[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Friday, May 1, 2054

BUCS BEST IPA RECORD, BEST IN TU WEST
Wow!... what a start for the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers... they have the best overall record in the IPA and are the best in the Tycobbian West with a super 20-4 mark... the Bucs are already 5 games up on the second place Arlon Champions (15-9)... and 7 games better than third place Kenwood and (13-11) Chicopee (13-11).

Manager Cotton Cornwall had a great April, ranking high with a 2.81 ERA (2nd) and high in scoring runs with 147 (4th), while batting at a .290 clip (6th) with 23 HR (12th-tied)... Bay St. Clair (20-4) is a club to be reckon with... they ran a good race last year finishing second and 6 games behind division-winning Denton City with an 83-71 record... the Buccaneers have been a solid contender for the last five seasons, winning pennants in '49 and '50 and winding up no worse than third place... 11 times the Bucs have made the playoffs, but they have never yet won a Pro Cup... Bay St. Clair's best showing was the 2015 Pro Cup Finals when they fell to the Taranto Tars in 5 games... Cornwall has a solid rotation with Scotty Hedwall (6-0/2.61), Jerry MacIntyre (3-1/1.49), Kermo Jarvi (3-1/3.83) and Dion Hawkins (3-2/4.02)... the Buccaneer bullpen is strong, too, with Cadillac Bogart (3-0/0.00/3 saves/9 G) and Darcey Kennedy (2-0/1.69/1 save/5 G)... the Bucs have beaucoup bats, too, sparked by LF Jed Killick (.358 BA/6 HR/26 RBI/19 R), 2B Ike Ritter (.387/0/10/16), 3B Trace Burney (.319/1/14/14), SS Pip Blaylock (.304/5/10/29/4 SB), 1B Clive Caveness (.316/2/12/18) and RF Don Holliday (.270/4/20/11).

The Arlon Champions (15-9) are playing very well under skipper Mark Cameron this year... in fact, his club could be better than the '51 bunch that captured the Pro Cup... the first and only one in the Champs history... Arlon has made the postseason playoffs only 6 times in its history... last year they came in 5th in the TU West (78-76)... so for this year the team is playing like a contender with a .281 BA (8th), 123 runs (9th), 22 HR (15th-tied) and a strong 2.99 team ERA (4th)... most of the mound staff from the Pro Cup year are still on the team... starters Lanny Gray (3-1/3.11), J. C. Hilburn (3-2/1.47) and Ty Coffee (5-1/1.65) anchor the rotation... the bullpen is very capable as well with Mack Blair (1-1/2.45/2 saves/6 G) in the closing role... Arlon most productive hitters are LF Timothy Webb (.407 BA/2 HR/10 RBI/18 R/4 SB), 1B P. J. Flagg (.291/5/19/17/2 SB) and 2B Art Carlin (.288/2/18/11)... should Erik Branham (2-3/4.85) regain his form of his first two seasons, the Champions would be a very serious challenger in the pennant... in '51 and '52 Branham was 22-12 and 19-10... he slipped a little last year to 15-20.

Third place Kenwood (13-11) fizzled last year ending up in 6th place with a 70-84 mark... the Wildcats won the TU West flag in '52 with a 91-63 record... a great decline in pitching was the culprit... manager Babe Hankins' staff ERA rose from 3.31 to 4.40... it's up to 4.41 (21st) this year... he still has a solid core of batsmen with a .293 BA (5th), 145 runs (6th-tied) and 20 HR (18th-tied)... Kenwood need a serious improvement on the hill... 1B Bralen Connally (.362 BA/7 HR/19 RBI/23 R) is having a terrific year, aided and abetted by LF William Gloucester (.310/1/17/16), CF Chris McNeal (.290/2/13/13) and 3B Bailey Brumley (.292/1/13/9)... on the mound the Wildcat standouts are Rusty Bradford (3-3/2.31) and Emmitt Oates (5-1/3.14)... the starters perform well, but the bullpen is just plain bad with a very poor 5.60 ERA (26th)... Hankins' crew will probably be in the battle for third place... higher is not likely... Kenwood has been in the postseason 10 times in its history... most of them in the last 15 years... the Wildcats have won 7 division flags in that time... the team's only Pro Cup trophy was captured in 2014.

The Chicopee Braves (13-11) are tied for the third spot in the TU West standings... manager Augie Meaux is at the helm... the team came in fourth last year at 80-74 (9 GB)... that is pretty much the outlook for this year... the Braves are batting a strong .285 (7th), but have trouble scoring... they have tallied on 108 runs (16th) and hit only 11 out of the park (31st)... in the pitching department Chicopee is just average with a 4.10 ERA (16th)... Meaux's top batsmen are CF Johnny Helwig (.375 BA/1 HR/5 RBI/13 R), RF Adam Maxson (.333/1/12/11), 1B Ken Smith (.364/0/11/9), SS Derrell Stelly (.317/3/11/9) and 3B Frank Luckett (.387/1/11/7/3 SB)... Chicopee only has fair starters led by Sharlon Barbour (4-1/3.83) and Charlie Lazar (2-2/3.61), but the bullpen is ranked one the best in the IPA with a 1.74 ERA (3rd) with Cy Abernathy (3-1/1.45/3 saves/10 G), Chipper Gilton (1-0/1.84/2 saves/7 G) and Rocky Dowling (0-1/1.74/1 save/6 G)... the Braves might be in the running for fourth place this season... Chicopee has a dismal postseason mark with only three appearances... the last pennants came in 2034, 2035 and 2036... the Braves have never collected a Pro Cup trophy.

The rest of the Tycobbian West Division are in the also-ran category and not very likely to break even this season... the Bayview Vikings (9-15) are currently in fifth place and 11 GB... it's been 9 years since the Viks had a winning club... the last pennant came years ago in 2016... Bayview has appeared in the Pro Cup playoffs only 6 times in its history, never coming close to winning the overall IPA crown... legendary IPA slugger Jerry Culpepper is the skipper... he's a Hall of Famer (2053) and has the all-time home-run mark with 878 and a .304 career batting average... 15-time All-Star and 5-time Golden Bat winner... this season the Vikings only have an average offense (18th) and a bad mound staff with a 5.07 ERA (28th)... top batters are C Lou Fairhead (.333 BA/5 HR/21 RBI/13 R), 1B Eddie Beeman (.289/2/17/10), CF Noel Connors (.289/4/12/20 3SB) and 2B Oscar Weatherford (.288/2/6/16)... Culpepper's top hurler is his closer Wayne Stewart (0-1/2.22/2 saves/13 G)... Dookie Nelson (3-3/4.97) is the best starter, but nothing much to brag about... Bayview was last in 2053 (64-90) and just might be headed that way again.

The remaining three teams are tied for last place, all with 8-16 records... the Denton City Redbirds (89-65) won the TU West last year, but has had an abysmal start in April... the club is not hitting at all... and the pitching has gone into decline as well... DC is batting only .239 (28th), ranks last with only 84 runs (32nd) and the pitching is has gone from 3.27 ERA up to 3.87 (12th)... Johnny Wingate (1-3/2.64) and Jayson Mannon (2-3/2.91) are quality starters, but are suffering from poor run support... Flash Stringfellow (1-2/3.74) is off to a slow start for him... and Harry Elliott (1-5/6.75) has been so bad, he retired... overall he was 228-210 with a 3.73 ERA... everybody on the Redbird squad suffered a slump in April... only 1B Val Anniston (.310 BA/5 HR/13 RBI/9 R) and SS Vincent McCloud (.269/3/11/15) put up decent numbers... Denton City has made the playoffs 10 times, but not a lot in recent years... their glory years were in the team's first decade... the Redbirds reached the Pro Cup Finals in 2008, but lost to Wynnamac in 6 games... that was as close as they got to a Pro Cup trophy... if the good bats snap out of their slumps and come around, Denton City could still challenge for third or fourth place... but no pennant is in the forecast again this year for manager Pete Gibbs.

The La Claire Lynx (8-16) wound up third last year with an 81-73 mark (8 GB), but manager Flash Devlin might have trouble duplicating it... Devlin, a 2038 Hall of Famer and 13-time All-Star infielder, and a lifetime .317 batter with 559 homers, has the hitting (11th), but not the pitching (27th)... LF Wilmer Burgess (.393 BA/1 HR/9 RBI/16 R), RF Kippy Born (.325/1/11/5) and 1B Charlie Rodgers (.324/3/10/5) provide most of the offense with some help form SS Frisco Thorpe (.257/2/15/9) and C Kade Vakar (.259/1/12/8)... not a lot of talent in the Lynx's rotation... the best of the lot are Jacques Guichard (2-4/4.23) and Sato Ishii (1-2/4.62)... Danny Green (1-1/2.49/0 saves/5 G) had looked good in spot starts and relief... La Claire has rarely made the playoffs, appearing just 4 times in the its history... never won a Pro Cup... never came close... last division flags in the Tycobbian West came way back in the '37 and '38 seasons.

Manager Billy Christenson (.302 BA/258 HR), Hall of Fame infielder, 6-time All-Star and 5-time Gold Glover, had a tough time last year, coming in seventh with a 67-87 record (22 GB)... for 6 straight years from 2045 to 2051 his Rolling Hills Reds finished third or higher, even won the Pro Cup in 2048... that was the club's third time to win the overall IPA crown... this year they are in last place with an 8-16 record, trailing by 12 games... the pitching staff has fallen on very hard times the last two seasons and is even worse so far this year with a horrendous 6.07 ERA... the offense is still average (17th)... the only quality pitcher is 39-year-old Johnny Howard (4-2/4.37)... there is zilch after him and he's is nowhere near the pitcher he was a few seasons ago... but the Reds do have a few quality batters like SS Dustn Thibodeau (.321 BA/1 HR/13 RBI/12 R/3 SB), CF Mike Josephson (.322/3/9/16/4 SB), 2B Adam Hines (.304/0/7/18/8 SB) and 3B Miguel Romeros (.286/3/10/7)... can't be optimistic for Rolling Hills... if they are rolling, it will probably be all downhill.