[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Wednesday, June 1, 2039

TYPHOONS AHEAD IN 3-TEAM RACE
Going into the third month of play in the Tycobbian South the preseason favorite Turon Typhoons have a slight three-game edge over number-two choice San Alejo and number-three pick Summerland... Cape Coral is in fourth place and 7 games back with Colchester fifth and 8 games behind.

1. Turon - the Typhoons won the division last season and look like an even better team this year... they hit well with power, can score, can pitch with fine starters and a superb bullpen... defense is their only shortcoming... they showed their stuff in May with a 20-9 record and have first place to themselves... Nate Scottsdale (8-3/2.70), Wes Brynnton (9-4/3.42), Armin Boehm (9-3/3.97) and Clyde Engstrom (6-8/3.28) are all quality arms... Engstrom, a 26-game winner, Tycobbian MVP and Golden Arm winner last year, has had a slow start for him... closer Ralph Fulton (2-1/0.00/11 saves) is second in the IPA with 11 saves and is the bullpen ace... the top swingers are RF Guido Gervasio (.351/10/42/42), LF J. P. Trevenot (.301/13/37/41), SS C. C. Kingsford (.267/11/34/40), C Gil Erwin (.310/5/17/29) and 3B George Jordan (.289/11/32/27).

2. San Alejo: the Montaneros were tied for first after April, then went 17-12 in May to fall back to the runner-up spot... they will remain in the running because of good pitching and good scoring... however the Monties come up short in homers and defensively... Benny Buckmaster (8-2/1.68) has been the team standout starter so far with some help from Johnny Brown (5-4/3.24) and Tommy Smith (5-3/3.71)... bat leaders are C Filipe Zamora (.317/10/35/26), CF Dusty Rogan (.275/5/27/30) and 1B Ted Hatch (.275/6/28/16)... LF Charlie Wilberforce (.366/2/18/19) has been great, but has missed a third of the season with leg problems.

3. Summerland: Sunset pitching has been remarkably good this far... they lead the IPA with a 2.56 team ERA... but Summerland is woeful with the bats and ranks near the bottom in scoring... yet they went 18-11 in May to hang close to Turon... starters Jayson Hallstrom (8-5/1.95), Dutch De Boer (1-3/1.65), Freddy Farantino (3-2/2.31), Freddi Rossi (5-6/2.45) have been tough customers... so has reliever Ronald Shaddock (5-1/1.84/2 saves) in the pen... the most dependable run providers have been CF Antonio Vasquez (.318/2/27/33), SS Mark Brenneke (.288/6/22/32), 2B Todd Cummins (.277/9/25/22) and 3B Norm Murdoch (.265/2/12/29)... not likely a team with such a poor offense can win a pennant, not when its competition has good pitching and can put runs on the scoreboard, too.

4. Cape Coral: the Hurricanes are just the reverse of Summerland, possessing the offense, but with very little pitching... fourth place may be the best they can do... the 'Canes were 15-14 last month and are even for the season... top bats are 1B Stan Ferguson (.352/12/51/24) and CF Max Tselika (.345/7/26/45), who are off to great seasons... other solid bats are 3B Rikky Van Dalen (.290/5/28/38), LF Paul Law (.286/5/28/38) and 2B Kent Mantle (.283/7/29/25)... Mario Morales (7-6/4.64) and Tommy Van Noord (4-3/4.19) are the best the Hurricanes have on the hill.

5. Colchester: the Elites had a bad April, but improved with 16-13 in May... however, they don't look very much like contenders with mediocre batting and a bad bullpen but Colchester has three quality starters in Jimmy Moore (5-0/2.76), Eduardo Rivera (704/3.48) and Dave Lacoste (3-4/3.23)... Moore recently moved into the number-four slot in the starting rotation... talented RF Blake Barrister (.287/15/46/38) leads the club in everything but batting average... other plate contributors are 2B Joey Rogers (.290/5/28/30), 1B Nino Zuccaro (.291/5/21/24) and CF Danny Weaver (.280/2/19/35).

6. Arroyo Grande: the Suns posted a 13-16 mark in May and is not expected to get much higher than sixth place... and will probably do worse if the preseason guesses are correct... they were picked to end up in the basement... the Suns are ranked near the bottom in most categories except for defense... they really handle the gloves well with a .980 FA... closer Cody Simmons (1-1/1.27/12 saves) has been excellent and tops the IPA in saves... but he doesn't have much help... starters Meteus Castro (5-5/4.22) and Fernando Campos (5-7/3.83) are the best of the rest... not much at the plate, either, with the best of the lot being LF Rene Jesclard (.249/11/26/34), CF Rafael Montoya (.270/7/29/29) and 3B Wesley Cox (.260/5/25/22).

7. Southport: after a pretty good April, the Sun Soxx slumped badly to 9-20 in May, falling to seventh place... maybe this was temporary as the baseball experts forecast them for fourth place in the preseason poll... the Soxx have pretty fair pitching, but zilch when it come to offense and defense... on the hill rookie Billy Hoover (6-4/2.96) and Johnny Swanson (5-6/2.24) have been excellent, but haven't gotten much run support... rookie SS Ricky Whitaker is the club leader with a .322 BA... he has 3 HRs, 22 RBIs and scored 22 runs... CF Barney Lewis tops them in homers with 10 and 28 RBIs, but is batting a lowly .241... 1B Eddy Douglas (.283/7/19/18) and C Davy Riechert (.290/6/18/20) have chipped in a little offense, too.

8. Ginza: it looks like a long season for the Ninjas, who have the worst pitching in the IPA... 11-18 in May didn't change that outlook very much... Emil Kaltenborn (5-6/4.08) and Glenn Downing are the only decent starters and they are inconsistent... the Ninjas are only average at the plate, but they do have two talented batters in playing manager LF Sadaharu Uchiyama (.383/2/26/42) and CF Sogo Takagi (.323/19/47/46)... Uchiyama leads the Tycobbian Union with a .383 BA, 17 doubles and 77 hits, while Takagi has the most homers in the IPA with 19, tied with Adam Thurgood of North Hills in Tycobbia and Tyler White of Sugar Valley in the Ruthlandian Union.