[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, June 20, 2034

2034 Tycobbian South Mid-Season Recap

San Alejo Up By 2 Games In TU South At Break
The San Alejo Montaneros (40-33) have been on a seesaw the last few years winning the Tycobbian South in 2032, dropping back to sixth last season and now back on top this year with a two-game margin over Turon (38-35) and Southport (38-35) at the mid-season break. Also within striking distance, but playing under .500 ball are the Colchester Elites (35-38) and Arroyo Grande Suns (35-38), who are tied for fourth place. Nobody else will likely challenge in the run for the flag. Cape Coral (30-43) is sixth and 10 games off the pace. Last year's division champ Summerland (24-49) and Ginza (20-53) are having terrible seasons and are seventh and eighth respectively.

First place San Alejo has impressive pitching with a 3.19 team ERA (5th), but just barely gets by offensively with a .263 BA (21st), 306 runs (25th) and 72 homers (12th-tied)... Pablo Pilar (10-3/2.04), Clete Lawson (8-5/3.09) and Johnny Brown (8-9/2.44) are strong starters on a day-to-day basis... and Frank Jankowski (5-5/3.54) is a fair number-four man in the rotation... the Monties' most productive bats are CF Dusty Rogan (.282/12/41/37), LF Adrian Otero (.279/15/30/50) and 3B Bubby Blackwell (.297/7/35).

The Turon Typhoons are on the rise in the TU West... they were cast as favorites for the division title in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES preseason poll... San Alejo was rated second best and Southport third in the voting... last season Turon came in a close second, losing out by a scant game to surprising division champ Summerland... it's been almost 15 years since the Typhoons have been in the Pro Cup playoffs... they are currently deadlocked with the Southport Sun Sox for the runnerup spot in the standings... Turon is just average on paper with a 3.70 team ERA (14th), .269 BA (15th), 315 runs (22nd) and 62 roundtrippers (22nd)... Emile Papajohn (9-6/4.30) leads the club in victories... however rookie All-Star closer Ralph Fulton (4-1/1.51/6 saves) is the most effective hurler... the top bats in the lineup are rookie 2B C. C. Kingsford (.306/7/29/47), CF Clint Dunn (.291/8/27/31/27), C Clyde Willis (.284/6/23/20) and 1B Steve Burns (.296/4/26/20).

Except for a fifth-place finish last year, the Southport Sun Sox have been strong contenders for the last 9 seasons... the Sun Sox captured back-to-back division crowns in 2027 and 2028... Southport won the IPA Pro Cup in 2027... this season in spite of poor work on the hill they have managed to stay close in a second-place tie with Turon, trailing by just two games... the team ERA is not very good at 4.23 (22nd)... at the plate the Sun Sox hit fairly well with a .273 BA (8th), have scored well with 351 runs (12th) and gone deep 67 times (16th-tied)... the club offensive leaders are CF Billy Gray (.335/5/36/29), LF Cody Daugherty (.281/12/38/28) and 2B Chuck Claymont (.296/3/27/34), along with 3B Yancey Duvicque (.318/3/25/26)... except for All-Star pitcher Don Pascioni (10-5/2.99), the mound corps is suffering.

2007 was the last postseason appearance for the Colchester Elites... and it's apparent that 2034 will be more of the same... they are presently tied with Arroyo Grande for the fourth spot in the TU South standings, trailing San Alejo by 5 games... the Elite swingers do a good job with a .271 BA (11th), 375 runs (7th-tied) and 82 home runs (6th-tied), but not so well on the hill... the mound staff has posted a poor 4.26 team ERA (23rd)... Dave Lacoste (6-4/3.16) is the best of the lot with some help from Roy Watson (7-3/4.15) and Mackie McGinnity (7-10/4.08)... top batting performers are All-Star superstar CF Jim Lewellen (.308/29/70/55), All-Star C Benny Donaldson (.341/8/34/28), 1B Billy Christianson (.277/8/43/39), SS Jackie Jackson (.288/4/25/47) and 3B Charley Taylor (.293/8/33/23).

The glory years for the Arroyo Grande Suns were from 2020 to 2024 when they copped the TU South flag four times in five seasons... the Suns are a sub .500 team with poor hitting and less-than-average pitching... they are batting only .232 (32nd) with 302 runs (26th), but have belted 85 out of the park (5th)... in the pitching department Arroyo Grande has a 4.00 team ERA (21st)... C Frank Jourdan (.301/14/32/22) has the team's top BA and has good power... 2B Frank Marcello has poked 21 homers and driven 59 runs, but is batting only .249... RF Gregorio Oliviera is hitting just .237, but has 10 home runs and 39 RBIs... Mateus Castro (9-7/3.65) and Matt Stevens (8-6/3.49), along with reliever John Nelson (3-1/2.11/3 saves) top the mound corps.

The Cape Coral Hurricanes haven't had a lot of success lately, but did flourish for a couple of years 2030-2031 with a fourth-place and first-place finish, but have since been deep near the bottom of the division... two eighth-places and sixth place so far this year... the 'Canes are 10 games out of first... pathetic pitching with a 4.59 team ERA (29th) and modest offense with a .264 mark (20th), 328 runs (20th) and very little power with only 45 homers (31st) makes it tough to compete... 20-year-old All-Star RF William Snyder is one of the few productive batters with a .301 BA, 10 roundtrippers, 46 RBIs and 40 runs scored... 2B Vic Hayes has lent a bat with a .297 BA, 2 HRs, 27 RBIs and 34 runs... vet Billy Trakas (7-5/4.44) leads the club in victories, but Tommy Van Noord (4-8/2.30) has been the most impressive... Van Noord was 19-15 last year as a rookie... he is better this year, but the record doesn't show it.

The Summerland Sunsets came out of nowhere to win the TU South last season, only the second time in history they made the postseason... the Sunsets also appeared way back in 2005... of late in the previous four years they were a second-division club... now they are back in that mode again in seventh place and 16 games behind in the race... forget winning back-to-back pennants with a 4.70 team ERA (30th) and a .244 BA (30th)... ace Freddi Rossi has slipped from 22-12 and a 2.09 ERA last year to 4-11 and 3.87 thus far this season... Ron McDonald was 14-11 last year and only 4-13 this year... Lloyd Anderson was 18-14 and now just 1-8... last year the team ERA was a strong 3.20 and the Sunsets hit well with a .268 BA... LF Nicky Titov (.284/16/39/30), RF Eamon O'Toole (.258/10/38/37), CF Antonio Vasquez (.290/1/28/23), 2B Ken Wyman (.287/5/22/37) and SS Norm Van Kieken (.258/10/28/28) are what little offense Summerland has... the Sunsets won last year because of fine pitching, which is missing this year.

Since 2023 the Ginza Ninjas have claimed five TU South crowns, but the well has gone dry, especially this year... the Ninjas are having the worst season in the club's history with a 20-53 mark at mid-season, deep in the cellar and 20 games behind division-leading San Alejo... the 5.27 team ERA (32nd) is a killer, by far the worst in the entire IPA... the only reliable hurler on the team is veteran Hollis Pace (7-10/2.92)... Ginza has some quality bats, but not enough to make up the vast difference... the Ninjas best batters are LF Sadaharu Uchiyama (.289/6/36/32), 2B Roger Lanier (.300/14/32/35), 1B Kazzy Nishimura (.287/10/32/28) and rookie RF Scott Sparks (.286/11/34/24)... 3B Juzo Tamura has improved with a .292 BA, 11 HRs, 28 RBIs and 26 runs scored.