CSULB pitcher gets US team position

Long Beach State baseball player Bobby Crosby was selected to serve his country last week as he was named to the U.S. national baseball team.

Crosby  spent two weeks in Arizona fighting for one of the 22 spots. His four games against Mexico clinched his spot as he went seven for nine with three doubles, one home run and five RBIs.

Although this team will not represent the United States in the Olympic Games in Sydney, Crosby is glad that he can represent his country.

"It's a lot of fun," Crosby said on phone from Arizona as the team was leaving for Hawaii. "Any chance you get to represent your country and have USA on your shirt it's an experience you really can't explain."

The next few months the U.S. national team will be barnstorming the country. Crosby said that the team will be traveling across the United States playing exhibition games before heading to the Netherlands in August to play in a tournament.

Crosby started all 56 games for the 49ers last season. He led the team with 79 hits, 10 home runs while batting .348 and at shortstop made only six errors in 303 chances. Overall Crosby batted .316 with 12 home runs in his two years as a Dirtbag.

According to U.S. national team pitching coach John Savage, he and head coach Mike Gillespie were familiar with Crosby's abilities and were interested in inviting Crosby to try out with the team.

"We got to see Bobby quite a bit all year," Savage said. "We knew that he was very athletic.   We knew that he was an outstanding prospect. We also knew how tough an outfielder he was, what type of year he had in the field and we knew that he had a pretty good chance to make the team when we picked him."

Crosby said he hopes he can use this experience towards a possible professional career. "I think this is one of the steps that I want to take towards playing professional baseball," Crosby said. "Playing professional baseball and getting into the big leagues is my ultimate goal."

Not only is Crosby representing the United States, he will represent LBSU and become the first 49er since Jason Giambi in 1992 to play for the U.S. national team.

"It means a lot," Crosby said. "A lot of guys here represent a lot of big schools like Florida State or Stanford, and for me to come out of Long Beach State and I get to represent my whole school for the U.S. team, it's pretty special."