MiLB.com Playoffs Central | Boilers in Pro Ball
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue baseball alumni Kevin Plawecki and Nick Wittgren helped their Minor League Baseball teams qualify for the 2014 playoffs, which get underway this week around the country.
Plawecki's Las Vegas 51s (New York Mets affiliate) won the Pacific Conference's South Division of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League by nine games and will take on the Reno Aces (Arizona Diamondback affilate) in a battle of Nevada. Lafayette native and former big leaguer Clayton Richard, who has trained on campus during the offseason at times during his professional career, is slated to start game one for Reno Wednesday (Sept. 3). Reno has home field advantage in the best-of-five series and the winner plays the American Conference champion (Memphis vs. Omaha) in PCL League Championships Series (best-of-five). The PCL champ then goes on to play the winner of the International League in the Triple-A Championship.
Plawecki batted .283 with 21 RBI in 43 games for Las Vegas to finish the 2014 season with a .309 average and 64 RBI.
Wittgren helped the Jacksonville Suns (Miami Marlins affiliate) win their final 10 regular-season games of the season to win the second-half title South Division of the Double-A Southern League. Wittgren closed out Monday's one-run season finale for his 20th save of the year. After sweeping a four-game series vs. the Mobile BayBears (Arizona Diamonbacks affiliate) -- the first-half division champ -- to close the season, Jacksonville will again take on Mobile again in the divisional playoffs and have home-field advantage in the best-of-five series that begins Thursday (Sept. 4). Chattanooga and Huntsville square off in the North Division playoffs. Jacksonville needed its season-ending 10-game win streak because the Mississippi Braves went 8-2 in their final 10 games and finished just one game behind in the standings.
Plawecki (2010-12) and Wittgren (2011-12) were two of the 10 Purdue alumni active in Minor League Baseball this season, including 2014 draftees Sean McHugh (2011-14) and Jordan Minch (2013-14). Among them, Dan Black (2007-09) helped the Birmingham Barons (Chicago White Sox affiliate) win the Southern League title last year.
Additionally, alums Dan Sattler (2004-07; St. Paul Saints and Wichita Wingnuts) and Andy Loomis (2007-08; Gary RailCats) were both pitching in the independent American Association after recovering from injuries that cut short their 2013 MiLB seasons.
Following a strong summer in which he was named an All-Star in the American Association, Sattler was traded to Wichita in August. The Wingnuts had the best record (73-27) in the 12-team league this summer, winning the South Division by 15 games. Laredo will be their first-round playoff opponent, with the best-of-five series opening Wednesday (Sept. 3). Sattler had three saves in five appearances for Wichita after compiling three wins, 19 saves, a 1.80 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched for the St. Paul Saints this year.
After making one spot start for the Oakland A's in April and spending the entire season with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, alum Josh Lindblom figured to be Purdue's leading candidate for a September call up. But with the A's trading for veterans throughout July and August with their eyes on a postseason run, the 40-man roster maxed out quickly. Lindblom also pitched in only one game the final two months after getting hit in the ankle by a line drive twice during that stretch.
Matt Bischoff (2007-10) made his final appearance of the season for the Triple-A Norfolk Tides (Baltimore Orioles affiliate), working three innings of scoreless relief. He spent the majority of the summer in the Double-A Eastern League. Cameron Perkins (2010-12), Black and Plawecki also were at the Triple-A level for parts of 2014.
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