[Eugene Church]

RASCALS FAVORED TO REPEAT IN TU NORTH, HAWKS MAY CHALLENGE
According to the baseball preseason gurus, it will be a two-team tussle in the Tycobbian North Division between defending division champion White River (92-62) and the North Hills Hawks (89-65)... with its strong pitching staff, the Rascals are favored to repeat again this season, but not much... scoring runs will be a sore point for them... the Hawks are in the same predicament... the Oxford Red Caps (81-73) are the distant third choice, followed by the Blue Lake Blue Sox (78-76)... the other four clubs are forecast for also-ran status this year.

White River's strength is in its fine starting rotation featuring Jackie Campanella, Shorty Meaux, Juliano Machado and Hoss Cartwright... the bullpen is just so-so... while the offense is just modest with the likes of Jerald Wheeler, Danny Gosserand and Finlay McTavish.

North Hills' top hurlers are Hal Christy, Craig Vale, Pat Causey and Cy Swindell... so goes the starters, so goes the Hawks... at the plate the Hawks will have trouble putting runs on the scoreboard... sparking the North Hills attack will be Bill Canterbury, Denny Darby, Jarred Creed, Hideki Nakano, Victor Bates and Perry Parkhill... North Hills came in third last year and trailed White River by 11 games... the Hawks hit better than the Rascals, but may not have enough pitching to beat them.

The league should be wary of the Oxford Red Caps, who have been serious pennant contenders for the past 15 seasons... the Red Caps have won 8 pennants and one Pro Cup (2061) during this period... they have finished third on 2 occasions and wound up second 5 times... one would think Oxford is still very capable making a good run at the pennant... they are still a potent team with many fine players like superstar first baseman Buddy Blackford (542 homers and 1407 RBIs) and star left fielder Showboat Lynn (390 homers and 1105 RBIs)... the Red Caps also have some standout hurlers in Rico Alessi and Pat McFarlane... add in rookie Julien Millikin and you've got a solid starting rotation... Jed Minden and Hernando Almora give them a good bullpen... mark it down... the Red Caps will be near the top at the end of the season... Oxford came in second last year, losing out to White River by 6 games.

There is quite a gap in talent between the top trio of teams in the TU North and fourth place Blue Lake and the remainder of the teams... the Blue Caps have some pretty good bats, paced by star center fielder Steve Schueler, star left fielder Amos Hunnicutt, rock-solid first sacker Billy Southward and fine catcher Daryl Monaghan... they are capable of scoring some runs... however, Blue Lake lacks solid pitching... they are depending on rookie starters Greg Mortimer and Thomas Benton to improve their lot... vets Bobby Layne, Frisco Francis, Albert Kendrick and Dwight Combs will have to contribute, too.

Hartsdale, Mahaska, Fairfax and Luxora will be in the lower eshelon of the Tycobbian North Division... they will battle for the 5th through 8th spots in the division... Luxora has some talented rookies in pitchers Tomas Yanez and Franco Sevilla, along with center fielder Don McGiffert... if they produce, look for the Zorros to do better in the standings.