CARY, N.C. – The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team completed round two of its annual Stars vs. Stripes intrasquad series Monday, as the Stars used the combination of shutdown pitching and a pair of timely home runs to level the series at a game apiece with a 6-2 decision over the Stripes at the National Training Complex.
JJ Wetherholt (West Virginia) set the tone for the contest with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, negating two early runs by the Stars in the top half of the inning.
Those would be the only runs the Stripes’ pitching staff would need, as five hurlers combined to blank the Stars over the remaining nine frames. **Brody Brecht (Iowa)**rebounded from a shaky first with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, including five strikeouts.
From there, Ryan Johnson (Dallas Baptist) turned in 3.0 scoreless innings, followed by two from Mitch Voit (Michigan) and single innings by Eldridge Armstrong III and Nicholas Wilson (Southern) to close out the game.
KEY MOMENTS
- Wetherholt belted a 3-1 pitch from Stars’ starter Matt Ager (UC Santa Barbara) 414 feet to right for the tying home run in the bottom of the first.
- Jacob Cozart (NC State) added to the Stripes’ lead with his second home run in as many games at the CNT Training Camp, launching a two-run blast in the fourth.
- Four Stripes pitchers combined to face the minimum over the final five innings, with only two Stars batters reaching safely before being wiped out by double-play grounders.
- Duce Gourson (UCLA) delivered his second strong performance at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. The infielder has now reached base safely in 9-of-10 trips to the plate over the first two games of the series.
- Braden Montgomery (Stanford) put the finishing touches on the victory with a two-run single in the 10th after the contest had been decided.
NOTEWORTHY
- Jace LaViolette (Texas A&M) paced the Stars with a 2-for-4 day at the plate.
- Fran Orschell III (Duke) fanned six Stripes while allowing just two hits and a walk over his 3.0 innings.
- Stripes’ pitching issued just one walk—a leadoff walk to Griff O’Ferrall (Virginia) to start the game.
- In addition to Gourson’s two-hit performance, Montgomery finished 2-for-5, while Seaver King (Wake Forest) added a multi-hit effort as well to lead the Stripes’ 12-hit attack.
ON DECK
- The Collegiate National Team will return to the USA Baseball National Training Complex Tuesday (June 27) with the third game of its Stars vs. Stripes series at 7 p.m. ET.
- The Stars vs. Stripes series concludes Wednesday with a 6 p.m. game. Following its conclusion, the 20th USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series will take place from June 30-July 4, with games at the National Training Complex, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, Atrium Health Ballpark in Kannapolis, and Segra Stadium in Fayetteville.
- The National Training Complex will host the opening three games of the 44th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series from July 7-9, while games four and five of the series will be played at Joseph Riley, Jr. Park in Charleston on July 11 and 12.
- Tickets for this year’s Collegiate National Team Training Camp, along with all tickets to Team USA’s games against Chinese Taipei and Japan, can be found HERE.
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Stay tuned to @USABaseballCNT on Twitter for the most up-to-date news about the 2023 Collegiate National Team Training Camp.
