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Eugene Church · 11-26-2011, 10:51 PM

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, September 19, 2028

2028 Ruthlandian South Final Recap

Waleska Wins RU South In Second-Half Surge
The cream rises to the top... that's what happened in the Ruthlandian South this season... The Waleska Westerners were engaged in a tight, 4-team race at mid-year, but put it into high gear and easily took the division crown for the second time in five years, winning by 8 games over the Valka Blackhawks and last season's champ Crystal Lake Crushers... the first-half leader, the San Dimas Rancheros fell apart in the second half and dropped down to sixth... St. John and Claxton came in tied for fourth place and ended up 10 games off the pace.

McGraw Johnson piloted his Waleska Westerners (92-62) to the best record in the Ruthlandian Union with a powerful offense... the Westerners led most offensive categories with a .280 BA and 879 runs... and ranked second in power numbers with 189 homers... Waleska's mound staff was only average with a 4.11 team ERA (17th)... Johnson's lineup was filled with fine hitters, led by superstars RF Roy Hobbs (.359/36/142/125) and LF Loco Dillinger (.357/56/154/132)... Dillinger topped the IPA in homers and RBIs and the RU in runs... Both Dillinger and Hobbs made the All-Star team... other solid bats were 3B Yahto Sisika (.297/23/94/111), CF Wilson James (.299/11/64/119) and SS Jose De Leon (.281/6/85/61)... the only standout pitcher was All-Star Wild Bill Butler, who was 23-10 with a 2.97 ERA... rookie Terry Richards (15-12/4.04) and Cliff Dyer (17-12/4.67) were the best of the rest.

The Valka Blackhawks (84-70) and the Crystal Lake Crushers were tied for the runner-up spot... the Blackhawks under manager Ron Landauer had a fine season and were a very similar club to Waleska, but just didn't have quite the firepower of the pennant winner... Valka had the third-best hitting club with a .280 mark, but only 21st with 139 roundtrippers... and the Blackhawks ranked 8th in scoring with 756 runs... pitching-wise they were 19th with a 4.16 ERA... topping the batting order were All-Star 3B Leevi Viru (.367/21/100/96), RF Tonu Viks (.336/20/76/88), SS Olari Ojastu (.297/19/86/85) and C Don Pontros (.302/17/88/69)... Viks missed 50 games due to injury, but had a fine year... ace Glenn Cadman won 20 games for the third successive season... Cadman carried the club with a 23-9 record and a 2.95 ERA.

Last year's division winner Crystal Lake (80-74) dilly-dallied until the All-Star game, but finally got it together and rampaged through the final two months with an awesom 34-11 record... the Crushers just had too much ground to make up after being 32-41 and in last place, 9 games out at the break... the pitching was poor in the first half, but T. D. Burnham (19-11/3.19), Duncan Welch (19-15/3.33) and Arnie Cason (14-4/2.62) rebounded in the second half... Baby George's top hitters were LF Herm Taylor (.341/3/64/94), 1B Josh George (.307/25/105/111) and 2B Carl Bentley (.312/15/90/85).

Deadlocked for fourth in the RU South were the St. John Crusaders (82-72) and improved Claxton Diamonds... they were 10 games off the pace... skipper Clayton Luck had a well-balanced club with a .263 team batting average (12th) and ranked 13th in scoring runs with 716... not a lot of power with only 113 HRs (28th)... on the hill the Crusaders posted a 3.70 team ERA (4th)... Luck had a solid core of hitters, paced by All-Star SS Byron Johannsen (.330/8/57/101), 1B Roger Lanier (.319/17/77/95), 3B Ross Whittier (.301/12/95/55) and RF Joey Daigrepont (.266/21/107/91)... on the mound Roland Oates (20-11/3.18) and Nelson Hawthorne (13-9/2.78) led the way... ace Don Baillie had a disappointing season with a 15-21 mark and a high 4.45 ERA... 24-year-old Baillie was 56-36 with a 2.86 ERA in his first 3 years in the league.

Former Diamond standout Dixie Baker pumped new life into Claxton (82-72) in his rookie season at the helm... the Diamonds were 7th the year before with a 65-89 mark... improved hitting and pitching can do wonders for a team... Jarno Berkman (18-13/3.66) paced the pitchers with help from Freddi Hahn (15-14/3.87)... the best bats belonged to All-Star RF Ivan Krause (.303/39/115/109), All-Star 2B Gary Colton (.288/20/91/82) and LF George McKay (.264/23/96/80).

The San Dimas Rancheros (77-77) were riding high in the saddle at mid-season and were in first place by a slim margin over Waleska, St. John and Valka, but slipped to the sixth spot in the standings at season's end and a distant 15 games behind first place Waleska... Wesley Pate's Rancheros had better-than-average pitching with a 3.75 team ERA (8th) and average hitting with a .259 BA (16th) and 125 home runs (25th)... vet Shannon White (17-13/3.08) was the team's best hurler... youngsters Joaquin Lima (20-16/3.39) and Miguel Valdes (16-15/3.93) both made the All-Star team, but slipped in the second half... Lima was was 12-5 with a 2.65 ERA at the All-Star break and Valdes was 10-6 with a 3.06 ERA... at the plate All-Star 3B Hector Cuellar (.313/27/83/76), 1B Lloyd Kelly (.322/11/49/79) and RF Ray Ford (.273/28/102/82) were the main sticks.

Bad pitching doomed the Belair Beach Sunbirds (74-80) to a seventh-place finish, 18 games behind in the pennant chase... Marty Pedroza's staff put up a lousy 4.89 team ERA (30th)... superstar and All-Star 1B Kees Draeger (.306/37/109/89) had his typically fine season with a little help from 2B Edmund Derksen (.292/9/57/88)... the Sunbirds best hurlers were Jaime Pedroza (16-14/4.81), Loris Plooster (15-7/4.25) and Rob Thrasher (15-17/3.29).

The last place Grand City Cybercats (72-82) were the number one team with a .284 BA, second in runs with 839 and tied for seventh in homers with 171, but an absolute nightmare on the mound with a 4.92 team ERA (31st)... this made for a very exciting season for manager Wade Joslin... All-Star 1B Mick Langston was the main threat with a .301 BA, 44 homers, 123 RBIs and 113 runs, but he had plenty of help from LF Wes Marlowe with 36 home runs, 115 RBIs, 113 runs and a .273 BA and CF Thomas Hall with 34 roundtrippers, 101 runs, 77 RBIs and a .277 average... add in SS Jared Lundquist (.308/1/52/91), 2B Liam Cadbury (.290/15/79/81) and 3B Travis Wagner (.307/8/77/47) and you have a powerful scoring machine... the Cybercats just didn't have the pitching to go along with a fine attack... Danny Denver (15-12/4.63) and Clyde Fairchild (10-10/4.41) were the most capable starters.

11-26-2011, 10:51 PM	#2859
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,002	*THE ISLANDIAN TIMES* Tuesday, September 19, 2028 2028 Ruthlandian South Final Recap Waleska Wins RU South In Second-Half Surge The cream rises to the top... that's what happened in the Ruthlandian South this season... The Waleska Westerners were engaged in a tight, 4-team race at mid-year, but put it into high gear and easily took the division crown for the second time in five years, winning by 8 games over the Valka Blackhawks and last season's champ Crystal Lake Crushers... the first-half leader, the San Dimas Rancheros fell apart in the second half and dropped down to sixth... St. John and Claxton came in tied for fourth place and ended up 10 games off the pace. McGraw Johnson piloted his Waleska Westerners (92-62) to the best record in the Ruthlandian Union with a powerful offense... the Westerners led most offensive categories with a .280 BA and 879 runs... and ranked second in power numbers with 189 homers... Waleska's mound staff was only average with a 4.11 team ERA (17th)... Johnson's lineup was filled with fine hitters, led by superstars RF Roy Hobbs (.359/36/142/125) and LF Loco Dillinger (.357/56/154/132)... Dillinger topped the IPA in homers and RBIs and the RU in runs... Both Dillinger and Hobbs made the All-Star team... other solid bats were 3B Yahto Sisika (.297/23/94/111), CF Wilson James (.299/11/64/119) and SS Jose De Leon (.281/6/85/61)... the only standout pitcher was All-Star Wild Bill Butler, who was 23-10 with a 2.97 ERA... rookie Terry Richards (15-12/4.04) and Cliff Dyer (17-12/4.67) were the best of the rest. The Valka Blackhawks (84-70) and the Crystal Lake Crushers were tied for the runner-up spot... the Blackhawks under manager Ron Landauer had a fine season and were a very similar club to Waleska, but just didn't have quite the firepower of the pennant winner... Valka had the third-best hitting club with a .280 mark, but only 21st with 139 roundtrippers... and the Blackhawks ranked 8th in scoring with 756 runs... pitching-wise they were 19th with a 4.16 ERA... topping the batting order were All-Star 3B Leevi Viru (.367/21/100/96), RF Tonu Viks (.336/20/76/88), SS Olari Ojastu (.297/19/86/85) and C Don Pontros (.302/17/88/69)... Viks missed 50 games due to injury, but had a fine year... ace Glenn Cadman won 20 games for the third successive season... Cadman carried the club with a 23-9 record and a 2.95 ERA. Last year's division winner Crystal Lake (80-74) dilly-dallied until the All-Star game, but finally got it together and rampaged through the final two months with an awesom 34-11 record... the Crushers just had too much ground to make up after being 32-41 and in last place, 9 games out at the break... the pitching was poor in the first half, but T. D. Burnham (19-11/3.19), Duncan Welch (19-15/3.33) and Arnie Cason (14-4/2.62) rebounded in the second half... Baby George's top hitters were LF Herm Taylor (.341/3/64/94), 1B Josh George (.307/25/105/111) and 2B Carl Bentley (.312/15/90/85). Deadlocked for fourth in the RU South were the St. John Crusaders (82-72) and improved Claxton Diamonds... they were 10 games off the pace... skipper Clayton Luck had a well-balanced club with a .263 team batting average (12th) and ranked 13th in scoring runs with 716... not a lot of power with only 113 HRs (28th)... on the hill the Crusaders posted a 3.70 team ERA (4th)... Luck had a solid core of hitters, paced by All-Star SS Byron Johannsen (.330/8/57/101), 1B Roger Lanier (.319/17/77/95), 3B Ross Whittier (.301/12/95/55) and RF Joey Daigrepont (.266/21/107/91)... on the mound Roland Oates (20-11/3.18) and Nelson Hawthorne (13-9/2.78) led the way... ace Don Baillie had a disappointing season with a 15-21 mark and a high 4.45 ERA... 24-year-old Baillie was 56-36 with a 2.86 ERA in his first 3 years in the league. Former Diamond standout Dixie Baker pumped new life into Claxton (82-72) in his rookie season at the helm... the Diamonds were 7th the year before with a 65-89 mark... improved hitting and pitching can do wonders for a team... Jarno Berkman (18-13/3.66) paced the pitchers with help from Freddi Hahn (15-14/3.87)... the best bats belonged to All-Star RF Ivan Krause (.303/39/115/109), All-Star 2B Gary Colton (.288/20/91/82) and LF George McKay (.264/23/96/80). The San Dimas Rancheros (77-77) were riding high in the saddle at mid-season and were in first place by a slim margin over Waleska, St. John and Valka, but slipped to the sixth spot in the standings at season's end and a distant 15 games behind first place Waleska... Wesley Pate's Rancheros had better-than-average pitching with a 3.75 team ERA (8th) and average hitting with a .259 BA (16th) and 125 home runs (25th)... vet Shannon White (17-13/3.08) was the team's best hurler... youngsters Joaquin Lima (20-16/3.39) and Miguel Valdes (16-15/3.93) both made the All-Star team, but slipped in the second half... Lima was was 12-5 with a 2.65 ERA at the All-Star break and Valdes was 10-6 with a 3.06 ERA... at the plate All-Star 3B Hector Cuellar (.313/27/83/76), 1B Lloyd Kelly (.322/11/49/79) and RF Ray Ford (.273/28/102/82) were the main sticks. Bad pitching doomed the Belair Beach Sunbirds (74-80) to a seventh-place finish, 18 games behind in the pennant chase... Marty Pedroza's staff put up a lousy 4.89 team ERA (30th)... superstar and All-Star 1B Kees Draeger (.306/37/109/89) had his typically fine season with a little help from 2B Edmund Derksen (.292/9/57/88)... the Sunbirds best hurlers were Jaime Pedroza (16-14/4.81), Loris Plooster (15-7/4.25) and Rob Thrasher (15-17/3.29). The last place Grand City Cybercats (72-82) were the number one team with a .284 BA, second in runs with 839 and tied for seventh in homers with 171, but an absolute nightmare on the mound with a 4.92 team ERA (31st)... this made for a very exciting season for manager Wade Joslin... All-Star 1B Mick Langston was the main threat with a .301 BA, 44 homers, 123 RBIs and 113 runs, but he had plenty of help from LF Wes Marlowe with 36 home runs, 115 RBIs, 113 runs and a .273 BA and CF Thomas Hall with 34 roundtrippers, 101 runs, 77 RBIs and a .277 average... add in SS Jared Lundquist (.308/1/52/91), 2B Liam Cadbury (.290/15/79/81) and 3B Travis Wagner (.307/8/77/47) and you have a powerful scoring machine... the Cybercats just didn't have the pitching to go along with a fine attack... Danny Denver (15-12/4.63) and Clyde Fairchild (10-10/4.41) were the most capable starters.