The two minor league baseball pitchers that call Austin home in the offseason are both gearing up for the postseason in September.

Tuesday, August 31, 1999

The two minor league baseball pitchers that call Austin home in the offseason are both gearing up for the postseason in September.

Mike Wuertz, of the Midwest League’s Lansing Lugnuts, and Dave Meyer, of the Northern League’s Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, have their respective teams in-line for the playoffs

Wuertz, an 11th-round draft choice of the Chicago Cubs and a 1997 graduate of Austin High School, is in his second season of pro ball and first season with the Cubs’ lower level Class A affiliate. He assured the Lugnuts of postseason play when he struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven innings on June 18 against Clinton to clinch the first-half Eastern Division title.

"It’s neat," Wuertz said the opportunity to start the Lugnuts’ first playoff game. "Hopefully I can go in there and set the tone."

The Lugnuts will host the Michigan Battle Cats on Sept. 8. The Battle Cats were the second-half Eastern Division winners.

"We’re pretty even with those guys," said Wuertz, who has two no-decisions against the Battle Cats this year.

The Battle Cats and the Lugnuts are the top two hitting clubs in the Midwest League. The Battle Cats, who are tops in team batting at .285, are led by Aaron Miles (.328, 10 HR, 72 RBI) and Aaron McNeal (38 HR 126 RBI, .589 SLG). The Lugnuts, who at .275, are led by MVP candidate Corey Patterson (.321, 15 3B, 20 HR, 79 RBI, .598 SLG)

The two clubs are also close in team pitching. Lansing is fourth to last in the league at 4.79 and Michigan has the third worst ERA at 4.86 going into today.

On Aug. 10 against Michigan, Wuertz scattered nine hits and gave up two unearned runs in eight innings of work – his longest stint on the mound this year.

In his latest start last Thursday, Wuertz (11-11) gave up three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings for a no-decision at Kane County, Ill. Wuertz gave up all three in the first inning and left with the game tied. Lansing lost 6-5.

The 20-year-old righthander gave up six hits and hit a batter. He had four strikeouts and walked two.

"It’s been a roller coaster year," Wuertz said. "But there’s been more positives than negatives."

Lately, Wuertz’s fastball has been clocked as high as 92-93 mph and consistently in the 88-91 mph range.

Aside from waiting for the playoffs to start, Wuertz has been working with Lansing pitching coach Stan Kyles on the mental aspects of the game, like throwing situations and setting up the next hitter, as well as finding time to rest.

"It’s really getting to be a grind," said Wuertz, who has nearly doubled his time on the mound this year at Lansing (27 games, 155 1/3 innings) over his time at Williamsport (14 games, 86 1/3 innings) last year.

Wuertz on Patterson

Like most pitchers drafted out of high school,Wuertz has been loosely placed on a five-year plan to make it to The Show. His teammate, Patterson, a center fielder, is on the fast track in only his first year of pro ball.

"He’s been amazing to play with," Wuertz said of Patterson, who was the third player taken overall in the 1998 draft. "That’s all anybody wanted to talk about when we were near Chicago last week. ‘When are the Cubs bringing up Patterson?’"

Patterson, who is a leading candidate for Midwest League MVP, is in the top five of six offensive categories.

Meyer to tryout with Pirates

Meyer, a 1994 graduate of AHS and in his first season of minor league baseball, and his RedHawk teammates will be heading to the playoffs a different way than Wuertz and the Lugnuts. The defending Northern League champion RedHawks clinched a spot in the playoffs over the weekend as a wildcard.

During the playoffs, Meyer, 24, will not be at a shortage with things on his mind.

Besides going back to Mayville State University to complete his business degree, Meyer was invited to a private tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates in Schaumburg, Ill on Sept. 11, during the heart of the Northern League playoffs.

Meyer along with his teammate Chris Schwab and two other Northern Leaguers will be the only players at the tryout.

Because the tryout falls in the middle of the playoffs, Meyer said the Pirates understood his situation and would be willing to watch him pitch in the playoffs or schedule another tryout personally for him once the season ends.

"I’ve still got to talk to (RedHawks catcher) Chris Coste," Meyer said. "He was in this type of situation last year. After that I’ll just take it from there."

In his latest start last Wednesday, Meyer (5-2) made Northern League history, when he faced and beat David Meyer of Madison. Dave Meyer picked up a win after giving up four earned runs in 5 2/3 at Madison, Wis. He had three strikeouts and walked three. He gave up 10 hits, two of which were home runs.

"It was fun," Meyer said. "I’m kind of glad they didn’t make too big deal of it."

Earlier this summer, two players with same name, Bobby Jones, faced each other on the mound at the Major League level for the first time.

Like Wuertz, Meyer is also feeling the effects of the being the club workhorse. In his last four starts, Meyer has been pitching on four days rest.

Not that it has hurt his performance. Meyer’s August ERA (3.77) is lower than in July (3.82) and more than a full run lower than June (4.82), his first month of pitching at the pro level.