[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 21, 2027

2027 Tycobbian West Final Recap

Reds Top TU West 3rd Year In A Row
Matty Christianson may have had one of the all-time great teams in IPA history this season... his Rolling Hills Reds racked up 104 victories this year and are champions again in the Tycobbian West for the third successive season and fourth time in six years... however it wasn't easy this time around... the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers proved to be quite an obstacle... the Reds trailed them by 3 games going into the final two months, but they turned it on and went 30-16, while the Bucs dipped to just 22-24 and finished 5 games off the pace... third place Chicopee had a good season, but wound up 17 games out... so did fourth place Arlon, who were 12 games over .500, yet lost the pennant by 21 games... that's how good Rolling Hills was this year.

Rolling Hills (104-50) lacked for nothing with a great 2.70 team ERA (1st) and a .270 BA (2nd)... the Reds ranked 5th in scoring... 5 players made the All-Star team... Christianson has a wonderful starting rotation with All-Star Kenny Leonard (23-8 2.62), All-Star Errol Gaudet (24-8 2.31), Sal Jordan (21-12 3.16) and Johnny Brown (16-7 2.90)... All-Star closer Bobby Morris (6-5) paced a good bullpen with 34 saves, which led the TU, and a terrific 1.54 ERA... the Reds had some solid bats, too, in All-Star 1B Billy Christianson (.321/14/99/110), All-Star LF Pat Webb (.294/21/106/83) and SS Tony Ptacek (.266/18/82/61).

Tough year for the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers (99-55)... 99 wins wasn't good enough to make the playoffs... the Bucs had to settle for the runner-up spot for the second straight season... longtime skipper Guy Rondre had fine pitching with a 3.04 team ERA (2nd), prolific power with 164 home runs (1st) and was ranked the top scoring club... Rondre's top hurlers were Greg Moss (21-8 2.14), Ray McClendon (14-4 3.21), Eddie Lasky (15-6 3.23) and Wally Hudson (15-14 3.47)... Moss led the IPA in ERA... All-Star 1B Jerry Todd sparked the attack with a .302 BA, 31 roundtrippers and 97 RBIs... All-Star C Cruz Andrade added 26 homers and 91 RBIs with a .282 BA... LF Neil Lamont had 25 home runs, 75 runs batted in and hit for a .264 average.

The Chicopee Braves (87-67) finished third for the second successive season... all in all a fine year for manager Harry Fleetfoot... his Braves featured three All-Stars, solid pitching with a 3.27 team ERA (9th) and better than average hitting (.253 BA-11th), ranking 10th in scoring... mound stalwarts were All-Star Bob Ferguson (18-13 2.59), Frank Mullins (23-14 2.92) and Kyle Preston (19-10 3.34)... closer Rick Beasley (5-4) had his best season with 22 saves and a 1.83 ERA... top bats were All-Star 2B Takota Littlefeather (.304/9/57/88), rookie LF Sakima Shaman (.302/19/90/83), All-Star RF Charlie Jensen (.296/18/87/84) and rookie 3B Yahto Sisika (.267/13/50/81).

New manager Rocco Belasario took over in Arlon (83-71) and lifted the Champions out of the basement into the fourth spot in the TU West... Belasario starred for the Champs for many years and was inducted into the IPA Hall of Fame this season... Belasario was a career .301 hitter with 508 homers and is the all-time IPA leader with 1023 stolen bases... Arlon is overdue for a pennant, last winning in 2020... the Champs hit only .247 (15th), but scored well and ranked 3rd in runs... they were just average on the hill with a 3.61 team ERA (20th)... Belasario got power, but not much average from RF Carlos Quintana (.233 BA) with 24 homers and 86 RBIs and LF Bailey Brupbacher (.276 BA) with 26 home runs and 67 RBIs... 34-year-old SS Johnny Madigan made the All-Star team in his second season with Arlon, batting .267 and scoring 105 runs... 3-time Gold Glover Madigan played 13 seasons in Kilkenny of the RU North... the Champions top pitchers were rookie starters Roger Cummings (18-12 3.34) and Raydon Burks (14-13 3.08)... in the bullpen it was middle reliever Buddy Palmer with 59 appearances, an 11-5 record with a 1.49 ERA and 9 saves... closer Alex Sakarian (5-5) saved 24 games with a fine 2.03 ERA.

The LaClaire Lynx (78-76) have never won a pennant, nor even made the playoffs in the club's 27-year history... new skipper Zeppy Deshotel made some progress this year with the team going 2 games above .500 and climbing one spot in the standing to fifth place... Deshotel starred for the Lynx in right field for 18 years and retired in 2022 to become the team's bench coach... lifetime Deshotel batted .312 with 469 homers and 1699 RBIs... he is on the IPA Hall of Fame waiting list... Deshotel has an average team with fairly good power and run-scoring ability... the Lynx hit 144 home runs (7th) and ranked 7th in runs... three All-Stars paced LaClaire at the plate: 11-time All-Star and superstar SS Flash Devlin (.298/28/83/100), rookie LF Carroll Candy (.304/19/92/74) and rookie RF Kelly Chamberlain (.300/20/76/92)... LaClaire's top twirlers were Pat Kovacs, who was brilliant in his third IPA season with a 23-8 mark and a 2.74 ERA... rookie Jeff Buttrum was 17-13 with a 3.56 ERA.

The Denton City Redbirds (68-86) were sixth under new manager Lavon Gooch, who replaced Ford Whiteman this year... Whiteman won 6 TU West division flags in his career and took the Redbirds to the playoffs 8 times, all prior to 2014... Gooch had a solid career in Denton City with a .293 BA, 332 homers and 1221 RBIs... Gooch played on 7 of those playoff clubs... the Redbirds suffer from very poor hitting, ranked last in scoring... they are only average on the hill... Glenn Hamilton (16-17 2.64) stood out as a starter, while Johnny Duncan (5-5) was superb as a closer with 28 saves and a ridiculously low 0.96 ERA... two rookies RF Luis Camacho (.290/11/68/53) and 1B Jasper Denton (.257/14/79/68) were the only decent bats.

Manager Aaron Hankins saw his Kenwood Wildcats (66-88) fall out of the first division for the first time since 2020, ending up in seventh place... the Wildcats best performers were starting pitcher Trigger Rogers (18-14 3.69), closer Scott Bohn (5-5) with 24 saves and a 2.44 ERA and Hankins' own son, Babe Hankins, who really blossomed into an elite player this year in his sixth season with a .354 mark, 27 homers, 93 RBIs and 103 runs... Hankins won the TU batting crown and had the number two average in the IPA, topped only by Roger Lanier of the St. John Crusaders... Lanier led the RU with a .355 BA... young 3B Eric Hollister (.267/13/72/57) and rookie SS Jeff Lang (.260/6/64/62) also provided a little offense.

The Bayview Vikings (62-92) got a new manager this season, but to no avail, former star player Chancey Quibedeaux didn't do any better than his predecessor, Walter Johanssen, who was in charge for the team's first 26 seasons... the Vikings came in last for the second time in the last 3 years... Quibedeaux has a hard row to hoe in Bayview and a huge rebuilding project... he has little talent... Vern Harstad did well in his third season with a 17-16 record and an impressive 2.88 ERA... LF Wayne Kenney (.269/22/64/67) and RF Knut Valen (..254/14/81/59) had the best batting averages on the team, while aging star CF Davey Krueger batted just .196 with 21 homers and 65 RBIs... it may be time for Krueger to retire at 39... Krueger has been the Viks power guy for 15 seasons with 487 homers and 1342 runs batted in.