Thursday, October 31, 2069
RACER SECOND SACKER CLAIBORNE HONORED AS 2069 IPA PRO CUP MVP
The 2069 Pro Cup champion Rolling Hills Racers really was a team effort... this year's Pro Cup Most Valuable Player Award could have gone to a whole host of players that deserved the trophy... in a very close vote Rolling Hills' second baseman Clayton Claiborne was selected... he beat out teammates Jameston Mulbert, Hugo Sutton, Jean-Luc Roubique and Carl Lindell as well as Mark Meisner, Russell Krohn and Fred Hahn of the Claxton Diamonds.
The 32-year-old Claiborne only had a modest .272 BA in the regular season this year, but he excelled with a .333 batting average in 20 postseason games with 16 runs batted in, tops for the Racers, and also played rock-solid defense... Claiborne, a 10-year veteran star, sports a .303 lifetime BA in the Islandian Pro Alliance... he was an All-Star in 2065 and won the Golden Glove in 2066... Claiborne joined the Racers in 2063, coming in a trade with the North Hills Hawks... Rolling Hills has won the Tycobbian West pennant in all of his 7 seasons with the club... the Racers have also nabbed 3 Pro Cup trophies during his tenure with the club... career-wise Claiborne has batted .293 in 106 playoff games with 52 runs batted in and 36 runs scored.
But Claiborne had a lot of competition for the award... Shortstop Jameson Mulbert finished second in the MVP poll... he batted .377 with 6 RBIs and 12 runs scored... in the third spot was center fielder Hugo Sutton, who batted .312 with 4 homers, 14 ribbies and 11 runs... fourth and fifth in the balloting were Claxton's two fine pitchers, Mark Meisner and Russell Krohn... Meisner stood out in the playoffs with a stellar 4-1 mark and a 1.49 ERA in 5 starts... Krohn wound up 3-0 in 4 starts with an impressive 2.03 ERA... sixth place in the IPA Pro Cup Most Valuable Player Poll went to Rolling Hills left fielder Jean-Luc Roubique... he batted .275 with 3 roundtrippers, 10 runs batted in and scored 15 runs... winding up seventh was Claxton's third baseman Fred Hahn... he hit .308 in the postseason with 6 home runs, 14 RBIs and 15 runs... and coming in eighth was Rolling Hills' fine rookie hurler Carl Lindell... in 8 games and 5 starting assignments Lindell posted 4 wins and one loss with a solid 3.07 ERA.
