Team USA National Team Roster Announces First 12 Invites

Team USA has announced the names of twelve student athletes who have accepted invitations to take part in the National Team trials this June. 32 Players in total will be taking part in the trials, and the 22 man roster will be announced on June 24th. Among the notables in the first batch of players are Vanderbilt sophomore lefty Mike Minor and Mizzou sophomore righty Kyle Gibson. Both are expected to be high draft picks in the '09 draft. Minor pitched for Team USA last summer, going 5-2 with a 1.64 ERA. He struck out 37 and walked 4 over 33 innings. Gibson finished second in the Cape with a 1.17 ERA last summer for the Falmouth Commodores, and was named the league's 3rd best prospect by BA. Click the links to read more on Mike Minor and Kyle Gibson.

Some exciting freshman have also been invited to the trials, headlined by Auburn's hard hitting first baseman Hunter Morris, who was drafted in the second round last June by the Red Sox (84th overall). He is currently hitting .359 with 10 homers, 13 doubles, and a pair of triples. He has 42 runs batted in, and has walked (26) more times than he's struck out (18). Also invited were Fullerton's Christian Colon and Tennessee's Kentrail Davis.

Here is the release from USABaseball.com published earlier today.

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Weekend Review: Beckham and Strasburg Continue to Excel

Who can stop Gordon Beckham? The junior shortstop blasted two more home runs over the weekend, with his total now at 19 and the Bulldogs moved to 10th on Baseball America’s top 25 this week. Beckham has more home runs than strikeouts (13) and is slugging at a .903 clip.

After a 23 strikeout performance last week, sophomore right hander Stephen Strasburg struck out the first six UNLV batters he faced on Friday. He lasted seven innings, walking none and striking out thirteen. His ERA is now sitting at 1.73.

On Friday, Brian Matusz won his seventh game in a row while striking out ten in eight innings. The candidate to go #1 in this year’s draft surrendered just two unearned runs in the 9-2 win over Saint Mary’s College.

UNC Freshman right hander Matt Harvey won his second game of the week on Sunday to improve to 6-2. He struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings while allowing just one earned run on six hits and three walks.

Miami first baseman Yonder Alonso smacked two home runs Sunday in an 11-10 win over FSU, including his first career grand slam. Buster Posey drove in three runs for the Seminoles.

Grant Green extended his hitting streak to 13 games on Sunday after a 1-4 performance. The sophomore is now hitting .403 after a slow start with six homers, thirteen doubles, and two triples. He’s also been striking out less, with 24 in 32 games.

Ryan Flaherty his two home runs Sunday to lead the Commodores to a 9-5 victory over Auburn. The shortstop now has ten homers on the season. He had this to say after the game, “I spent a lot of time in the off-season working on hitting and that has really helped… I just try and continue to develop as a player and hitting the ball the other way has also helped as well as getting good counts to hit in." Read more

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Beckham Does It Again

In the top of the ninth inning of a tied 4-4 ball game, Georgia State took the lead on errors by shortstop Gordon Beckham and reliever Justin Earls. With the score 5-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Peisel led off the inning with a single to center. He then stole second, and right fielder Matt Olsen walked. Coming to the plate going 0 for 4 thus far, Baseball America's Midseason Player of the Year Gordon Beckham stepped to the plate. On a 1-0 count, Beckham smashed his 17th home run of the season for a 3 run walkoff job. He's now hitting .430 with 43 RBI, and he leads the country in homers.

Georgia coach David Perno had this to say after the game: "He’s a .430 hitter so even though he didn’t have a hit up to that point, he didn’t shut it down, he hung in there and delivered in big fashion. We weren’t going to bunt in that situation. We had our guys up there and we were playing to win.”

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Fedroff and Peterson Both Hit for the Cycle Tuesday

In a 14-3 Tarheel win over UNC Greensboro, right fielder Tim Fedroff hit for the cycle and drove in three runs. The sophomore walked twice and scored three runs.

On the same day, Long Beach State first baseman Shane Peterson also hit for the cycle in a 10-0 win over Pepperdine. Peterson is now hitting .362 on the season.

Justin Smoak tied two Gamecock records with three home runs and nine RBI in a 14-4 win over USC Upstate. Shortstop Reese Havens was 3-3 with a home run, two RBI and four runs scored.

Gordon Beckham continues to lead Georgia to key wins, as he scored the winning run yesterday on a two out walk off wild pitch. Beckham was 3-5 in the game with three runs scored, a run batted in, and his team leading 11th stolen base.

In a 4-2 win over Florida, Florida State’s junior catcher Buster Posey continues his torrid hitting, going 3-4 with a double and two RBI. He’s now hitting .478 and could be a top 10 pick this June. Freshman Tyler Holt got a few hits to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 35 games.

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Notes from Weekend of 4/11

On Friday, sophomore right hander Stephen Strasburg struck out 23 batters in the San Diego State Aztec’s 1-0 win over Utah. He pitched a complete game one hitter, allowing just one walk. No runner passed second base. The 23 strikeouts set an SDSU record as well as a Mountain West Conference record.

Junior Aaron Crow got roughed up on Friday by Texas in a wild 31-12 win by Mizzou. On a windy night, Crow allowed five runs in the first inning, snapping his 42.2 inning scoreless streak. He allowed nine runs in five innings, yet still picked up the win to improve to 8-0. Crow’s ERA jumps from 0.69 to 2.05. Senior Jacob Priday set a Big 12 Conference record with four home runs in the game.

The UCLA Bruins swept UC Riverside over the weekend to improve to 17-13. On Friday, lefty Tim Murphy struck out eight in seven innings. On Saturday, the offense exploded, cranking 26 hits in an 18-7 victory. Brandon Crawford, Alden Carrithers, and Cody Decker all hit their fourth home runs of the season. Crawford finished one triple shy of the cycle, and also made the defensive play of the game diving to his left to record an out. Crawford is not hitting .333 with six doubles, three triples, and four home runs. Alden Carrithers leads the team with a .405 batting average.

On Sunday, Georgia’s Gordon Beckham smashed his SEC leading 16th home run of the season en route to a conference series sweep of Kentucky.

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Georgia Tech's Michael Hutts Passes Away at Age 21

Friday night’s Georgia Tech game against Miami was postponed due to the untimely death of pitcher Michael Hutts, 21, who was found dead Friday morning. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. Tuesday’s game at Georgia Southern will be cancelled in order for the team to attend Michael’s funeral. Hutt’s number 40 was painted on the field near the third base line, and every Yellow Jacket wore #40 on their cap this weekend. Here is a Guestbook for Micahel Hutts.

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This Weekend's Action

Texas plays at Mizzou this weekend where Aaron Crow will look to extend his streak of 42 2/3 scoreless innings pitched. Make sure to also keep an eye on sophomore Kyle Gibson who is 5-0 with a 2.84 ERA.

This weekend #1 Miami plays at Georgia Tech. Hot hitting Yonder Alonso and Jemile Weeks match up against freshman shortstop Derek Dietrich from Ohio who leads the Yellow Jackets in homers with 10.

Cal plays at USC, and Friday night’s match up of Tyson Ross against sophomore stud Grant Green should be a good one. Baseball America has a nice scouting report on USC here.

Arizona State plays at Washington State, Florida State travels to Chestnut Hill to play Boston College, and North Carolina plays at Clemson in ACC play.

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