[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, September 22, 2031

2031 Ruthlandian West Final Recap

Sligo Staves Off FB Defenders In RU West
It was pretty much a four-team race in the Ruthlandian West all season long with the Sligo Rovers beating back challenges by Fort Benton, Colfax and Volusia. The Rovers captured their third division flag in the last five seasons, staving off Fort Benton by 3 games, defending division champion Colfax by 6 games and fourth place Volusia by 8. Sligo has finished in the RU West first division for eight successive years.

Manager Eddie Keys got improvement in pitching and at the plate this year as his Sligo Rovers (86-68) claimed the RU West crown... Keys' mound staff was solid with a 3.36 ERA (10th) and his offense was sufficient with a .260 BA (19th) as the Rovers ranked 15th in scoring... defensively they were bad with a .966 FA... top pitchers were starters Earl Perkins (15-11/2.75), Bud Foster (13-11/2.60), Terry Bailey (16-13/3.36) and Lou Page (11-7/3.87), along with closer Andy Velasco (7-7/2.36/19 saves)... Sligo had no standout sticks... CF Darryl Collins (.283/22/71/82), 1B Maury Rice (.271/22/71/69) and 3B Howie Robertson (.276/2/56/82) were the most dependable.

A 12-17 July slump cost the Fort Benton Defenders (83-71) the division title this year... otherwise they were right up there with Sligo... skipper Robbie Brooks is still looking for his first flag in his 31 years at the helm... they have never made the Pro Cup playoffs... 2031 was his chance... the Defenders have a well-balanced club with a 3.17 team ERA (4th) and a .276 BA (3rd), but do have some difficulty putting runs on the scoreboard, ranking 15th... they only hit 91 homers (27th-tied)... top to bottom there are no weak links in Brooks' pitching corps... Fort Benton has five solid starters in Augie Marquis (19-8/2.88), Chris Calsworth (18-15/3.12), Matt Harmon (8-7/3.29), Frankie Quinn (13-19/3.38) and Edd Farmer (10-8/3.02)... Brooks has a quality bullpen, too, with a 3.08 ERA... the Defenders have four .300 hitters in the batting order, led by new acquisition SS Hans Gustavsen (.327/2/59/51), who batted .420 in 49 games after being traded by Claxton, RF Danny Riesner (.321/9/80/87), 3B Monty McMurtry (.315/6/35/104), C Leo LaRocca (.309/8/56/83) and LF Rob McMahon (.299/20/80/68)... if stats could win a pennant, you would think that Fort Benton would have been a shoo-in.

Last year's RU West winner, the Colfax Blasters (80-74), had a poor first half, playing .456 baseball (35-42), but manager Ilya Szabo got things going after the All-Star game and the club became a player for the pennant... but the Blasters came up 6 games short and came in third... Colfax had good offense, but were short on power and starting pitching... they hit .272 (8th) with only 95 roundtrippers (25th) and ranked 9th in scoring... the Blaster pitching was not strong enough with a 3.82 team ERA... heading up the Colfax attack were C Mitch Fullerton (.318/20/71/87), LF Hank Lunsford (.302/1/67/81), 1B Doug Kirkwood (.299/15/77/78), CF Hal Granders (.297/3/55/79) and 3B Vic Draper (.290/11/81/51)... only one starter Jon Cruise (17-17/3.44) managed a break-even record and posted an ERA under 4.00, but Szabo had three impressive relievers in Rudy Rosario (6-1/2.69/10 saves), Norb Harbison (10-7/2.50/9 saves) and Milton Garnett (7-2/2.88/1 save).

The fourth-place Volusia Vigilantes (78-76) were running neck-and-neck with Sligo and Fort Benton going into September, but the V's flopped miserably with a 5-15 mark and fell 8 games off the pace... but it was still a decent year for manager Alfonso Feliz as the club rose up from seventh the year before... strong pitching was the reason... the Vigilantes chalked up a 3.10 team ERA (3rd)... at the plate they were mediocre with a .256 BA (24th) and only 108 homers (22nd), while ranking 24th in run scored... all four starters were effective, but lacked run support... Jamie Gustafson (18-2.84), Cisco Almeida (15-16/2.98), Poochie Patrick (14-10/3.39) and Greg Moss (13-16/3.54) all deserved better... the only reliable bats belonged to CF Vasco Aguilar (.328/22/73/83), 1B Scott Rogers (.301/5/39/75) and SS Joao Rosales (.254/15/78/72).

The Stoner Stars (69-85) declined drastically this year, falling from second to a fifth-place tie with Forest City, 17 games out of first... just two years ago the Stars won the RU West crown... manager Benny Stern's club endured a huge hitting drought this year, dropping from .281 down to .257 (22nd)... the pitching suffered a bit as well, rising up from 3.41 to 3.62... Raul Hidalgo (18-11/3.19) was the only reliable starter... veteran Glenn Tackett, a 21-game winner the past two seasons, slumped to 10-15 with a 3.92 ERA... Stoner's top offensive performers were 1B Fletch Fowler (.336/18/85/66), CF Al Rispone (.285/17/74/84), RF Neil Mooney (.316/65/58) and 2B Dominic Gdowski (.297/10/54/52).

For the 19th year in a row the Forest City Lumberjacks (69-85) missed the playoffs... the 'Jacks tied for sixth place, finishing 17 games behind in the race... the only thing the Lumberjacks do well is play solid defense with a .978 FA... otherwise they are just a second-division ball club, batting only .258 (21st) with a poor 4.03 team ERA (28th)... skipper Joe Judlin had two fair starters in Rich Barstow (13-13/3.73) and Jeff Watford (14-11/3.96)... at the plate it was 2B Rog Clemens (.267/28/107/85) doing most of the damage with some help from 1B Steve Burns (.306/12/62/76).

For seven straight years now the Rocky Rapids Snappers (62-92) have been entrenched in the RU West second division... this year the Snappers were in last place with Middlefield and 24 games out under manager Junior Noland... they had the worst pitching in the IPA with a 4.51 ERA, combined with not much offense... the Snappers hit just .260 (20th) and ranked 20th in scoring... Matt Loudermilk (18-14/3.33) was the ace of the staff with little after him... the bullpen was even worse with a 4.74 ERA (32nd)... most of the offense was supplied by C Allie Blackwell (.328/15/67/76), 3B Kelvin Cassidy (.290/15/67/65), 1B Angelo Nardone (.264/23/74/67) and SS Tommy Noland (.279/12/68/58).

After winning four consecutive pennants from 2023 to 2026, the Middlefield Roosters (62-92) have now hit rock bottom, falling all the way to the cellar, 24 games back of Sligo... the Roosters still go deep, mainly because of the small band box they play in... they rapped 156 homers (5th), but didn't hit much for average... only .244 (30th) and ranked 28th in runs... not much pitching, either, with a 3.82 ERA (22nd)... Judson Davis (12-20/3.41) and Tyrus Cobb (14-17/4.01) were the best that manager Bailey Norcross had... however Norcross had two solid hitters in 3B Eric Hollister (.314/32/97/69) and 1B Rusty Reese (.275/28/83/74)... Hollister was a free agent, formerly with Kenwood in the Tycobbian Union.