DURHAM, N.C. --- Andre Pallante has been selected to the 2018 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team and will join the squad this summer in three international friendship series across the U.S.
The sophomore is ascended in 2018 to the ace of the UC Irvine staff while becoming one of the best pitchers in the Big West Conference and making marks among the nation's best.
After leading the club in 2017 with six wins, he's built upon that with an 8-1 mark as the Friday starter tying himself for the conference lead, and has been backed by conference bests in ERA at 1.32 and strikeouts with 103.
His 1.32 ERA currently ranks seventh in the nation, and he is on pace to set an Anteater single-season record. In his 13 starts this season, he's registered a quality start in 12 of them while holding opponents' batting average under .200 for most of the year.
He recently earned his 150th career strikeout, and hit 100 strikeouts for the season in his last start, just the 14th occurrence in program history. He has put up 10 strikeouts in a game three times already this season including a career high 12 punchouts against Gonzaga where he allowed one hit over 12 innings in a shutout.
Pallante marks the second straight Anteater to join the squad following in the footsteps of Keston Hiura last summer where he hit .289 with three home runs including the game-winner to clinch team USA's first series win against the Cuban National Team in Cuba.
The 2018 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team
The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team will participate in three international friendship series in 2018, beginning with the 18th USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series that will be held in North Carolina from June 28 - July 2. The U.S. will then compete in the 42nd USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series from July 3-9 in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina; and the 7th Annual USA vs. Cuba International Friendship Series in Cuba from July 13-18. Seven Collegiate National Team games will be streamed live on USABaseball.com, as well as Facebook Live and YouTube. For more information on USA Baseball and the Collegiate National Team, follow @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; and @USABaseballCNT on Twitter.