[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, September 21, 2049

RATTLERS RU EAST CHAMP AGAIN
Nobody could keep up with the Sugar Valley Rattlers the last three months of the Ruthlandian East season... the Rattlers racked up a torrid 57-18 record in a second-half surge to overwhelm Belle Plaine by 8 games for the division title... it was Sugar Valley's fifth pennant in seven years... Cold Creek was 20 games back in third place... Marston and Beechwood came in fourth, 34 games off the pace... Sugar Valley roared to 103 victories, second best to Middlefield's 104 wins in the Ruthlandian East... Valmara also went over the 100-win mark in the Ruthlandian North, finishing with 101.

1. SUGAR VALLEY: the Rattlers will be going for their second Pro Cup in five years... they nabbed it in 2045 and have much better pitching this time around... Sugar Valley ranked first in the IPA with a 2.51 team ERA... it's the second best ERA in history, topped only by Forest City record-breaking 2.41 last year... all five starters posted ERA under 3.00... All-Star Joe Snow (26-8/2.46) chalked up the most wins... Cullen Winslow (23-6/2.18) had the best ERA... and Antonio Cedeno (22-17/2.42), Davey Brennan (13-10/2.68/2 saves) and Christopher Dunsberry (10-4/2.42/10 saves) were very effective, too... leading the Rattlers at the plate were star LF Carl Ramsey (.282/32/105/88), 22-year-old rookie RF Duncan McEllicott (.267/27/80/69) and 1B Smokey Nix (.285/24/79/77)... they only hit .250 (20th), but scored pretty well with 677 runs (9th) and 160 homers (4th)... the two biggest winners in the IPA will be opponents right off the bat in the playoffs... in first-round play Sugar Valley takes on the powerful Middlefield Roosters, who seem to have it all this year... pitching, hitting and power.

2. Belle Plaine: the Muskies have been making good strides the last few years, climbing up from 8th (69-85) to fifth (76-78) to third (84-70) and up to second this season with a sparkling 95-59 mark (8 GB)... their previous best was 91-63 in 2025... the poor Muskies are still waiting for its first IPA Pro Cup... 41 years have past since the last playoff appearance... they led Sugar Valley by 4 games at mid-year, but couldn't keep up with them in the second half... the Belle Plaine bats were blistering this year with a .291 team BA (1st), 881 runs (1st) and 190 HRs (2nd)... the pitching was better than average with a 3.44 ERA (14th)... star RF Lenny Buisson (.341/45/129/109) had another marvelous season and led the club in just about all categories... 1B Chuck Gregory (.376/30/99/85) was a huge threat, too... other valuable contributors were C Nuke Borg (.282/24/80/83), CF Roy Myers (.294/16/62/76), rookie LF Nappy Kiggins (.278/14/61/86) and 3B Kale Woodard (.322/5/48/78)... top hurlers were Phil Lacey (21-11/2.91) and Henry Wade (22-12/3.07)... Pedro Castro (17-14/4.18) and Joe-Joe Bouvier (16-11/4.10) also gave them some quality strarts... the future bodes well for the Musketeers.

3. COLD CREEK: better pitching moved the Catamounts up from fourth to third this year, improving from 76-78 to 83-71... they have never won the Pro Cup... the last pennant was hoisted in 2041... vets Sammy Wright (23-14/2.97) and All-Star Rob Hutchins (19-13/2.28) had excellent seasons with some help from number three Spooky Robinson (16-16/3.36)... providing most of the offense were All-Star 2B Milt Swallow (.308/41/132/94), All-Star SS Joe Cochrane (.302/22/94/87), RF Mike Josephson (.284/6/40/79) and CF Albie Forbush (.255/11/56/74).

4. MARSTON: since the pennant-winning season of 2047 the Nine has taken a tumble to 75-79 (20 GB) and 69-85 (34 GB) the last two seasons, tying Beechwood for fourth place... Marston has never won a Pro Cup... just a mediocre club at best... they were in third place, 8 games behind at the All-Star break, then went downhill quickly... John Newton (14-20/2.91) deserved a better record... he and Thomas Stuart (11-10/3.32/2 saves) were the most effective hurlers... closer Kiki Vuk (2-2/1/46/12 saves) was quite good in the bullpen... the Nine didn't have much at the plate with All-Star 3B Gary Armitage (.262/23/77/88), 2B Damien D'Amboise (.266/6/60/85), LF D'Wayne Dotson (.293/26/82/82), CF Calvin Marbury (.268/17/69/61), RF Charley Gilmore (.293/9/47/63) and SS Stan Mila (.263/12/68/55) putting up the best stats.

4. BEECHWOOD: the long-suffering Bobcats had a dismal year with a 69-85 record, tied for fourth place... 2026 was the last time they won the division... Beechwood is still winless as far as Pro Cups... Jimmy Herman (13-16/3.28), Tommy Banks (13-15/3.93) and Pete Ashley (13-21/3.93) are fair starters and Terry Collins (7-3/1.55/8 saves) did well in the bullpen... the offense is terrible... 35-year-old RF Eddie Wilson is nearing the end of a good career, but still led the club with 20 HRs and 60 RBIs, but batted a lowly .204... CF Rod McClellan topped the team with a .278 BA with 10 homers and 55 RBIs... and 2B Mike Mathews (.240) had 12 homers and led the club with 73 runs.

6. EASTSHORE: for the third year in a row the Elegants finished in the sixth spot in the standings... they were 68-86 this season (35 GB)... it's been 15 years since Eastshore won the RU East... however the Elegants have two Pro Cups to their credit, won in 2016 and 2017... not much offense, but the mound staff is pretty fair with starters Malcolm Tansbury (18-11/2.47), Jimmy Phelps (14-24/3.93), Ferrell Greenlaw (13-19/3.86) and Valdek Savisaar (12-20/3.86) and relievers Trent Niven (8-4/1.98/20 saves) and Vic Perry (2-2/2.13/6 saves)... Niven was second in saves in the IPA, topped only by Andy Mayfield of Kilkenny with 21... no standout sticks... SS Nigel Gold (.282/2/41/90), 1B Joe Washington (.282/10/73/73) and LF Bevan Shuler (.260/21/76/60) were the only decent batters... the biggest threat RF Troy McFarland (.216/16/76/70) had a down year.

7. WYNNAMAC: the Sundowners sunk low this year after spending seven straight seasons in the Ruthlandian East first division... they were last year's runner-up... the Sundowners last won the pennant in 2044... the bats were horrible this year, just about the worst in the IPA... the pitching was fairly solid with James Duncan (10-20/3.01) and Shirai Nakamura (12-10/3.10), Sammy Hayes (15-17/3.30) and Milt Easterling (.13-16/4.06)... rookie CF Dickie Key (.269/5/37/56), C Koby Howard (.254/15/52/37) and rookie RFJake Turpin (.251/13/55/55) supplied what little offense the W'Macs had.

8. ELNORA: the All-Stars endured another cellar-dwelling season for the second successive year with a sorry 53-101 mark... only Ancona of the RU North was worse with 104 defeats... Elnora has one Pro Cup trophy, won in 2033... their last postseason appearance was back in 2035... pitching is bad and the offense is average... Rod Lucas (13-24/3.91) was the club's biggest winner and the only starter with an ERA under 4.00... RF Casimiro Gessi (.323/5/41/79), 1B Joey Hagburn (.319/14/89/72) and All-Star LF Enos Conrad (.312/12/61/76) were the best hitters average-wise, while CF Preston Davies (.253/31/89/77) was the most prolific.

2049 Ruthlandian East Division Final Standings and Team Statistics