[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 20, 2016

2016 Tycobbian West Final Recap

Bayview Wins TU West, But Blows Huge Lead
"Too close for comfort" said manager Walter Johanssen when the Bayview Vikings finally clinched the Tycobbian West flag. The Viks were 17 games up on second-place Bay St. Clair going into the last six weeks of the season, but held off the defending division champs by a scant 3 games. The Buccaneers went 32-17 down the stretch, while Bayview slumped badly to 18-27. Rolling Hills was way back in third place, 17 games behind in the race. Fourth-place Kenwood was 21 games off the pace.

Bayview (95-59) combined good pitching and good hitting to knock off Bay St. Clair... the Viks could score and had a good starting four... rookie All-Star Harald Turi (26-4 2.19) had an amazing debut in the IPA... and Turi had plenty of help from vets Norm Roy (19-10 3.90) and Rick Pritchard (18-15 3.27)... number four starter Don Griggs (11-6 3.19) contributed, too... but it was the Bayview bats that made the difference in the pennant race... a line-up with All-Star 3B Karl Benson (.337/40/138/90), All-Star LF Davey Krueger (.299/43/105/102), RF Tommy Riddle (.272/36/112/98), 1B Stan Haddix (.321/18/54/89) and 2B Tommy Shore (.289/6/51/112) is hard to beat.

The Bay St. Clair Buccaneers (92-62) waited too late to make their move and couldn't quite catch the Vikings... last year's TU West winner and Pro Cup finalist just didn't have the hitting to beat Bayview... Guy Rondre's Bucs were much improved over last year's club, mainly on the mound, but still didn't repeat... Rondre's veteran rotation consists of All-Star Benny Coates (24-10 2.97), Duke DeVree (18-12 3.07), Chris Van Arden (15-12 3.43) and Bobby Joe Belvin (16-9 3.60)... Bay St. Clair's top batters were 1B Gerry Fields (.300/43/120/87), CF Todd Bryant (.252/25/89/105) and 2B Bud Walker (.287/3/53/99).

Manager Matty Christianson got good mileage out of the Rolling Hills Reds (78-76) this season, boosting them from seventh place to a third-place spot, but 17 games out... Christianson had good pitching with a 3.44 team ERA (6th), but weak bats... the Reds batted only .247 (25th) and ranked 19th in runs... Sal Jordan (15-18 2.87) was the top pitcher, but didn't get good run support like rookie Fred O'Neil (17-12 3.20) and vet Ernie Watkins (17-12 4.05)... closer Alfonso Gonzales (4-5 2.47) led a strong bullpen with 28 saves... top hitters were 3B Clay Hoffman (.290/33/107/79), LF Donnie Lewis (.322/6/63/93) and 1B Michael Griffin, who slugged 29 homers, drove in 97 runs, but batted only .236 for average.

The Kenwood Wildcats (74-80) under the guidance of Aaron Hankins won the IPA Pro Cup two seasons ago, but has seen its offense go south since and the club has dropped in the standings down to fourth place, 21 games back of Bayview... the Wildcats hit only .246 (26th) with only 99 homers (30th)... Kenwood pitching is not what it was in the title season, either... Hankins' hill corps put up a 3.73 ERA (14th), paced by Sammy Shaw (17-13 3.47), Connie Gavagan (16-16 3.65) and Sol Yakis (14-11 3.65)... 37-year-old LF Dennis Riley (.280/25/89/68) was the only dependable hitting in the batting order.

The Chicopee Braves (68-86) dropped from a strong second in 2015 to a distant fifth-place finish in 2016, trailing by 27 games... Harry Fleetwood's Braves were inept at the plate with a .239 mark (31st) and also ranked near the bottom in scoring and homers... on the mound they were fairly good with a 3.50 team ERA (10th)... All-Star Tommy Ruffin (18-13 3.11) and Scotty Simmons (16-13 3.68) led the club in victories, but vet Desmond Quartermain (11-16 2.97) was the ace, a victim many times of an impotent offense... reliable C Ivan Burkholder (.290/24/88/80) again led the Chicopee hitters.

The La Claire Lynx (65-89) can put runs on the scoreboard, but not enough to outscore the opposition... skipper Rip Calkin's ball club hit .274 (3rd) with 170 roundtrippers (6th) and finished tied for 5th in scoring, yet came in sixth, 30 games in back of the division winner... the pitching staff compiled a poor 4.58 ERA (30th)... only vet Andy Murray (15-15 3.62) could get anyone out with regularity... gifted All-Star and future HOF-er LF Zeppy Deshotel (.355/33/126/112) put up career numbers to spark the attack with much help from All-Star 3B Flash Devlin (.331/41/122/128) and RF Taro Nakanishi (.267/27/113/71)... 33-year-old Deshotel is a 7-time All-Star and a lifetime .311 hitter in his 12 seasons... Devlin is 23 years of age, a lifetime .325 batter and has made the All-Star squad twice in his four seasons.

Times have gotten hard for Gary Louis' Arlon Champions (62-92) since winning the TU West title in 2012... this season the Champs sank down to seventh place and 33 games out... they were a very close third last year... basically Arlon is just a bad ball team with a .242 BA (30th), 115 HRs (25th) and a 4.37 team ERA (27th)... vets Armando Cruz (14-19 3.82) and Happy McManus (14-20 3.83) are the Champs best chuckers... 31-year-old LF Rocco Belasario (.321/28/85/104) is still a solid, all-around performer after 12 years... Belasario has made the All-Star team 5 times and has 4 gold gloves.

The glory days have disappeared for the Denton City Redbirds (61-93)... they have 6 pennants flying in the wind at Douglas Denton Field... manager Ford Whiteman hoisted the last one in 2013 and the Redbirds have fallen into mediocrity ever since... this season they posted their worst record ever, by far, and fell down to the cellar, 34 games behind... no longer does Denton City have potent bats and strong pitching... the Redbirds are near the bottom with a .245 BA (28th), just 95 home runs (31st), 31st in scoring and just passable with a 3.96 team ERA (21st)... toss in lousy defense, too, with a .968 FA... the only thing Whiteman has to smile about is his pitching star and clear-cut Hall-of-Famer Mila Mohoski... the 37-year-old splendid southpaw was only 15-15 this year, but he chalked up a fine 2.93 ERA... Lifetime Mohoski is 281-191 with a 3.04 ERA... he is also 16-11 with a 3.07 ERA in the postseason.