July 29, 2008
SAN DIEGO - After winning a pair of gold medals with the U.S. National Team during its recently completed European tour, San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg has joined up with the U.S. Olympic Team as it starts training for the upcoming games in Beijing. The U.S. squad is working out in northern California this week as it begins preparations for an exhibition series against Canada on the east coast before departing for China.
The U.S. National Team (collegiate) concluded its annual tour last weekend with a record of 24-0, going undefeated for the first time in the program's history. Along the way, it won international titles at the Haarlem Baseball Week tournament in The Netherlands and at the FISU World College Championships in the Czech Republic.
Including 10 pre-tour contests during which the team went 8-2, Strasburg made seven appearances for the red, white and blue, compiling a mark of 4-0 with a 0.88 earned run average. Over his 41 innings of work, he struck out 62 and walked only seven while holding opponents to a .123 batting average. In his first start against foreign competition, he tossed four innings against China (in Torrington, Conn.) on June 18, facing the minimum of 12 batters and striking out 10.
In The Netherlands, he got the U.S. team off to a solid start with a win over Japan in which he struck out seven in seven innings while picking up the win. In the semifinal game of that tournament, he struck out 11 over seven frames in a victory over Chinese-Taipei.
Perhaps his best outing of the summer came in the opening contest at the FISU tourney as he held Korea hitless over seven innings while striking out 13 and walking one. He faced one batter over the minimum and left the game with a 1-0 lead. However, he was not involved in the decision as the Koreans tied the contest before the U.S. won with three late runs.
In his most recent outing, Strasburg recorded a win over Chinese-Taipei in the semifinal of the collegiate championship event as he allowed no runs on two hits in seven innings to lead the U.S. into the final against Japan.
Strasburg, who turned 20 on July 20, is the lone collegiate player on the U.S. Olympic team with the other 23 members coming from the single-A through triple-A levels of professional baseball. The squad will hold practices at Santa Clara University this week before flying back east to start its series against Canada on Aug. 1 at Cary, N.C.
The U.S. and Canadian squads will then move over to Durham for games Aug. 2-4 before departing for China on Aug. 6. Opening ceremonies for the games will take place on Aug. 8 with the baseball competition scheduled to start Aug. 13.
For the complete schedule and the latest news on the U.S. Olympic team, click here.