[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, September 22, 2031

2031 Tycobbian East Final Recap

EP Panthers TU East Champs
For only the second time in its history East Point has won the Tycobbian East. The first time it happened was 23 years ago in 2008. The Panthers parlayed powerful pitching, home-run punch and good scoring to subdue the high-scoring Red Bluff Red Sox by 4 games and the South Fork Stallions by 7 games. Red Bluff couldn't keep pace with the Panthers in September and dropped back to second place. The Stallions faltered in August and September. East Point had an 8-game margin over fourth-place Tuckanarra. The Panthers will contend with Rolling Hills and Luxora for the TU title and the right to play for the IPA Pro Cup against the Ruthlandian Union champion. The Tycobbian Union looks like a 3-team tussle with Ginza of the TU South not likely to be much of a contender. Last year's pennant winner Ozarka, struggled in the cellar in the first half of the season and could only climb up to fifth place by season's end. The Naturals were 9 games behind in the race.

Manager Karol Zodoka has the East Point Panthers (89-65) revved up and ready to go in the Pro Cup playoffs, which starts up in three days... the Panthers scored 696 runs (9th), and socked 175 home runs (4th), but only batted .253 (22nd), while chalking up an impressive 3.05 team ERA (3rd)... Zodoka had 5 starters at various times during the season... heading up the rotation was Dixie Brooks (21-15/2.53), Frank Blair (17-16/3.11), Jack Bolden (8-5/3.07/12 saves), Stephen Edwards (15-8/3.11/11 saves) and Joe Foley (7-3/2.88)... Foley missed a year and came back in July to help fend off Red Bluff... Bolden and Edwards did double duty as starters and closers during the season... at the plate the Panthers were led by power-hitters 1B Tetsu Tanaka (.263/39/106/102) and CF Kenko Aoki (.275/35/89/87) with help from LF Wally Wright (.305/9/65/73).

It's been a while since the Red Bluff Red Sox (85-69) won a pennant... you have to go back to the early days of the IPA when the Red Sox were a strong force with 3 pennants and a Pro Cup trophy... that was back in the years 2002 to 2009... manager Jim Schubert almost pulled it off, but his club slumped in September and fell to second place after being neck-to-neck with East Point the entire season... stronger pitching would have done it for the Red Sox... they ranked only 21st with a 3.64 ERA, but put up some good offensive numbers with 203 roundtrippers (1st) and 771 runs (2nd), while hitting .257 (17th)... 9 Red Sox had 10 or more homers... top batters were 2B Leander Burks (.270/30/91/86), 1B Garris Aiken (.265/29/82/87), CF Ronnie Roussell (.304/22/78/57), SS Roland Campbell (.264/19/84/90) and CF Billy Barton (.311/12/49/94)... top hurlers were Tony Defazio (21-14/3.30), Terry Johnson (14-11/3/23) and Trini Corona (16-16/3.66)... one big shortcoming was the Red Bluff bullpen, which was not effective with a 4.12 ERA (29th).

The South Fork Stallions (82-72) wound up 7 games off the pace in third place... skipper DeRoche "Lips" Leon had some top-notch pitchers, but not enough offense... the Stallions registered a fine 3.06 ERA (4th), but batted only .249 (25th) and ranked only 25th in scoring, despite good power with 153 homers (9th)... Leon's prime starters were Duncan Welch (16-14/2.96) and Swifty Swift (15-10/3.35) with help from Gary Price (6-6/1.98)... in his 15 years Welch is 295-199 with a superb 2.58 ERA... excelling in the bullpen were Al Thompson (7-6/1.55/17 saves) and rookie Christopher Ewing (6-3/1.86/3 saves)... the Stallions lost their main stud RF Leon Bourque (.321/12/46/41) for the season in August... otherwise the South Fork's bats were disappointing... only newcomer CF Teddy Szymanski (.302/18/71/61) had good numbers... Szymanski came over in a trade with Valmara of the RU North... however 1B Dean Woods (.229/23/58/53), RF Patric Giles (.260/22/69/62), LF Corbett Brooks (.239/22/64/65) and C Mel Danley (.239/18/66/56) did go deep occasionally.

The longtime power Tuckanarra Blue Jays (81-73) slumped badly during the summer months and came in fourth in the standings... for the ninth year in a row manager Carlton "Lefty" Stevens has piloted his Tucks to a first-division finish... 5 times in the last 9 years the Blue Jays won the TU East flag and captured the IPA Holy Grail, the Pro Cup, in 2023 and 2024... Stevens lost two valuable players for half the season due to injury: his outstanding SS Jed Turchin (.312/10/41/41) and quality righthander Philip Marston (8-8 2.57)... the Blue Jays still had a solid mound staff with 33-year-old Glynn Starr (18-9/2.97), who reclaimed the magic of his first five years with a comeback season after four years of futility... along with his brother Quinn Starr (16-18/3.30) and relievers Matt Stevens (4-4/0.96/11 saves) and Joel Shepard (5-3/1.95/7 saves)... the other triplet sibling 1B Lynn Starr (.288/23/98/84) led the Blue Jays at-bat with support from CF Dusty Rogan (.293/16/99/85), 3B Eddie Darby (.281/9/45/64) and LF Ted Sabonis (.307/3/56/73).

Last year's TU East division winner Ozarka (80-74) slumbered in last place until mid-season and then snapped out of it, but it was too late, the damage has been done... Frank Kiffin's club had too many games to make up... the Nats still had strong pitching with a 3.14 team ERA (6th), but didn't have the scoring power, ranking 19th in runs in spite of a .266 BA (7th)... last season the Nats were 5th in run scoring... Ozarka also ranked near the bottom in homers with only 107 (26th)... Kiffin's top starters were Stan Carey (15-12/2.62), Marty Lane (12-11/3.06) and Denny Mills (15-11/3.27)... last year's 19-game winner Brady Bell slipped to a disappointng 12-18... Carey won 21 games last season, but dipped to 15 wins this year... Ozarka was led at the plate by RF Byron Glenn (.288/28/89/61), 1B George Jenkins (.275/21/73/69), CF Lonnie Gillespie (.310/3/57/83) and SS James Couch (.292/8/58/72).

Manager Cochise Chandler got slightly improved pitching this year from his sixth-place Midway Wolves (76-78), but was still 16 games out and never really in the pennant race... longtime ace Bobby Dorignac (15-15/2.66) is still as good as it gets in the IPA... in 11 seasons Dorignac is 209-134 with a 2.69 ERA... but the rest of the staff is short on talent... overall the Wolves compiled a 3.84 ERA (24th)... not too stong at the plate, either, with a .256 BA (18th), ranking 24th in scoring and 13th in homers with 136... 1B Jake Welsh (.290/30/88/67) and CF Lanky Mako (.277/11/64/88) were the best of the batters.

There hasn't been much success in the IPA for the High Mesa Cowboys (71-83) in the team's 30-year history... right off the bat the Cowpokes loomed large, winning the Pro Cup in the first season in 2002 and making the playoffs again in 2003... but since then High Mesa has not made the postseason, coming close only one time when the Cowboys were 95-59 and missed the pennant by one game... High Mesa was 18 games behind this season and came in seventh under Rolf Kellgren... ironically, the Cowboys stood out on the mound for a change, rather than being a high-powered offense... the pitching staff set a club record with a 3.30 team ERA (10th), which is unprecedented because of the small band box the team plays in... Queen Ranch Stadium has always been a homer haven with its short 306-foot dimensions in right and 312 in left... the power alleys are only 350 or so... Emil Kaltenborn was unbelievable with an 18-10 mark and a great 2.25 ERA... Kaltenborn led the TU in ERA and was a remarkable 12-4 at home with a 1.91 ERA... Roger Hart chipped in with a 17-15 record and a 3.86 ERA... offensively the Cowboys hit only .248 (27th), ranked 27th in scoring and hit 147 homers (10th)... 3B Freddy Franks (.262/19/67/79) and RF Randy Williams (.259/29/87/57) had the best numbers on the team.

The Hillsboro Blazers (70-84) are one of four clubs in the IPA to never make the postseason playoffs... the Kilkenny Cats and the Fort Benton Defenders of the Ruthlandian Union and the Chicopee Braves of the Tycobbian Union are the other perennial left-outs... this season the Blazers were last in the TU East, 19 games out... the team batted .245 (29th), ranked 26th in runs and collected 133 home runs (15th)... on the hill Hillsboro was average with a 3.62 ERA (19th)... manager Andy Jefferson doesn't have a lot of talent... his best hurlers are Gregg Hughes (12-12/2.26) and Jon French (17-15/3.71)... the best plate performers were 2B Jason DiMucci (.290/10/61/65), RF Bill Kelly (.256/16/83/78) and SS Dandy Meredith (.268/8/35/86).