MALE THLETE OF THE YEAR

Gary Dudgeon
Greensburg Daily News

July 09, 2008 08:57 pm

— Alex Meyer is arguably the most followed athlete to play in Decatur County in decades. Following sports in this county without mentioning his name would been akin to following the presidential race without covering Sen. Barack Obama.
Early season baseball games required more than a little patience to get through the crowd behind home plate. When Meyer left the pitching mound, the crowd evaporated faster than a morning fog on a hot summer day.
Therefore Meyer is the Daily News’ Male Athlete of the Year despite participating in just two sports. The degree of excellence displayed in both sports warrants our choice.
And Meyer’s high school career is not yet over. He leaves tomorrow to participate in the North-South All-Star classic to be held this week-end in South Bend. His invitation to participate in this series and his earlier selection as Gatorade Player of the Year in Indiana set him apart from his two competitors, North Decatur’s Neal Ploeger and South’s Dustin Snyder. Ploeger was named All-State in the fall for football.
At the end of the year, Meyer was acknowledged as Greensburg Community High School’s most valuable senior athlete on the strength of his skills in the two sports.
During the winter’s basketball season, Meyer was a significant part of the team as he scored 289 points on offense, recorded a school record 80 blocked shots and pulled down 118 rebounds.
Among his 112 field goals was one 3-pointer against East Central that gave Greensburg a lead late in a game it lost on a last-second shot. He also led the Pirates from the charity stripe hitting 70.3 percent of his attempts.
A three-time letter winner in basketball he was selected All-Conference for a second time, and the team’s most valuable player.
When basketball season ended, Meyer shifted his attention to the diamond where he stood out not only locally but was recognized nationally for his ability to throw baseball. And throw it he did.
In just 51 1/3 innings of work, Meyer notched 108 strike-outs including 17 in the Regional Championship game where he posted a 3-1 decision against New Palestine.
He ended an unbeaten season in which he allowed but 19 hits, with an ERA of 0.95. That gave him a place among the state leaders in all three categories - earned run average, strike-outs, and wins.
In an ironical twist to his season, he was noted for his pitching but his name appeared in four offensive categories, one more category than his pitching. He ended the season ranked in hits, runs, doubles and home runs.
Hitting third in the batting order, he also recorded 30 RBIs, although the two hitters in front of him also recorded similar RBI totals. Since the first two hitters in a line-up usually aren’t expected to drive in runs, Meyer’s RBI totals would likely have been higher in a normal situation.
Still it was his feats on the hill that drove his recognition here and nationally. It was his pitching that caused speculation of being a first-round draft choice by major league baseball, and it was pitching that garnered him an athletic scholarship to the University of Kentucky.
The Daily News has been enjoyed watching Meyer and his mates during the spring, and his exploits were well documented, which won him recognition as the 2007-2008 Male Athlete of the Year.

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