[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 21, 2027

2027 Tycobbian East Final Recap

Wolves Hold Off Panthers and Nats In TU East
A hot streak in July and August brought home the Tycobbian East title to the Midway Wolves for the third time in history... it was a season-long struggle... the Wolves were a close fourth at the halfway point and took charge in the second half and managed to survive a bad September and hold off the East Point Panthers and Ozarka Naturals in the last few weeks... None of the contenders played above the .500 mark in September... a hot streak by any of them would have won it... Midway nudged out East Point by 2 games and Ozarka by 3... three clubs, Tuckanarra, High Mesa and South Fork, deadlocked for fourth and were beaten out by 6 games... even seventh place Red Bluff was fairly close, just 7 games off the pace... Hillsboro was a distant 14 games back and finished in last place.

Manager Cochise Chandler picked up his third pennant in 14 years with a fairly good offense that had a little pop and All-Star ace Bobby Dorignac... the Midway Wolves (82-72) hit .252 (14th) with 149 homers (4th) and ranked 3rd in runs... Midway had a solid rotation with Dorignac (25-11 2.56), Cary Snead (15-7 3.40), Alberto Toledo (17-15 3.88) and vet Motega Wolf (13-18 3.95) providing some good starts to help out Dorignac... no outstanding batters in the lineup, but Chandler did have 9 guys in double digits in home runs... All-Star 3B Rusty Graves (.290/13/72/75) and 1B Cal Hunter (.308/14/53/67) topped the batting order with help from 2B Rob Gigler (.244/20/56/87) and SS Jug Slavin (.258/14/72/66)... Chandler's bullpen will be a problem in the postseason with a 4.13 ERA (31st).

This year was the East Point Panthers (80-74) best since they won the division flag in 2008... only twice in that time have they made the first division... skipper Robbie Brooks had a sound mound corps that notched a fine 3.07 team ERA (5th)... except for a little home run punch (135 HR-11th tied) the offense was pathetic... the Panthers batted only .229 (31st)... East Point had a slight lead at the All-Star game and held it into August, but then faltered badly down the stretch... heading a fine young staff was Frank Blair (14-11 2.65) and Jack Bolden (14-15 2.39), plus two capable rookies Dixie Brooks (16-16 3.41) and Joe Foley (13-12 3.21)... get some bats and the Panthers look good in the future... closer J. D. McDermott (3-5) chalked up 24 saves and had 2.85 ERA... reliever Russell Williams also stood out with a 5-4 record and a 1.79 ERA in 36 relief appearances... RF Kenko Aoki led the attack with 38 homers and 108 RBIs, but batted only .210... All-Star 1B Tetsu Tanaka rapped 29 out of the park, scored 94 times and drove in 84 runs, while hitting .254... SS Bob O'Brian added 13 homers, 56 RBIs and 67 runs to the offense.

For the first time in 6 years the Ozarka Naturals (79-75) were contenders... however come crunch time manager Joe Mac Carney's club floundered and came in third, just 3 games out... second-year sensation Marty Lane carried the club with a great 27-7 record and a 2.80 ERA... Howard Hutch again led the IPA with 326 strikeouts... it was the 7th time he has topped the TU... the Nats hit well for average with a .265 mark (3rd), but lacked power (73 HR-31st) and didn't score well, ranking 17th... top bats were 1B George Jenkins (.289/16/82/76), All-Star SS James Couch (.289/12/74/74) and All-Star CF Ted Price (.286/12/76/72)... RF Ken Maybery led the team with a .319 BA, but hit only 4 homers and drove in 39 runs... Mayberry did lead the team with 79 runs.

Last year's division champ, the Tuckanarra Blue Jays (76-78), had a poor first half, but surged in the second half and ended up one of the better teams in the TU East... the Tucks came in fourth under manager Carlton "Lefty" Stevens, just 6 games off the pace... they were tied with South Fork and High Mesa...nobody had really good years for the Blue Jays... ace Quinn Starr was only 17-15 with a 3.41 ERA... his brother Glynn Starr had a poor year with a 13-15 record and a poor 4.42 ERA, by far the highest of his career... budding star Croc Wedgedale was just 10-8 with a 3.79 ERA... prior to a serious arm injury last year, he was 20-9 and 17-11 in his first two seasons... Wedgedale doesn't seem to be the same pitcher... Stevens only has two reliable bats in his lineup... 3B Koora Nawajuk stood out with 19 homers, 95 RBIs and a .285 BA... 1B Lynn Starr had 21 home runs, 89 RBIs and scored 84 runs, but batted only .264, far below his .305 lifetime average... longtime star LF Danny Redd , a career .320 batter, hit only .236 at age 33... new 2B Eddie Darby was signed as an expensive free agent, but hit only .274 with 9 HRs, 46 RBIs and 72 runs... down quite a bit from his .297 career average, 100 runs scored and 80 RBIs... Darby did play some fine defense.

The South Fork Stallions (76-78) were decimated by injuries to valuable starters Jim Tettelbach and Oklahoma Crane, along with 1B Terry Nixon... 20-game winner Tettelbach went down in May with a 2-3 record and a 2.70 ERA in 7 starts... Crane (9-11 2.96) was lost in late July... Nixon is a steady .300 hitter and fine fielding first sacker... Lips Leon's best pitchers were veterans Ozz Gatsby (15-10 3.09), Gary Price (15-16 3.79) and Bill Massey (12-18 3.36)... All-Star closer Richie Raeburn (8-4) tailed off somewhat in the second half and finished with 23 saves and an excellent 1.14 ERA... CF Shelby Glasscock and LF Patric Giles provided most of the offense for the Stallions, but didn't hit for much average... Glasscock belted 28 homers, batted in 106 runs and scored 97, but hit .238... Giles had 24 home runs, 72 RBIs and 74 runs scored, while batting only .242... as a team South Fork hit only .231 (29th) and tied for 26th in scoring, but were tied for 4th in homers with 149.

Frisky Franks' High Mesa Cowboys (76-78) polished off the year on a high note as they had the best division record in August and September... lousy hitting cost them a good season... the Cowpokes batted only .233 (24th) and ranked 19 in scoring... in its history High Mesa hitters have hit .267 on average, but not this year... Franks has fairly good pitching, led by starter Emil Kaltenbach (19-11 2.54) and closer Pete Woods (6-5) with 31 saves and a strong 2.29 ERA... things are not good in High Mesa when all-time IPA great 1B Jack Elliott slumps to a .258 BA, almost a hundred points under his career mark of .347... Elliott did rap 39 homers, drove in 94 and scored 92 to lead the team... star RF Bill Andrews batted only .215, but was productive with 31 home runs, 96 RBIs and 95 runs... another standout 2B Roland Campbell was down, too... batting just .240 with 16 home runs, 72 RBIs and 68 scored... better bats would have possibly meant the pennant this year... usually it's the pitching that gets the blame in High Mesa.

The Red Bluff Red Sox (75-79) haven't made the postseason since 2009 and manager Bucky Frizzell has spent the last four seasons in the TU East second division, mainly in seventh or eighth place... the Red Sox finished seventh this year, but they were only 7 games behind champion Midway, mainly because of its fine pitching... Frizzell's staff posted a 3.28 team ERA (8th)... however Red Bluff had lousy hitting with a very poor .228 BA (32nd), ranked 29th in scoring, but did have a little firepower with 140 homers (8th)... the Sox rotation included four fine starters in Rod Westfall (15-12 2.64), Sean Connery (8-7 2.75), Denny Mills (17-17 3.13) and Jack Phillips (14-15 3.03)... star 2B James Mack led the offense with 30 homers and 96 runs batted in, but batted a weak .243... LF Corbett Brooks added 23 home runs and 58 RBIs with a .262 BA... and 1B Leander Burks went deep 21 times, batted in 65 runs, but hit only .219.

For the second consecutive year the Hillsboro Blazers (68-86) are the worst team in the division and for the 26th year in a row they will miss the playoffs... the Blazers have never played in the postseason... skipper Rawhide Marshall has no hitting and is just average on the hill... the Blazers hit just .229 (30th) and compiled a 3.73 team ERA (26th)... Terry Berryhill (16-18 3.83) was the most dependable starter... RF Tommy O'Hara was the best run producer with 31 roundtrippers, 75 RBIs, 78 runs, but batted just .235... 1B Larry Guichard chipped in 19 homers and 77 runs batted in, while hitting .271.