[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, September 18, 2029

2029 Tycobbian South Final Recap

Ginza Scuttles Southport In TU South
For the fourth time in the last seven seasons the Ginza Ninjas have corraled the Tycobbian South division trophy... Huroko Uchiyama's powerhouse may be ready to seriously challenge for the Pro Cup this year... the Ninjas roared past the strong Southport Sun Sox in August and prevailed by 5 games... the Sun Sox led by 3 games at midseason and were tied in the standings with the Ninjas going into the final two months of the season... the Colchester Elites might have been the best team in the division in the second half of the year, but they floundered badly in the opening half and trailed by 14 games at the All-Star Game... the Elites finished up 7 games behind Ginza in third place.

The Ginza Ninjas (91-63) chalked up the best record in the Tycobbian Union by combining excellent hitting, scoring and pitching... the Ninjas batted .281 (2nd), topped the TU in scoring with 749 runs and posted a fine 3.19 team ERA (5th)... manager Uchiyama had four All-Stars on his club... All-Star Cotton Cornwall (.337/25/107), All-Star SS Russell Van Kleek (.320/21/79) and All-Star 2B Howard Winston (.33/5/52) led the hitters, along with standout 1B Johnny O'Rorke (.296/27/86) and RF Sadaharu Uchiyama (.306/11/63)... All-Star hurler Hollis Pace (21-10/2.79) paced the mound staff with help from a great free agent pickup Loris Plooster (18-11/2.73) and Ryuji Kaneko (18-10/3.93)... Ginza's bullpen was outstanding, too, with a 2.59 ERA (2nd), led by Frank Beard (5-5/2.63/10 saves) and Ken Kichida (7-2/2.05/8 saves).

The Southport Sun Sox (86-68) played well until August when they went into a slump and staggered home with a poor 17-27 mark... down the stretch Charley Oscar's pitching failed him... his hitting also suffered some, too... at mid-year the Sun Sox looked like the team to take this season's Pro Cup... Don Pascioni (23-9/2.71) had a super year and Bob Bondy (18-12/3.91) was effective, but others in the rotation did not perform well... Al Laclair (11-9/4.36) won the fewest games in his career and Ronnie Galus (12-18/3.90), a 23-game winner in 2028, had an off-year, too... All-Star LF Lorne Evans (.310/34/93), LF Cody Dougherty (.299/16/95), 1B Kyle Ross (.286/14/97) and CF Rick Cabrini (.283/7/49) carried the club offensively... All-Star 2B Yanni Kouris (.284/6/54) and 3B Sam Cousins (.264/17/71) had good years, too.

New manager Patsy Bates got his Colchester Elites (84-70) going in the last half of the year... the Elites wound up third, 7 games off the pace... Bates had a good offense, ranked third in homers and seventh in scoring with pretty fair pitching (3.40-8th)... All-Star CF Jim Lewellan (.288/36/97) and RF Cleve Belton (.274/29/102) sparked the offense, while on the hill, it was Mackie McGinnity (23-7/2.98), Mike Kierkegaard (16-12/3.37) and Mac Flowers (11-10/2.93) leading the rotation.

Flipper Bird took charge of the Cape Coral Hurricanes (80-74) from longtime skipper Huggy Miller and they responded well in his second season with a fourth-place finish, up from seventh last year... it is the first time in four seasons the Hurricanes made the first division... the 'Canes hit well, but only had average pitching (3.69-17th)... they batted .274 (4th) and scored 647 runs (16th)... RF Jan Kammer (.300/21/105), CF Dan Isenberg (.323/12/42) and All-Star C Tonio Libertore (.298/1/45) were the top sticks... Kris Bogaard (16-13/2.97) and closer Kenny Nikas (6-5/2.11/12 saves) were the top hurlers... Nikas came this year from Ancona of the RU via free agency.

The Summerland Sunsets (78-76) were 13 games back in the pennant race and wound up in fifth place... manager Will Hackett had a good pitching corps with a 3.18 team ERA (4th), but lacked offense, winding up with a .253 BA (22nd) and ranking 27th in scoring with only 596 runs... Clive Coxford (17-15/2.65) and All-Star Scotty Ellison (16-13/2.36) were strong starters, but suffered from run support... Ron McDonald (14-13/3.68) was also a quality arm most of the time... top gun at the plate was All-Star 1B Mandu Purula, who flirted with .400 the first half, but tailed off to only .319 with 19 homers and 64 RBIs.

As usual, the sixth-place Arroyo Grande Suns (75-79) could go deep and score runs, but they couldn't always outscore the opposition... consequently Cyclone Cobb's club came in 16 games out of first place this year... the Sun sluggers batted .258 (18th), ranked tenth in runs with 673 and first in homers with 153... pitching-wise they were 3.87 (26th) with fair starters and a good bullpen... RF Robbie Kiner (.313/5/64) and LF Rod Jacobs (.292/24/62) had the top averages, while 1B Rusty Vizcarra (.233/25/72), CF Johnny Eichhorn (.255/20/47), C Frank Jourdan (.258/20/68) and 3B Vince Shepherd (.254/19/73) hit the longball, but not much for average... on the mound Royce Coleman stood tall with a 2.93 ERA, but was only 12-12 for the year... Cesar De Leon was the ace at 20-14 with a 3.44 ERA... Chico Huerta (16-15/4.30) was effective at times, but Guy Gigere (13/20/5.59) has an atrocious season.

Alberto Herrera's San Alejo Montaneros (73-81) were in seventh place, 18 games back in the pennant chase... bright spots on the team include 25-year-old starter Roy Burchfield (7-2/2.56) and 27-year-old reliever Mario Aragon (3-5/2.91/16 saves)... Burchfield was activated only in August and really did well the rest of the way... the best bats in the lineup were 1B Ramon Escabedo (.294/27/105) and 3B Bubby Blackwell (.319/9/72).

One of the best franchises in IPA history, the Turon Typhoons (72-82), who have made the playoffs 13 times and come away with a record 4 Pro Cups, have fallen to rock bottom in the last four years... the once-proud Typhoons finished dead last in the TU South this year and trailed division champ Ginza by 19 games... first-year manager Alan Hansen managed some improvement this season, mainly on the mound, but still had the worst season in the club's history... Turon has good hitters that hit for average (.269/7th), but ranked only 23rd with 607 runs... the Typhoons don't have much power, hitting only 86 (27th) out of the park... starting pitching is fair with a 3.67 ERA and solid in the bullpen with a 2.78 ERA... veteran 1B Michael Page (.314/25/63) is the best bat in the lineup... Victor Suarez (18-14/3.34), James Newland (15-12/3.57) and Sal Quattrone (15-17/3/21) were capable starters... Hansen's first year as skipper didn't go as well as he would have liked, but it was a great year for him nonetheless - Hansen was elected to the IPA Hall of Fame this season... Hansen was a fine second baseman in the league for from 2002 to 2023, batted an overall .296, played on 12 pennant winners and won 2 Pro Cup rings.