[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, May 1, 2034

2034 Tycobbian West Preseason Poll

RANK/TEAM (LAST YEAR)
1. Chicopee Braves (3rd-tied)
2. Bay St. Clair Buccaneers (3rd-tied)
3. Kenwood Wildcats (2nd)
4. La Claire Lynx (1st)
5. Bayview Vikings (8th)
6. Denton City Redbirds (6th)
7. Rolling Hills Reds (5th)
8. Arlon Champions (7th)

4-Club Battle In TU West
Only one game separates the first four teams in the Tycobbian West. Defending champion La Claire (16-10) and Chicopee (16-10) share the lead at the beginning of May with Kenwood (15-11) and Denton City (15-11) just a game off the pace. Arlon (12-14) is in fifth, trailing by four games, followed by Bay St. Clair (11-15) in sixth, 5 games behind, Bayview (10-16) seventh, six games out and Rolling Hills (9-17) in the cellar and 7 games behind the leaders. Chicopee is the favorite to take the crown this season according to The Islandian Times preseason poll. Bay St. Clair was chosen second best, Kenwood number three and last season's pennant winner La Claire fourth. All of the second division clubs from last year are not expected to contend for a first-division spot.

Zeppy Deshotel has his La Claire Lynx rolling right out of the gate this season in defense of their TU West title... the Lynx grabbed their second flag in six years last season and certainly look like they intend to be a prime-time player... La Claire is even better than last year with a healthy .285 BA (3rd), 144 runs (3rd) and an impressive 2.86 ERA (4th)... top performers on the mound are starters Pat Kovacs (4-2/1.90) and Rance Raymond (4-1/2.77), both 20-game winners in 2033, along with closer Alvar Vickers (3-0/1.07/3 saves)... veteran first sacker Stan Hynoski is having a crackerjack start with 8 homers, 34 RBIs and a .306 BA... LF Kelly Chamberlain has added 18 RBIs and scored 17 runs, while batting .297... C Craig Peck had batted in 16 runs and scored 20 with a .343 BA... CF Andy Tibbett has been a solid bat with a .298 BA and 23 runs... and RF Leif Steinbrenner has hit .319 with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs.

The Chicopee Braves have never made the Pro Cup playoffs, but they have played well in recent seasons... this could be the year... manager Ivan Burkholder's team is the favorite to win the pennant this season and they have played very well in April and are tied with La Claire for the top spot in the TU West... the Braves don't really have very good stats, but they manage to get runs on the scoreboard, ranking sixth with 133... Chicopee is hitting only .250 (26th), but have blasted 35 out of the park (6th)... offensive leaders are 1B Kurt Gustavsen (.283/7/19/18), CF Alfredo Cobos (.309/6 HR/21/15), 2B Todd Goodwin (.311/3/15/13) and LF Charley Kota with 14 RBIs and 19 runs scored, but is hitting only .202 for average... Kota is a career .315 hitter and due to break loose at anytime... ... on the hill the team ERA is only 4.21... Burkholder's best pitchers have been starters Kajika Fleetwood (4-2/3.95), Ryan Ledbetter (2-2/3.72) and Byron Wilson (3-1/4.31) as well as Heyoka Chaska (2-1/1.93), who recently moved from the bullpen into the starting rotation.

The Kenwood Wildcats, piloted by Aaron Hankins, are deadlocked in third place with improved Denton City... the Wildcats are expected to contend with Chicopee and La Claire for the TU West flag... April has been a very fine month... the glory year for the Wildcats was 2014, when they were the Pro Cup champions... 2024 was the last year Kenwood hauled in a pennant... most of the time under Hankins the Wildcats end up in the first division... this season they are rated the third-best club and have really sizzled in the first month of play... the Wildcats picked up some talented free agents, namely RF Pettis Pentleton from Pro Cup champ Elnora and CF Vince Barbieri from Denton City... Hankins has bevy of batters batting .300 or better... as a team the Wildcats are hitting .301 and are second in run scoring with 149... pitching is solid, too, with a 3.09 ERA... 1B Glenn Carraway is the top hitter with a .407 average with 4 homers and 13 RBIs... CF Barbieri has chalked up a .337 BA with 4 homers, 19 RBIs and 26 runs... Pentleton is at .309 with 3 home runs, 13 RBIs and 13 runs... C Antonio Dominguez sports a .307 mark with 12 RBIs and LF Babe Hankins' average is .316 with 14 RBIs... OF Rodney Harrison (.340), 3B Danny Hillman (.311) and 3B Cal Copeland (.333) are the other three over .300... on the hill Kenwood has some quality arms in Freddy Gooch (3-1/2.85), Claude Watson (4-1/3.48), Doug Kirkpartrick (3-4/3.40) and Lee Dixon (3-2/3.94).

The Denton City Redbirds were a league powerhouse in the early years of the IPA with 6 pennants and 8 playoff appearances between 2003 and 2013... twice they made it to the Pro Cup Finals, but lost in in '05 and '08... 2013 was the Redbirds last postseason appearance... only four times since has the club even been in the first division... this year, at least in the early going, skipper Trevor Tomlinson has them making some noise... Denton City has some punch in its lineup with a .273 team BA (11th), 37 HRs (5th) and 130 runs (7th-tied)... but the mound corps is mediocre with a 4.31 ERA (26th) except for Ralph Elnore (5-1/3.67) and Francisco Salcido (4-1/3.42)... free agent from San Dimas 1B Barry McKnight (.343/8/21/14) and LF Alden Evans (.338/5/21/9) ramrod the attack with sufficient help from rookie RF Kenny Kuebler (.304/4/11/14), CF Sam Carson (.284/5/15/20) and rookie OF Pete Doyle (.435/0/6/9)... on the bench are three more .300 hitters: Howie Sanders (.333), C Joel Gamble (.370) and LF Sakima Shaman (.303)... Denton City is picked to finish sixth in the race... lack of pitching is the problem.

Rocco Belasario's Arlon Champions have rarely contended in their history with only three postseason appearances, the last in 2020... they were forecast sixth in The Islandian Times preseason poll... the Champs have a good mound staff with a 3.34 ERA, but lack offense with a .249 BA... they are ranked 31st in run scoring and 32nd in homers with only 11 so far... Alex Beckner (3-3/1.98), Emil Novak (3-0/2.23) and Ken Lawson (3-1/2.90) have been excellent... Frankie Gauthier (3-3/3.48) has been reliable, too... pacing the Champs at the plate are CF Paco Diaz (.341/0/9/11), 1B Fred Schuessler (.291/4/13/12), RF Mark Cameron (.298/4/13/12) and newcomer free agent from Colfax of the Ruthlandian Union Hank Lunsford (.294/0/9/12).

The Bay St. Clair Buccaneers have had relatively good success in the IPA, now in its 34th season... the Bucs have garnered nine playoffs appearances, but no Pro Cups... however, they have been in the first division for the last four years in a row... the experts voted them the second-best team in the TU West this season... so far, manager Denny Coulon's club has stumbled out of of the starting block, but should be a factor in the pennant hunt before all is said and done... Coulon has strong starters with a 2.80 ERA (3rd), but an awful bullpen with a 5.46 ERA... batting-wise the Buccaneers are hitting just .254 (23rd)... Carlo Nardini (2-2/1.87), John Karlsen (3-2/2.45), Jim McBride (4-3/3.26) and Conrad Coleman (1-1/3.65) have been a very good starting rotation... 2B Terry Adams has the best average with .320... he has 4 homers and 11 RBIs... 3B Kimmy Burnsides is next at .300... CF Cotton Cornwall (.284) and RF Milt Powers (.240) are the RBI leaders with 13 apiece.

For the 12th successive season the Bayview Vikings have been an also-ran in the TU West... five times in the first six IPA seasons the Vikings were a playoff team, but little since... the last division flag came in 2016... the Viks have yet to bring in a Pro Cup... manager Chancey Quibedeaux's squad was rated the fifth-best in the preseason vote... presently after a month's play, Bayview is in the seventh spot in the standings, 6 games out... the Vikings have firepower, can go deep and lead the IPA with 42 roundtrippers, tied with Oxford of the TU North... however, they are batting only .256 (20th) and are 19th with 117 runs... Bayview's strong point is its pitching (3.38 ERA/10th), especially in the bullpen with a 1.82 ERA (4th)... Sam Dunbar (2-2/1.10) has been a standout as a starter and reliever... ditto Eric Mayes (1-1/2.03)... Chris Landry, a free-agent signee from Blue Lake, had done well, too, with a 1-1 mark and a 2.04 ERA in one start and four relief jobs... in the batter's box the top producers have been 3B Jerry Culpepper (.267) with 8 HRs and 13 RBIs, SS Marius Lokken (.293) with 7 HRs and 15 RBIs, LF Roy Ricks (.253) with 4 HRs and 16 RBIs and CF Cleve Belton (.300) with 4 roundtrippers and 8 runs batted in.

The Rolling Hills Reds have totaled 8 division titles since 2019 with two Pro Cup championships (2029 and 2031), but things have been on the downturn with a fifth-place finish last year and has extended into this year... manager Matty Christianson and his Reds are in the TU West basement, 7 games out of first place and were picked to end up seventh this year... Christianson's pitching is atrocious with a 4.80 ERA (27th)... batting is only average with a .262 BA (17th)... not a good formula for success... Buck Myers (4-3/4.18) is the only decent pitcher... the Reds picked up a solid starter in free agent Maxim Petrosian from Mahaska, but he has stuggled with a 4.44 ERA and a 2-4 record... the only dependable bats are rookie star 3B Marty O'Reilly with a .354 BA, 4 HR and 23 RBIs, LF Scotty Yiska with a .284 BA, 4 HRs and 11 RBIs and free agent from Rocky Rapids 1B Angelo Nardone with 3 homers, 15 RBIs and a .288 mark... RF Carroll Candy, a free agent from La Claire, has surprisingly seen limited action with only 22 at-bats... Candy is a career .304 hitter.