NIIGATA, Japan – USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team (0-3) was shut out, 2-0, in game three of the 45th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series on Friday, July 11, to Japan (3-0) at Hard Off Eco Stadium in Niigata.
Despite solid pitching from Dax Whitney (Oregon State), Jason DeCaro (North Carolina), and Ricky Ojeda (UC Irvine), along with the U.S. offense putting runners in scoring position on five different occasions, the stars and stripes came up empty and dropped the 2025 series to Japan.
Whitney tossed two hitless innings to start the game, but in the third, Japan used two hits and an error to get on the board. Ren Hirakawa reached base on a one-out single to left field, moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt, then was brought home by Ayuto Matsushita’s RBI single to center field.
Whitney got out of the inning thanks to an extra-effort 4-6 fielder’s choice by Chris Rembert (Auburn) and Roch Cholowsky (UCLA), and went into the fifth inning before being replaced by DeCaro. With runners at the corners with one out, DeCaro induced an RBI groundout and an out at home to limit the damage.
Team USA’s best chance to score came in the seventh when it loaded the bases on one out with a double by Mulivai Levu (UCLA), a walk by Ace Reese (Mississippi State), and a single by Lucas Moore (Louisville). Japan managed to keep the U.S. off the board, though, with a fly out to shallow right field and a swinging strikeout.
In the eighth, the stars and stripes once again put a runner in scoring position when AJ Gracia (Virginia) led off with an outfield single and Zion Rose (Louisville) was hit by a pitch, but a line drive caught in deep left field followed by back-to-back strikeouts ended any comeback attempt.
Even though DeCaro and Ojeda kept Japan off the board in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, Team USA went down in order in the ninth to suffer the loss in shutout fashion.
Whitney (4), DeCaro (2), and Ojeda (2) combined for eight strikeouts in the contest, while Drew Burress (Georgia Tech, 2-for-4), Gracia (1-for-4), Levu (1-for-4), Moore (1-for-4), and Rembert (2-for-5) combined for the team’s seven hits in the game. Both of Burress’s hits were doubles in the second and fourth innings that gave the U.S. a chance to score.
The 45th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series will continue Saturday, July 12, at Hard Off Eco Stadium in Niigata, Japan. First pitch is set for 11:00 p.m. ET (July 11)/12:00 p.m. local, and live stats and streaming can be found on GameChanger.
For the most up-to-date information on the Collegiate National Team, visit USABaseball.com and follow @USABaseballCNT and @USABaseball on Twitter/X, and @USABaseball on Instagram.
