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The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
2019 Tycobbian East Final Recap
Ozarka TU East Champs, Fifth Straight Pennant
Nothing new in the Tycobbian East... The Ozarka Naturals made shambles of the race again... The Nats won for the fifth time in a row and eighth time in the last decade... Ozarka swept the title by 9 games over the Midway Wolves, 12 games better than the Hillsboro Blazers and 14 ahead of the High Mesa Cowboys... the TU East is the strongest division in the IPA with 7 teams playing over .500 ball... it was a close race until mid-year with five teams within six games of each other... but Ozarka pulled away in the second half.
Ozarka has an explosive attack with a .289 team batting average and good power... the Nats led the IPA in batting average and ranked high in run scored... 3B Andre Dumas (.277/34/100/84), 1B Benny Rousseau (.308/28/89/74) and RF Ken Mayberry (.347/6/62/105) were the main bats with plenty of help from SS James Couch (.352/12/52/75) and CF Ryoma Nakayama (.302/10/65/67)... Dumas had the worst batting average of any regular at .277... on the hill manager Joe Mac Carnery featured four quality arms in Yuka Nawajuk (19-13 2.78), Benny Osterman (19-13 3.25), Howard Hutch (19-7 3.39) and Wayne Gates (16-12 3.61)... Nawajuk was 11-0 with a 1.95 ERA after being picked up in a trade with Tuckanarra... Ozarka is expected to duel with Turon for the TU title and a spot in the IPA Pro Cup Finals.
The second-place Midway Wolves cracked 202 homers (2nd) and were number two in scoring... 5 Wolves hit over 20 homers and all 8 regulars were in double digits, paced by 1B Cal Hunter (.322/21/87/88), CF Johnny Lee (.277/24/92/77) and RF Lou Sturge (.239/30/75/90)... Motega Wolf (20-12 2.45) and Sherm Jarvis (23-4 3.97) and Dakota Dyami (16-8 3.90) formed an impressive rotation with Dom Vilaggio (4-7) as the closer... Vilaggio saved 30 games and posted a fine 2.73 ERA.
Another powerful club was third place Hillsboro with a league-leading 207 homers... the Blazers were fourth-best in scoring... CF Bob Graham (.300/21/82/101), 2B Matt Lalonde (.308/26/94/86), C Gil Giroux (.296/18/86/84), 1B Andy Jefferson (.288/38/93/75), RF Tony Salerno (.283/26/79/66) and LF Raphael Semmes (.247/28/74/90) led an endless list of sluggers... skipper Rawhide Marshall also had decent pitching to go with the offense, headed up by Chris Dean (22-12 2.54) and Tom Edgar (15-14 3.30)... closer Hank Hellman (5-6 3.53) notched 32 saves.
Normally the High Mesa Cowboys lose out because of sub-par pitching... but it was not the case this year... manager Frisky Franks's staff more than did its job on the mound... the fourth-place Cowpokes had a capable core of starters in Ronald Ward (20-10 3.30), Frankie Walsh (18-14 3.60), Scotty Snyder (13-13 2.81) and Koichi Ishikawa (14-14 3.61)... closer Ed Galiano (10-7) really did a fine job in the bullpen with 17 saves and a 2.43 ERA... the High Mesa hitters were third in homers with 199 and were sparked by the legendary 1B Jack Elliott (.358/53/125/150), LF Darrel Alston (.274/31/95/75) and 2B Wild Deer Etchimin (.286/25/64/84)... despite these numbers the Cowboys ranked 10th in scoring.
The Red Bluff Red Sox and South Fork Stallions tied for the fifth spot and trailed by 17 games... Bucky Frizell's Red Sox had two solid starters in Grady Daggs (21-14 3.34) and Paul Nelson (17-15 3.28) and an exceptional closer in Rod Westfall (3-4), who logged 33 saves and chalked up a sensational 1.36 ERA... Red Bluff just didn't score enough runs and ranked far down the list in 22nd place... 2B James Mack (.331/25/98/78) sparked the offense with some help from SS Jerry Richardson (.271/21/89/81), LF D'Andrew Clayburn (.277/22/90) and CF Ron van Riebe (.306/28/76).
The South Fork Stallions had the hitting, but fell down on the mound this year... Duroche "Lips" Leon's Stallions were seventh in batting and scoring, but 22nd in team ERA... 1B Joe Peters paced the bats with a .302 mark, 19 homers, 115 runs batted in and 102 scored... LF Patric Giles had an excellent freshmen season with a .313 BA, 32 home runs, 96 RBIs and 94 runs... and vet RF Robby Michael contributed a .316 batting average, 16 roundtrippers, 72 RBIs and 99 runs scored... Sean Swensen (17-15 3.54), Blackie Terranova (16-12 3.70) and Jason Graham (13-15 2.78) were South Fork best arms.
In spite of strong pitching the Tuckanarra Blue Jays took a nosedive in the second half and sunk down to seventh in the TU East, winding up 19 games off the pace of champ Ozarka... Billy Boy Hawkes (17-10 2.98) led the staff with help from Knucks Nomellini (12-12 2.42) and Titus Bristow (15-19 3.38)... Archie Desmond (3-5) did well in the closing role with 21 saves and a fine 2.43 ERA... RF Danny Redd was the only real bat with a .341 average, 20 homers, 93 RBIs and 99 runs.
For the eighth time in the last 10 years the hapless East Point Panthers found themselves in last place, 34 games behind... manager Rex Sokolov's club is just mediocre to borderline bad in both hitting and on the hill... Gil Masters (16-17 3.61) was the best pitcher and CF Sozi Akiyama (.302/18/93/79) was the best bat.
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