The 1902 Southern Union Baseball season was the eighth season of professional baseball amongst the eight members of the Union and the first year of the Topklasse Divisie in Houtmansland.

Domestic Baseball

Koana Islands

Super Ligan

Vizhune won their fourth title and first since 1898, comfortably beating defending Champions Körsbärstad in the final series 2 games to 1 to romp to a 50-win season.

Omfattandestad and Nyhaven had seasons to forget, slumping to the mid-pack, despite the Bees finishing 4th for the second season in a row.

At the opposite end of the table, Ruysdael Akademisk’s four-year stay in the top flight came to an end, succumbing to relegation after a 3-2 loss to Oberoendestad in the Friday game, having trailed newly-promoted Bryankeld Förenta by three games going into the final series match-up.

IK Förenta Saffron made an immediate return back to Division Ett despite finishing with the season on the same win-loss record at Bryankeld who had beaten Saffron 5 times during the year. However, the string of 7 consecutive defeats to finish the season put the final nail in the coffin for the newcomers, after Bryankeld’s 6-4 victory over Conneaut on the penultimate Sunday was all that was necessary.

Division Ett

BK Salau, returning from the Super Ligan the previous year, clinched their second Division Ett title in three years, going 4 games better with a 54-24 record. The capital city-based team conceded the fewest runs out of all Division Ett teams and could’ve won a couple more games to finish off the year, going down to Uckford Gemenskap 2 games to 1 on the final weekend.

Joining them in the Super Ligan next season is Portlethen Måndag who had their highest ever finish and best win-loss record in the three years as a professional club. They edged out Sandford Stad on the final day who dropped the last game of the season to Rovaniemi Förenta, but Måndags superior head-to-head record would’ve seen them through anyway.

It was an unsatisfactory debut season for SK Ryttare in Division Ett following their relegation from the Super Ligan last year. The Jonestan-based club finished fourth but never looked like competing for a promotion spot.

IF Blidområde – on an ultimatum to not finish in the bottom 2 and get put up for re-election – matched their best ever record of 28 wins and finished 11th to ensure their survival for another season. Prestons-Grenada had another close shave, once against finishing 12th.

Freyr Viksida IK, 12th place finishers the last two seasons, slipped to 13th whilst Västra Delen 95 picked up their season-best 22 wins yet finished dead last for the 3rd straight year.

Having been given an ultimatum to not finish in the bottom two places, Västra Delen 95’s poor performance during the season saw lose the re-election at the Annual Owners Meeting, becoming the first team to be voted out of Division Ett and 4th team ever within the Koanian baseball pyramid. Freyr Viksida faired little better, voted out despite receiving more of the votes than Västra Delen. They will be replaced by BK Randia and Atletisk Nyhamn for the following season.

• Freyr Viksida IK – 11 (Failed re-election)
• Västra Delen 95 – 9 (Failed re-election)
• BK Randia – 12 (Elected)
• GK Udde Korall – 6
• Atletisk Nyhamn – 14 (Elected)

Günsovölk

Baseball Meisterschaft

Rasensport Sorgenfrei clinched their third title and first since 1899, but relied on results to go their way in the final weekend. Home to Viktoria Grosstadt who finished 11th for the third year in a row, Sorgenfrei won the Friday game 2-0 before being blanked themselves in the final two games, but Mächtstadt VfL did them a favour, beating Blau-Weiss Ruigoord on both Saturday and Sunday to gift the title to Rasensport.

In a tight final standings, Gelb Kekerdom matched their best ever finish with 3rd that they last achieved in 1899, two games ahead of defending champions Ducibus who slumped to 4th.

Fortuna Juemen had a woeful season after being an outside chance for the title, eventually finishing 8th, ahead of BV Küstestadt and VfB Andacht who sat a further 2 games back.

Druten Stadt SV 91 once again propped up the standings for the third year in a row.

Ianoia

I-League

Athletic Ivychurch returned to the winners circle after losing out on the title to Oldstead Irish last season. In a tight Championship race, Ivychurch beat Ulcombe to put clinch the title with a game to spare ahead of Blenkinsopp Town who had their best ever finish, tied on wins with Tyrant-Ilford who finished 3rd for the second straight year.

It was a season to forget for Oldstead Irish who lost a handful of their star players to rival teams during the off-season, eventually finishing in lowly 7th playing 500 ball.

Chatteris United – who signed a few Oldstead players – improved remarkably from the dreadful 10-44 record they achieved last year, going on to post a 22-32 record, two wins more than Donyatt-Burstwick who finished last for the first time in their short I-League history.

Houtmansland

Topklasse Divisie

In the inaugural season of professional baseball in Houtmansland, SHC Koedijk became the first ever champions following a 21-9 record, winning their remaining 7 games of the season to dispatch a spirited fight from KBO Armweide throughout the season.

Eikenheuvel HC finished 3rd, three games clear of Bos Aan Zee, whilst it was a tricky opening year for HHV and RKC Mesch, who finished 5th and 6th respectively.