[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, September 19, 2050

BUCS WIN TU WEST AGAIN, REDS DISTANT 2ND
For the second straight year the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers are the class of the Tycobbian West... they were hands down the best in the West, wiping out the division by 13 games over runner-up Rolling Hills... the Reds managed to hang in the chase till mid-year, then vanished in the second half of the season... the other clubs were nowhere in sight... La Claire was 24 games back in third place and Arlon was 29 games behind in fourth place... Bay St. Clair possesses the best run-scoring machine in the IPA with almost 6 runs a game and should be a potent force in the postseason this year... the Bucs would like nothing better than to bring home their first Pro Cup trophy... but Valmara, Sugar Valley, Middlefield and White River will have a lot to say about who wins the Pro Cup this year... there are a lot of strong challengers.

1. BAY ST. CLAIR: the Bucs need another strong starter to contend for the Pro Cup ... number three starter Jerry MacIntyre will be the key... the club improved from 93-62 last year to 99-55 with an improved offense... Bay St. Clair will be seeking its first Pro Cup... they made the Finals in '15, but were defeated by the Taranto Tars in five games.

Top Pitchers: Scotty Hedwall (22-10/2.85) and Dion Hawkins (20-7/2.96) are two very capable starters, but they will need help from Jerry MacIntyre (16-9/4.58) to be a factor in the Pro Cup playoffs... the Buccaneer bullpen is awesome with Ian Abercrombie (10-5/1.70/13 saves) and Cadillac Bogart (8-8/2.41/11 saves)... definitely no problem there... they are ranked second in the Tycobbian Union with a very strong 2.10 ERA.

Top Batters: the Bucs topped the IPA with 903 runs and ranked fourth with a .281 BA... the only clubs better were Ranford (.287), St. John (.285) and Valmara (.283)... the Buccaneer batting order is chocked full of solid hitters: LF Stan Kovalenko (.307/13/80/119), 1B Clive Caviness (.315/28/107/86), RF Butch Thornhill (.282/21/98/99), C Hersh Cranmore (.305/20/90/82) and All-Star 2B Dwayne Mungle (.288/7/76/106)... Kovalenko ranked third with 119 runs, topped only by Norishigi Ito of Arroyo Grande and Ryan Reagan of Kilkenny, who led the IPA with 120 each.

2. Rolling Hills: the Reds won it all just two seasons ago, beating Claxton in the IPA Pro Cup title series... it was the team's third Pro Cup trophy... they also won years ago in '29 and '31... the slow downswing from 95-59 ('48) to 89-65 ('49) to this year's 86-68 is a result of an aging pitching corps.

Top Pitchers: Matthew Christianson (18-9/3.42), Marty Phillips (19-15/4.25), Steve Adams (17-9/4.22) and Johnny Howard (15-19/3.22)... Christianson is 36, Howard 36, Adams 35 and Phillips is 33... Benny Young (6-3/3.88/13 saves) is the most reliable reliever in a suspect bullpen.

Top Batters: the big sticks are All-Star 2B Miguel Romeros (.327/28/121/105), All-Star SS Dustin Thibodeau (.304/21/77/117), star 1B Darwin Tard (.281/21/92/86) and LF Orin Phillips (.288/25/92/74)... Romeros ranked fifth in the IPA with 121 RBIs and Thibodeau was sixth with 117 runs.

3. La Claire: the Lynx finished in the third spot in the standings, but they are still far from being a real contender in the Tycobbian West... however, the club is slowly making progress: 54-100 (31 GB) in '47, 60-94 (35 GB) in '48, 68-86 (24 GB) in '49 and up to 75-79 (24 GB) this season... the last pennant came in '38 and the Lynx have never won a Pro Cup.

Top Pitchers: the only starter with an ERA under 4.00 was rookie Joel Orgeron (16-12/3.72)... he also was the only one with a winning record... the bullpen corps is pretty good with Al Nixon (6-1/2.19/7 saves) and Derrick Kajlich (7-3/2.72/5 saves).

Top Batters: just an average hitting club, most of the La Claire offense is supplied by 1B Doug Stewart (.329/10/88/76), 3B Sam Essex (.267/32/90/94), RF Rikky Van Dalen (.303/13/62/80) and CF J. D. Landy (.238/14/75/86).

4. Arlon: not a good year for the Champions, though they came in fourth... for the third straight year they finished under the .500 mark with average pitching and with the third-worst offense in the IPA... the Champs scored only 599 runs... only the Eastshore Elegants (564) and Ancona Red Elephants (582) of the Ruthlandian Union scored fewer runs... Arlon has made the postseason playoffs only five times and have yet to garner a Pro Cup... the last pennant came in '43... and the only shot at a Pro Cup trophy was in '39 when they were whipped in six games by the Waleska Westerners.

Top Pitchers: at 34 superstar Lanny Gray (19-10/2.68) is still firing away on the mound and is still the ace with a career 268-215 record and a fine 3.05 ERA... the only help he has is closer Mack Blair (10-5/1.58/20 saves)... Blair was fifth in the IPA in saves with 20... Ranwood's Martin Futch led with 26, Sugar Valley's Domenico Renterias had 25 and Southport's Troy Hill and San Dimas' Kenny Robinson totaled 21 apiece.

Top Batters: the only Champs with decent numbers are veterans 1B Ivan Cisneros (.281/23/91/83) and CF Cary Rockwell (.285/15/81/53).

5. Kenwood: they wound up in a three-way tie for fifth this season with Denton City and Bayview (30 GB)... for the the third year in a row the Wildcats took a tumble... they won the division flag six times in seven seasons from '41 to '47... since then they have slumped from 85 wins (first place) in '47, to 81 (second place) in '48, 79 (fourth place) in '40 and to 69-85 and fifth place this year... Kenwood captured its only Pro Cup in 2014, beating Belair Beach in seven games.

Top Pitchers: only two Wildcat hurlers are reliable... veteran starter Rusty Bradford ((19-14/3.06) and reliever Mike Jones (10-11/3.02/14 saves).

Top Batters: superstar hitter and All-Star 1B Country Crowder (.340/6/56/95) led the Ruthlandian Union in batting for a second time with a .340 BA... he also paced the league for the third time with 213 hits... lifetime Crowder is a .336 hitter... only Jet Kazmarek (.350), Roy Hobbs (.345), Chip Fiske (.344), and Whit Miley (.341) have better career averages... superstar All-Star C Corky DiNozzo (.306/43/108/96) is still going strong at age 34... also chipping in some offense were 2B Jace McFalls (.290/9/60/69) and 3B Jasper Matthews (.275/19/76/66) and platooners LF Billy Nix (.291/17/53/42) and CF Ian Collingham (.291/12/54/34).

5. Denton City: last year the Redbirds lost in a heartbreaker playoff in extra innings to Bay St. Clair for the Tycobbian West Division title... this year they plunged to a three-way tie for fifth place, falling from a lofty 92-63 to a dismal 69-85... it's been 10 years since the Redbirds won a pennant... and they still haven't hauled in a Pro Cup trophy... currently Denton City has only average pitching and a poor offense.

Top Pitchers: the starters all took a hit this year with the team ERA jumping from a terrific 2.72 to so-so 3.80... Flash Stringfellow (17-16/3.56) and James Webb (13-12/3.62/2 saves) were the only starters with winning records, but their ERAs soared from last year... vets Johnny Wingate (13-22/3.13) and Harry Elliott (11-16/4.33) took a lot of losses... Wingate didn't deserve it with over 85% quality starts... Elliott made a good start less than half the time... Mel Coley went from 20-12 with a 3.05 ERA to 9-15 this year with a 4.35 ERA... the bullpen was nothing to boast about.

Top Batters: 1B Val Anniston (.270/21/99/66) was the top man putting runs on the scoreboard, but batted only .270... All-Star 3B Rich Prince (.315/13/64/72) and RF Matt Wakely (.313/13/53/70) had the best batting averages... SS Vincent McCloud (.264/5/40/104 and CF Petey Doyle (.276/14/60/530 also contributed to the offense.

5. Bayview: the Vikings wound up in a three-way tie for fifth place in the standings 30 games off the pace... they hit a lot of homers and score a lot of runs, but they give up more homers and more runs... that's pretty much the history of the Bayview Vikings... no playoff appearances since 2016... and no Pro Cups... never have even made the Finals.

Top Pitchers: Bobby Knudsen (18-19/3.80) led the club and had the best ERA... got little help from any other starter or reliever... team ERA was a pathetic 4.84 (31st)... only Fairfax with a horrendous 5.02 was worse in the IPA.

Top Batters: the Vik attack ranked second in the IPA with 231 roundtrippers, topped only by Red Bluff's 238... placed fourth in runs with 820... superstar All-Star RF Nioka Inkamara (.317/50/120/93) led with 50 homers, bested only by the IPA leader Johnny Wyatt of Middlefield with 57... the all-time home-run hitter in IPA history 36-year-old 3B Jerry Culpepper (.297/39/109/72) hit 39 out of the park, giving him 875 for his fabulous career... LF Cooter Cannon (.231/26/91/97) and IF Clifford Colemand (.227/26/55/51) each pitched in with 26 longballs... 1B Mac Garris (.270/21/73/87) added 21 homers to the team totals... and CF Rusty Hunter (.333/5/66/96) led the team with a .333 BA.

8. Chicopee: the Braves came in last this season with a 65-89 mark (34 GB)... down from 70-84 last year (22 GB)... no playoffs since the three-year stretch from 2034 to 2036 when they won the TU West pennant... Chicopee is still waiting to win its first Pro Cup.

Top Pitchers: Tony Dazzi (16-19/3.87), Sharlon Barbour (13-19/3.84) and Gary Robinson (11-12/3.62) were so-so starters... no one worth mentioning in the relief corps.

Top Batters: the best bat performers were LF Johnny Helwig (.337/13/70/69), 1B Sam Patrick (.269/25/76/62), SS Arlen Buchanan (.285/8/72/83) and RF Pat Kinney (.289/4/60/75).

2050 Tycobbian West Division Final Standings and Team Statistics