Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The^ said it "It's a real friendly atmosphere. It's like a town get together. IPs really nice how they put it on. They do a good job." Drew Meyer, USC shortstop on the Cape“Cod League Jeff Romig Sports Editor Drew Meyer is spending his summer in Chatham, Mass., playing for the Chatham Athletics of the Cape Cod League. This league is a summer collegiate league where the players get their first shot at learning how to hit with wooden bats as compared to the aluminum bats they use in college. A bummer on the Cape After tearing up the Southeastern Conference as a freshman, Drew Meyer decided to display his talent in the Cape Cod collegiate summer league by Jeff Romig N^. Sports Editor <Ej South Yarmouth, Mass. - When Drew Meyer de P^ cided to ditch the Los Angeles Dodgers and attend L the University of South Carolina, all thoughts of ■ Meyer spending this summer clad in blue and white, ■ hitting line drives with a wooden bat were diminished B in the minds of your everyday Gamecock fan. The truth is, Meyer knew he would spend this summer in Chatham, Mass., playing for the blue and white Chatham Athletics on the Cape Cod -v League, where top collegiate players learn I .. * W jyjt how to adjust to the wooden bat used by every level of professional baseball. “It was a tough decision,” Meyer V said. “I made the decision at the begin \ ning of my freshman year, and I really did V\. ^^B n’t know what I was getting into, but I made X the right decision career wise.” Meyer had the option of play ing for the USA Team this summer, but passed to play on Cape Cod “I had been invited with a good chance to make the team, but playing time would be questionable,” Meyer said “I wanted to come up (to the Cape Cod League) to be a better player this summer. I talked with some friends and other players around the country, and de cided that playing for Chatham would be the best thing for me.” Last summer, Tommy Lasorda and the Dodgers want ed Meyer, as did Ray Tanner and the Gamecocks. This summer, Schiffner got to have the player whose services were worth six figures a year ago for free. “We sort of out recruited Team USA a little bit,” Schiflher said “1 spoke to Drew’s father, and I spoke to Drew. They said we were the first ones to contact him late last summer, and they felt compelled to go with the commitment they gave to us.” A commitment wasn’t the only reason Meyer de cided to spend his summer in New England “Drew also felt that he’d been with Team USA,” Schifiner said. “He’d had that experience before, and he wanted to try the Cape Cod League and use thewood en bat against some of the best pitching.” Meyer’s decision might have been tough, but it was nothing compared to what he was pondering more than a year ago. “You look around, and a lot of these players are top round draft possibilities for next year,” Meyer said. “It’s interesting to take a step back and see how others are going through it and enjoy just playing the game.” What has been tough for Meyer has been the tran sition to hitting with a wooden bat. Meyer is hitting .212 with four doubles, two homeruns and 13 RBIs through 29 games. “He started off just fine,” said John Schiffner, Chatham head coach. “He has to look at his hands to make sure that it’s not an aluminum bat, it’s really a wooden bat.