Austin Greyhounds shutout Kaiserhoff, 3-0

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Scott Meyer pitched seven innings of four-hit ball and Mitch Mullenbach's two-out, double in the top of the seventh inning scored two insurance runs as the Austin Greyhounds blanked the New Ulm Kaiserhoff 3-0 Tuesday night in Southern Minny League action.

The righthanded Meyer fanned and walked only one as the Greyhounds tied the Kaiserhoff in the standings at 4-2.

Dave Meyer pitched the final two innings.

Ryan Wellmann scattered seven hits in taking the loss, striking out two and allowing two earned runs.

Craig Selk led the Austin attack, going 3-for-4 with Nick Rohne adding two hits. Mullenbach drove in two runs with Matt Cano bringing in the other Greyhound score.

Lance Buck collected two of the Kaiserhoff's five hits.

"Both the pitchers that we faced tonight were solid pitchers,"said Kaiserhoff manager Brady Ranweiler. "(Scott Meyer) threw a hard knuckleball and got it across for strikes. He had a nice fastball and mixed in a change-up and kept us off-stride."

Austin would take a 1-0 lead off Wellmann in the first inning without hitting the ball out of the infield. Mitch Mullenbach led off the inning by reaching second on a throwing error by shortstop Joey Schugel. A Tim Kaplan groundout moved him to third and he would score on Matt Cano's groundout to first.

The Kaiserhoff, who will travel to Albert Lea Sunday for a 6 p.m. Southern Minny League game, threatened in the fourth inning when Lance Buck led off with a walk and went to second on a Cory Ranweiler groundout. A wild pitch by Meyer moved him to third with one out. But Meyer retired the next two hitters - Brady Ranweiler and Preston Cowing - to end the threat.

New Ulm would mount another threat in the fifth inning when Ryan Ortiz singled with one out and went to second on an Andy Stolt sacrifice bunt. But Meyer got Jeff Dolan to groundout to end the inning

"The pitching level was dramatically better than our last two games ( a 19-2 win over St. Peter Sunday and a 9-4 win over Essig Monday)," said Ranweiler. 'Anytime that you face teams like Austin or Rochester - those are your upper level Class "B" teams and they have the quality pitchers that throw in the mid 80's or low 90's. They can throw strikes at three different speeds."

Meanwhile, Wellmann was also having a good night on the mound, allowing only two hits through the next five innings after the unearned run scored.

But the righthander had some control trouble in the seventh that would result in two Greyhound runs. Nick Rohne singled and Chris Pack was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch advanced runners to second and third. John Frein followed with a hard groundball to thirdbaseman Jeff Dolan whose throw home nailed Rohne for the second out. But Mitch Mullenbach followed with a two-run double to left for a 3-0 lead.

'He (Wellmann) did a nice job - the first run that scored was unearned," commented Ranweiler. "And I think that we are a pretty tired team right now. But I think that the heat probably did us in more in that span than the games did."

AUSTIN 100-000-200=3-7-0

KAISERHOFF 000-000-000=0-5-1