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Postseason
play as well as awards for Dirtbags
By
Trent Loomis
Daily Forty-Niner
After
suffering the heartbreaking loss to Arizona
in the Super Regionals last month, the Cal
State Long Beach Dirtbags got some good
news when sophomores
Cesar
Ramos and Troy Tulowitzki were two of the
22 players selected to play for Team USA
this summer.
Ramos,
a pitcher, and Tulowitzki, a shortstop,
were both instrumental in the Dirtbags success
this past season marking the fifth straight
year a Dirtbag has been a member of baseball's
collegiate national team and just the second
time that two players have been teammates.
"It
is a real honor and something that I've
always wanted to do. It is going to be a
fun summer with Troy and I am proud to represent
Long Beach State baseball and USA at the
same time," Ramos said. "It is
going to be a challenge playing some of
the best competition around the world. We
are looking forward to a great summer and
bringing home a gold medal."
Ramos,
who was a second team All-Big West selection
this past season after going 12-4 with a
2.29 ERA, aced his tryout on Wednesday with
five shutout innings of relief against Canada
to earn the win in the summer opener.
Ramos
is just the third Dirtbag pitcher to make
Team USA and is the second left-hander.
Current Red Sox minor leaguer Abe Alvarez
was a member of Team USA in the summer of
2002.
This
past season, Tulowitzki earned first team
All-Big West honors and followed that up
with Most Outstanding Player accolades at
the NCAA Regional in Palo Alto. He batted
.317 with 44 RBIs and a team-best 15 doubles,
and the sure-handed shortstop made just
nine errors at short, fielding at a .969
clip.
Team
USA opened up play this summer here in the
states with a six-game friendly sweep against
Canada before having the favor returned
at the hand of Japan in a five game set
in the Orient.
There
were a few more exhibitions along the way
which will serve as a tune-up for the International
University Sport Federation's "World
University Baseball Championship" which
will take place in Tainan, Chinese Taipei
- July 24 to August 1.
FISU
is an organization that promotes all kinds
of amateur athletics that span the globe.
This
year, Team USA will be in an eight-team
tournament consisting of Japan, Cuba, Mexico,
the Czech Republic, Korea, Chinese Taipei
and Canada.
So
far this summer Tulowitzki is batting .306
with two home runs and eight RBIs, while
Ramos is 2-2 with a 4.08 ERA and 16 strikeouts.
Tulowitzki
is the third Dirtbag shortstop to make Team
USA, following in the footsteps of current
Major Leaguers Chris Gomez (1990-91) and
Bobby Crosby (2000). Gomez and fellow Dirtbag
Jason Giambi were teammates on the 1991
Team USA squad.
In
other Dirtbag news, Pitcher Jared Weaver
added the Roger Clemens award to the long
list of post-season accolades bestowed upon
the right-hander.
In all, Weaver has won eight National Player
of the Year Awards including as the Golden
Spikes, Dick Howser, Roger Clemens, Baseball
America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA, ABCA
and Collegebaseballinsider.com awards.
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