[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, September 18, 2035

Elnora Edges Sugar Valley For RU East Crown
The Ruthlandian East just might be the strongest overall division in the Islandian Pro Alliance... six of the eight clubs had winning records with champion Elnora and runner-up Sugar Valley winning 98 and 97 games respectively... third place Cold Creek chalked up 91 victories... Wynnamac and last season's division winner Eastshore deadlocked for fourth with 81-73 records... even Beechwood in sixth place was over the .500 mark with a 78-76 record.

Elnora won out by a single game in a September stretch-drive run over Sugar Valley... manager Leon Carter's club regained its powerhouse status this season after suffering a bit of an aberration in 2034... last season they slipped to fifth with an 81-73 record... this was the All-Stars fourth pennant in five years... Elnora has a high-octane attack with excellent pitching, but they are only average defensively... leading the high-scoring offense were All-Star SS James Couch (.313/12/81/93), 32-year-old free agent from White River (TU North) CF Clive Kenyon (.330/12/81/93), 2B Akihiro Samurakami (.297/14/71/92), C Coot Bailey (.312/11/49/67) and RF Travis Glass (.260/19/72/75)... platooned 1B-3B Danny Bierhoff (.333/14/46/44) was also tough out... another good bat, regular LF Clint Thomas (.301/7/55/63), missed a third of the season with injuries and will miss the playoffs... regular 3B Matt Boyd (.255/12/76/63) will also not play in the postseason because of injury... for the fourth time in five seasons Jeremy Sellers (20-9/2.51) was a 20-game winner... other stalwarts were Stan Kivas (22-10/3.27), Dan Pitts (16-13/3.41) and Jesus Robles (16-13/3.95)... Freddy Pfeffer (7-6/2.84/6 saves) and John Kaltenbach (3-2/1.80/5 saves) manned the bullpen very well... All-Star Paul Martina (10-5/2.05/9 saves) was lost for the season in late July and will be sorely missed in the playoffs... the All-Stars won the Pro Cup in 2033 and have their eyes set on winning it again... Carter says the time is right... many baseball experts agree with him.

Manager Gibby Bobkins of the Sugar Valley Rattlers has an explosive lineup, strong defense and a very fine pitching staff, considering the small venue they have to pitch in... the Rattlers went deep 198 times, second in the RU behind Middlefield's 227... and outscored everyone in the IPA with 860 runs... three players drove in over 100 each and three scored over 100 each: All-Star CF Bobby Gamble (.324/34/105/125), All-Star LF Tyler White (.241/42/135/103), All-Star 1B Roger Hobbs (.283/20/106/99) and 2B Richie Strickland (.242/28/65/123)... White led the IPA in RBIs and Gamble led in runs... other contributors were C Frankie Testaverde (.287/23/97/63) and SS Jesse Burns (.262/1/54/92)... Bobkins also had two All-Star hurlers and three 20-game winners in Jeremy Blanchard (22-8/3.67), 29-year-old free agent from Bayview (TU West) Jergen Fyelstad (22-8/3.77) and Juan Navarro (20-14/3.52)... he almost had a fourth in 31-year-old free agent from Mahaska (TU North) James Newland (19-8/3.94), who fell just one win short... in the bullpen Josh Wilkerson (4-4/1.84/14 saves) was solid, too... he was picked up in a trade with Southport (TU South)... it's tough when you win 97 games and don't make the playoffs... this was the Rattlers' second-best year ever... they won 98 games in 2005.

This was supposed to the Cold Creek Catamounts' year... they were the favorite in The Islandian Times preseason poll... it was still a fine season as the 'Cats finished third behind two very good clubs... manager Scoop Lemieux had a solid ballclub with good hitting, good pitching and an excellent defense... he has a sound staff with J. J. Gillespie (20-10/2.17), who had the best ERA in the RU... it was Gillespie's third year in a row to win 20 games... other standouts in the rotation were George Bailey (17-10/3.44), Jules Capet (17-12/3.50) and Pete Heller (16-8/3.52)... Cold Creek is hampered by a lackluster offense... 2B Morten Jonassen (.317/6/48/62), CF Guy St. Laurent (.264/22/83/87), 3B Maska Chandler (.268/19/74/77) and RF Pat Foreman (.248/19/62/82) provide most of the offense with help from C Craig Peck (.300/6/50/51), 1B Leland Henley (.335/14/57/37) and 1B Steve Daniels (.275/16/44/43).

For the 11th successive year the Wynnamac Sundowners of Matt Donnelly finished in the first division... they were forecast to battle Cold Creek for the division flag, instead they tied with Eastshore for fourth place, 17 games back in the race... this year Donnelly's club was just average in batting and pitching, but could score runs, ranking 9th... RF Allen Dundee (.263/16/85/67), 2B Ed Lane (.278/10/64/89), 1B Mick Saunders (.255/18/68/86), 3B Lou Borcellino (.306/9/63/59) and C Lee Leslie (.244/21/68/56) were the offensive leaders... mound leaders were few, paced by vet Killara Bardo (18-16/3.52) and Geoff Hobart (19-12/3.53) in the starting rotation, along with rookie reliever Paul Payton (6-4/2.86/3 saves)... the Sundowners' bullpen was atrocious with a 5.15 ERA.

One wonders why a team as talented as the Eastshore Elegants came in tied for fourth, after winning 98 games in 2034... in essence they had more talent this year with the addition of standout All-Star and Gold Glove C Kyle Hunt (.298/11/66/60) in a midseason trade with Claxton (RU South)... and pitcher Randy Boone was back for a full season after missing a lot of last year... pitching was the culprit as the team ERA jumped from a great 2.96 in 2034 to 3.49 this year... that meant they allowed more than a run a game more than last year... Boone (20-13/3.05) led the staff, along with Koy Clampett (18-15/3.11), Ramon Contreras (18-14/3.69) and Don Klingenberg (14-14/3.72)... at age 37 Boone reached the 200-win milestone this season... he is 202-168 in 13 seasons with an impressive 3.04 career ERA... offense was no problem for the Elegants with superstar and All-Star CF Scotty Lagrange (.315/47/109/117) and RF Neil Richard (.331/29/97/80)... Lagrange was runner-up in the IPA with 47 dingers and Richard led the RU with a .331 BA... All-Star 2B Johnny Petrak (.295/14/66/84), 1B Paul Reed (.306/16/75/61) and LF Kelly Chamberlain (.255/25/66/99) also chipped valuable run production.

The sixth-place Beechwood Bobcats could use more offense and a better bullpen... skipper Bret George has the starting pitching... despite the lack of hitting the Bobcats still finished above the .500 mark... vets Ken Arby (17-16/3.27), Maury Patterson (17-17/3.06) and Joey Powers (14-16/2.95) are rock solid, but could really use more run support... Patterson should reach 200 wins early next season... in 11 years the 32-year-old right-hander is 198-143 with a strong 2.96 ERA... while the Bobcats don't hit much for average, they can go deep... leading the way are CF Howie Baldwin (.231/36/89/87), SS Cody Hanks (.277/29/75/76), RF Eddie Wilson (.256/24/59/55) and 2B Leonard Mason (.255/19/68/89)... the 29-year-old Hanks was acquired in a trade with Red Bluff (TU East) in late July... 1B Kelly Hardison (.288/16/68/70) topped the team in BA.

Danny Church has pretty fair pitching in Marston, but no offense to speak of... the Nine ended the season in sixth place, the seventh straight year in the second division... Kris Delaney (12-13/2.97) was the most effective starter... young star Pat Brown (13-21/4.16) endured an off-year after registering two consecutive 20-game seasons... two journeymen Alex Ehrlich (16-18/3.78) and Terry Bailey (13-13/3.58) were dependable starters... in the bullpen All-Star Jimbo McGinnity (7-5/2.03/15 saves) stood out... Church's modest bats are 3B Philip DeWey (.279/20/76/82), 1B Marco Ameche (.270/21/76/64), 2B Lonnie Trekell (.268/22/72/60), C Ron Marlowe (..255/16/60/58) and RF Warren Cleveland (.258/18/56/68).

It was another dismal last-place finish for the hapless Belle Plaine Musketeers and manager Dave Torregrossa... that make it two years in a row in the basement and three of the last five years... the Muskies have a strong attack that is fourth in scoring runs, but they have horrendous pitching that gives up almost 5 runs a game... bat leaders are All-Star CF Noel Martin (.297/24/75/95), All-Star 2B Carl Bentley (.292/16/84/65), 1B Mitch Mason (.284/25/85/96), 3B Kit Ritter (.287/11/57/81), IF-OF Cal Copeland (.282/18/80/64) and RF Boo Boudreaux (.282/22/69/80)... Benny Lucas (14-17/4.50) is the best of the lot pitching-wise... everybody else is 5.00 or worse.