-friendly Capet Stadium, hit the ball well with a .265 BA (12th), scored well (12th) and went deep very well with 196 roundtrippers (3rd), but need help in the pitching department, which chalked up a poor 4.14 team ERA (23rd)... however, the Suns do possess a good starting foursome in 24-year-old Ray Reed (15-14 3.42), 26-year-old Ernie Mathews (16-20 3.87), and two oldtimers, 40-year-old Aydan Havilland (15-15 3.90) and 37-year-old Miguel Aguilera (13-17 4.04)... at the plate the Suns really shine with All-Star RF Buddy Bechnel (.313/46/92/122), All-Star SS Andy Pearson (.359/27/90/100) and 1B Sherm Miles (.302/28/96/71).

For the third season in a row the hapless San Alejo Montaneros (60-94) found themselves in the TU South basement, 32 games behind... manager Lando Peceda has an atrocious team with a pathetic .225 BA (32nd) and a bad 4.42 team ERA (29th)... 22-year-old closer Robby Franks was Peceda's only talent... Franks was 5-1 with 13 saves and a great 1.92 ERA... 23-year-old starter Iggy Cobos (11-20 3.47) gave the Montaneros a lot of quality innings and deserved a better fate... it would really be embarrassing to list San Alejo's top hitters, so I won't.