Team USA Trials: Red Team 5 Blue Team 2

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FROM TEAM USA RELEASE
(CARY, N.C.) – Casey McGrew (Wright State) drove a double down the left field line and Gerrit Cole (UCLA) stuck out eight as the Blue Team defeated the Red Team, 5-2, at the USA Baseball National Team (Collegiate) Trials, Friday, at the National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

For the first three innings of the intrasquad game, the pitching ruled. Starting pitchers Cody Martin (Gonzaga) of the Red Team and Gerrit Cole of the Blue Team held their respective opponents off the board for the first three as they combined for only one hit.

But the pitchers duel did not last much longer.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Red Team’s offense broke through against Cole. After Blake Forsythe (Tennessee) singled to left center, Tony Thompson (Kansas) hit a two-run home run to right field, putting the Red Team ahead early while the Blue Team still hadn’t recorded a hit on Martin.

But the Blue Team finally found its offense and rode a four-run sixth inning to pull ahead and not look back.

Kolten Wong (Hawaii) started the inning off with a single to center and immediately stole second base for Yasmani Grandal (Miami). Grandal wasted little time capitalizing as he continued his hot hitting at the National Team Trials and drove a double to left center, scoring Wong and cutting the Blue Team deficit in half.

Rick Hague (Rice) then came through with a game tying RBI as his single to left scored Grandal from second and continued the Blue Team rally. Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base and Casey McGrew (Wright State) hit what would be the game-winning double to left for the third run of the inning.

Gyorko would finish the scoring in the sixth as he scored on a wild pitch from Tony Zych (Louisville), putting the Blue Team ahead 4-2.

Wong would tally another run for the Blue Team in the seventh to cap the scoring for the Blue Team as he scored on an error by Red Team shortstop Brad Miller (Clemson).

Gerrit Cole (1-0) picked up the victory with eight strikeouts and Chad Bettis (Texas Tech) picked up the save after pitching two innings of hitless relief. Tony Zych (0-1) picked up the loss.

USA Baseball National Team Trials will continue Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 7:00 PM with another Blue vs. Red intrasquad game at the National Training Complex.

About USA Baseball

USA Baseball is the National Governing Body of amateur baseball in the United States and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). The organization selects and trains the United States Olympic Baseball Team (and all other USA Baseball Professional Teams); the USA Baseball National Team (Collegiate); the USA Baseball 18U, 16U and 14U National Teams; and the USA Baseball Women’s National Team, all of which participate in various international competitions each year. USA Baseball also presents the Golden Spikes Award annually to top player in college baseball. For more information, please visit www.usabaseball.com and www.goldenspikesaward.com.