Team USA Defeats CPL Select Squad 4-2 Sunday
Published on June 23, 2014 under Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Lexington County Blowfish News Release
CARY, N.C. -- The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team bounced back from a first-inning deficit to grind out a 4-2 victory over the Coastal Plain League Select squad on Sunday evening at Coleman Field at the National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.
Skylar Hunter (The Citadel) pitched an inning of shutout ball.
"It was a long day for the guys," Team USA manager Dave Van Horn (Arkansas) said. "We got up early and got them out here about 9 a.m., hit for about an hour and a half, took some ground balls then went back to the hotel and came back and basically did it again. I think we kind of faded a little bit, but we are just trying to get better and get as many reps as we can in offensively.
"We did a good job of overcoming a couple of misplayed balls that cost us a couple of runs but we faced a team with some good pitching, several all-conference type guys from different leagues," Van Horn said. "They gave us a good challenge and we responded to it."
DJ Stewart (Florida State) paced a balanced offensive attack for the U.S. squad, knocking in two of the team's runs with an RBI triple in the first and a run-scoring groundout in the third. Seven different players accounted for the team's seven hits on the night with Alex Bregman (LSU) and Kevin Newman (Arizona) also recording RBIs in the contest.
"It was good to see the middle of our lineup give themselves up to drive in runs with runners at third and less than two outs and a sac bunt with two on and no outs, things that we are going to have to do when we get on the road and start playing."
Team USA starter Andrew Moore (Oregon State) picked up the win, striking out three and allowing one run on four hits over three innings of work. Robert Tyler (Georgia) added three innings of his own out of the bullpen, yielding one unearned run on one hit while fanning two.
Dillon Tate (UCSB), Sylar Hunter (The Citadel) and Sheldon Nuese (Oklahoma) closed out the final third of the game with one scoreless inning each. Cal Quantrill (Stanford) suffered the loss for the CPL Select squad after giving up a pair of runs on three hits and a walk in the game's first two innings.
The CPL Select team jumped out in front in the top of the first, taking advantage of a misplayed ball in right to bring in the first run of the contest. Team USA bounced right back though, plating runs in each of the next three innings to go ahead, 3-1. The team's then traded tallies in the fifth to account for the final score as the two bullpens shut things down from the sixth inning on.
The Collegiate National Team will continue its Red, White and Blue Tour when it opens a seven-game road trip on Monday, traveling to Columba, South Carolina this Thursday to take on the Columbia Blowfish Baseball Club.
The USA Collegiate National Team consists of 32 of the country's top collegiate baseball players. The team competes in exhibition games across the U.S. and overseas against teams such as Chinese Taipei, Japan and Cuba.
Notable players on the 2014 USA Collegiate National Team include: Clemson University's Chris Okey, College of Charleston's Bailey Ober and Skylar Hunter of The Citadel.
Gates will open at 6:00PM on June 26. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05PM. Adult tickets start at $6.00 and $5.00 for kids. For more information visit www.blowfishbaseball.com or call (803) 254-FISH.
Coastal Plain League Stories from June 23, 2014
- Longball Leads Team USA to 10-4 Win over HiToms - High Point-Thomasville HiToms
- Marlins Edged 2-1 in Pitcher's Duel with Sharks - Morehead City Marlins
- Dogs Record First Shutout of Season, Win 6-0 - Fayetteville SwampDogs
- Team USA Defeats CPL Select Squad 4-2 Sunday - Lexington County Blowfish
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