[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 20, 2016

2016 Tycobbian East Final Recap

Ozarka Overwhelms TU East Again
For the second year in a row and fifth time in the last 7 years, the Ozarka Naturals have claimed the Tycobbian East pennant. Ozarka zapped everybody in the league and rang up 105 victories to easily take the division title by 16 games over the High Mesa Cowboys, 17 games over the South Fork Stallions and 24 games better than the Midway Wolves. The Nats were not challenged this year like last year. Tuckanarra went into the tank this season and plunged from second place to seventh place. The Blue Jays fought Ozarka tooth-and-nail in 2015 before being edged out by 3 games.

It was hard to improve on 99 wins last year, but Ozarka (105-49) did it by being the best in hitting with a super .287 BA, scoring with 818 runs and pitching with a strong 3.09 ERA... the Nats were also second in fielding with a fine .977 FA... Joe Mac Carney's club racked up 105 wins this season... no one was close to them... the Nats featured four quality starters in their youthful rotation, sparked by All-Star Benny Ostermann (25-6 2.58), Wayne Gates (24-13 2.82) and Eddie Roberts (15-5 3.00), along with Dennis Purcell (17-7 3.60)... no one is older than 28 and should be around for years to come, which is bad news for the league... on the hill or in the batter's box Ozarka really dazzles... All-Star 3B Andre Dumas (.359/45/123/114) was even better than his colossal rookie season last year... and he had plenty of support from 1B Benny Rousseau (.316/34/99/84), All-Star 2B Todd Chadwick (.301/19/92/99) and C Frank Kiffin (.320/14/66/91)... Look for Ozarka to go far in the Pro Cup playoffs... the Naturals will likely be favored to take it all this year.

Ozarka had no competition this season in the division... runner-up High Mesa (89-65) was a distant 16 games off the pace... Frisky Franks' Cowpokes play in a home run paradise Queen Ranch Stadium and pile up lots of runs and homers, but also surrenders a lot of them... High Mesa went deep 244 times to lead the IPA and batted .267 (7th)... its pitching staff recorded a sky-high 4.41 ERA (28th)... it needs to be around the 4.00 mark for the Cowboys to challenge for the division crown... High Mesa has two solid starters... young 23-year-old Frankie Walsh (21-10 3.59) has been quite impressive in his first two seasons... 14-year vet Kent Wells (13-7 4.04) is still hanging in there at 37... on the offensive side of the ledger sheets the Cowboys have four batters with 30 or more roundtrippers... now in his fourth year splendid All-Star 1B Jack Elliott (.367/53/130/133) continues to put up massive numbers... other strong contributors are LF Danny Nash (.297/30/91/88), RF Darrel Alston (.266/31/83/81) and 3B Wild Deer Etchimin (.268/31/82/89)... High Mesa is the best fielding club in the IPA with an excellent .979 FA... the Cowboys and Cape Coral are tied for the top spot in fielding.

The South Fork Stallions (88-66) came in third in the TU East under manager Duroche "Lips" Leon, 17 games back... the Hosses coupled good hitting and pitching... they put up a .277 BA (2nd) and a good 3.48 team ERA (8th)... the Stallions climbed up from sixth place in 2015... top pitchers include newcomer Sean Swensen (22-10 2.83), obtained in a trade with Valmara in the pre-season and Blackie Terranova (17-13 3.06)... Swensen was an All-Star... top batters are All-Star CF Robby Michael (.355/25/100/80), 1B Joe Peters (.329/30/100/103), RF Terry Goudeau (.261/24/94/85) and 2B Gabe Barksdale (.263/19/93/68).

Cochise Chandler brought his Midway Wolves (81-73) in the first division for the sixth season in a row... the Wolves wound up 24 games out in fourth place in the standings... two fine starters Sherm Jarvis (24-13 3.26) and Motega Wolf (17-16 3.01) carried the team... both suffered from the lack of offense... Midway batted only .250 (23rd), but did slam 198 home runs (2nd)... the Wolves were ranked only 15th in runs scored however... closer Dom Vilaggio (0-4) saved 30 games and compiled an outrageously low 0.70 ERA... at the plate Chandler's best bats belonged to 1B Gerry Jordan (.274/38/109/92) and CF Johnny Lee (.273/25/80/94).

The Hillsboro Blazers (75-79) have never made the playoffs in their IPA history... in fact, Arky Spanderson's club has never had a winning season... but Hillsboro climbed up out of the cellar and ran fifth this year, 30 games behind in the standings... the Blazers have power with 178 homers (5th) and a couple of quality arms... Pat Buettner (21-13 3.32) had a sensational season considering he has to pitch in tiny Hanford Stadium... Tom Edgar (17-14 2.99) was an even tougher pitcher, but didn't get good run support... 1B Andy Jefferson carried the club with 40 homers and 93 RBIs, but batted only .268 for average.

The sixth spot went to Mack Connery's Red Bluff Red Sox (74-80), who wound up 31 games out of first place... the Red Sox's top performers were superstar 1B Tommy Klegg (.306/36/132/96), who had another very productive year at age 37... and two starters: John Dougherty (17-19 3.14) and Grady Daggs (15-15 3.56)... overall Red Bluff was mediocre in batting and pitching, but very good with a .977 FA.

It was a woeful year for Carlton "Lefty" Stevens and his Tuckanarra Blue Jays (71-83), who sunk near the bottom of the TU East and finished a very disappointing seventh, 34 games behind division-winning Ozarka... The Blue Jays were runners-up in the previous two seasons... What caused the bottom to drop out, no one is quite sure... brilliant fielder and lead-off man CF Earl O'Brien retired at 39 at the top of his game... O'Brien really could cover the ground in center field and had a career .996 FA... that was one reason with the rest of the blame going to the pitching staff which just did not perform as well this season... Titus Bristow (16-21) lost a lot of games due to poor run support... he was as good as ever with a sparkling 2.79 ERA... Roy Spence was 16-3 last year and 18-17 this year... his ERA also rose up from 2.65 to 3.60 this season... Yuka Nawajuk (16-12 3.51) had his usual steady season... closer Stephen Eubarinja (1-3) saved 19 games, but didn't get as many save opportunities as usual... Eubarinja posted a very fine 1.72 ERA... Stevens still has quality bats in his line-up with 1B Erik Vayda (.294/16/107/76), RF Danny Redd (.346/69/96) and SS Rocky Fuqua (.310/12/56/95).

The East Point Panthers (59-95) had another horrendous season under Griff Clarke... they finished last for the fifth time in the last seven seasons... Clarke doesn't have a lot of pitching and not a lot of hitting... the Panthers compiled a 4.60 team ERA (31st)... its bullpen is even worse with a 5.26 ERA (31st)... they batted .260 (16th) this year with 141 homers (15th), but didn't score well, ranking 25th... East Point does have some talent... on the hill Bingo Long (10-22 4.04) and Erke Tonisson (12-18 3.80) are capable hurlers, but in need of more run support... the Panthers usually reliable hard-hitting 2B Jesse Goodwin tailed off considerably at age 41... the five-time All-Star dipped to .256 at the plate with only 23 home runs and 84 RBIs.