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The Chicopee Braves (79-75) had a very good year under skipper Ivan Burkholder, rising up from the second division the past two season and finishing in a tie for second place... the Braves have never in history made the playoffs, though they came within 2 games of the pennant in 2013, 2015, 2020 and recently in 2029... marked improvement at the plate and on the hill got Chicopee in the hunt this year... a red-hot 45-29 second-half run almost pulled it out for them... the Braves were in last place at mid-season, 8 games back of Arlon and 10 games under .500... Chicopee was second in scoring runs, fourth in batting with a .278 team BA and fourth in longballs with 179... the 3.86 ERA (26th) wasn't anything special, but it was far better than 4.53 and 4.44 of the last two years.
The Braves had some booming bats with 3B Kurt Gustavsen (.322/21/90/98), rookie LF Charley Kota (.317/26/93/89), CF Charlie Jensen (.285/28/87/88), 1B Pierre Giguere (.339/19/64/64) and SS Tom Humphrey (.258/24/73/70)... rookie hurler Heyoka Chaska (20-16/3.78), Dave Carnera (15-10/3.94) and rookie Ben Ituha (17-17/3.79) led the staff... veteran closer Matt Reeves (7-5/3.27) did a credible job in 58 appearances with 14 saves.
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