Almost perfect

Published 12:00 am Friday, July 26, 2002

Perfection is supposed to be unattainable, but for all practical purposes Austin Greyhounds pitcher Dave Meyer was flawless on Thursday night.

Meyer threw a near-perfect ballgame against the Albert Lea Colonels, striking out a season-high 19 while allowing just one hit in the 5-0 complete-game victory at Marcusen Park.

"I wanted these guys so bad," Meyer said after tossing his third one-hitter of the season. "The adrenaline was rolling pretty big."

Email newsletter signup

Albert Lea (5-15, 3-8) surprised the state's fourth-rated Greyhounds (29-15, 10-3) in their first regular season meeting, but the Colonels met their match with Meyer on Thursday night.

Ryan Wangen's second-inning fly ball to center field was misjudged by Greyhounds' player/coach Joe Serratore, and the resultant double would be the Colonels' only hit. Serratore stretched out to rob Wangen of extra-bases in the fifth inning on a line drive that was likely the hardest hit ball off the Albert Lea bats all night.

"It happens," Meyer said. "I can't blame (Serratore). It was a catchable ball, but he just misplayed it."

Meyer struck out six straight at one point and Wangen would be the only player to reach base. The Austin defense did not commit an error and Meyer did not walk a batter.

"Meyer was just dominating tonight," said Colonels coach Bill Trygstad. "He had everything working tonight."

Meyer did not realize he would have been on track for a perfect game until a teammate mentioned it to everyone in the dugout during the eighth inning. Serratore knew it the whole time.

"I should get an error for that," Serratore said after Wangen's fly ball evaded him in the second. "That should have been caught."

Pair of aces

As good as Meyer was for the Greyhounds, Albert Lea's Isaac Walton did not allow a hit until Chris Pack reached with a bunt single with two outs in the fifth. Walton's shutout did not last much longer either, as an error led to two Austin runs in the sixth.

"Isaac's a really good pitcher," Meyer said. "He has good command of his stuff, his mixes his pitches very well."

Adam Berge booted a grounder off the bat of leadoff hitter Nick Rohne, and Colonels left-fielder Brad Carlson did not see Ryan Hanson's fly ball to the warning track until it was too late. Rohne scored and Hanson came plateward on Tate Cummins' groundout, and Meyer had all the offense he would need.

Meyer struck out the next six batters he faced, and eight of the final nine, for the complete-game shutout. His two-seam fastball had a lot of left-to-right movement on it early, and six of Albert Lea's first eight strikeouts were looking.

"He had it working," Trygstad said. "Austin played good defense when we did hit the ball. I was proud of the way our guys hit."

"He had a lot more movement than normal," said Rohne, the Greyhounds' catcher.

Austin added three runs in the eighth to chase Walton from the mound. A leadoff walk to Rohne sparked the inning as Hanson hammered a double to the fence in right. Craig Selk stepped up with a two-run single through the right side, and he would later score on Matt Raso's double to left.

The Greyhounds have only three regular season games remaining, including tonight's final homestand against New Ulm Kaiserhoff. Game time at Marcusen is set for 7:30 p.m. Austin was originally scheduled to host St. Louis Park Saturday, but that game has been cancelled. The 'Hounds finish up with a doubleheader at Eau Claire Sunday starting at 1 p.m.

Boxscore:

GREYHOUNDS 5, COLONELS 0

Albert LeaAustin

Abrhbiabrhbi

Dahl ss4000Rohne c3200

Carlson lf3000Serratore cf2000

Gonzalz dh3000 Hanson cf2221

Walton p0000Cummins 2b4001

Anderson p0000Selk lf4112

Kohn cf3000Swank dh4000

Wacholz c3000 Meyer p0000

Wangen 1b3010Raso 3b4011

Oquist 3b3000Pack 1b4020

Westeng rf3000Dolan rf1000

Berge 2b2000Frein ss3000

Lowman ph1000

Totals28010Totals31565

Albert Lea000000000--012

Austin00000203x--560

E -- Berge, Walton. 2B -- Wangen, Hanson, Raso. 3B -- Hanson. SB -- Frein.

IPHRERBBSO

Albert Lea

Walton, L7 2/365434

Anderson1/300001

Austin

Meyer, W9100019

WP -- Walton 2.

Call Ross Thede at 434-2234 or e-mail him at :mailto:sports@austindailyherald.com.