MINNEAPOLIS - The USA Baseball 18U National Team Trials opened on a beautiful Saturday with the Stripes taking down the Stars, 7-1, at Siebert Field on the campus of the University of Minnesota.
Nolan Gorman (Glendale, Ariz.) led the effort with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, including an opposite-field two-run home run in the third inning. He also had a pair of singles and scored three runs in the contest.
Brandon Dieter (Covina, Calif.) and Triston Casas (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) had two hits each as well, helping the Stripes pound out a total of 11 hits on the day.
The Stars actually got the scoring started with a Bobby Witt, Jr. (Colleyville, Texas) RBI single plating the game's first run but that would be all it could muster on the afternoon as the Stripes pitching staff clamped down.
Kumar Rocker (Watkinsville, Ga.) and Slade Cecconi (Oviedo, Fla.) each fired three innings, striking out two and four batters, respectively. JT Ginn (Brandon, Miss.) and Mason Denaburg (Merritt Island, Fla.) shut the door over the final three frames with two punchouts apiece.
The Stripes offense, meanwhile, took advantage of a pair of errors in the home half of the first to take a 2-1 lead and never looked back. Gorman's bomb tacked on two more in the third and single tallies in the fourth, eighth and ninth innings accounted for the game's final score.
Friday's scrimmage was the first of five contests between the Stars and Stripes before the final 20-man roster for the 18U National Team will be decided.
The next three games will take place at Seibert Field as well (Aug. 20, 21 and 23) and the final contest will be played at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT on Aug. 24.
Continue to follow @USABaseball18U on Twitter and visit USABaseball.com for the most up-to-date news about the 18U National Team.
QUOTES
USA Baseball 18U National Team Manager Andy Stankiewicz
(On the first day of trials)
"It was a great day one. When you think about it, it was basically a two-a-day with a morning workout, a breather in the middle, and then coming back to play a game. That is a long day for an 18-year old to try to stay on it and get better. I was really proud of our workout in the morning.
(On the morning workout)
"We worked on some team defense stuff that is going to be really important for us. We feel like we are going to be able to pitch and hit with anybody, but if we can play quality, consistent defense we are going to be in most of our games. If we are in most of our games late, we feel like we are going to have a shot to accomplish our goal of winning the gold medal. I was really encouraged by the defense we played all around today."
(On what he wants to see tomorrow)
"Hopefully tomorrow they will be able to breathe a little easier. Day one is over and they got all that anxiousness out of the way. I want to see them settle in and be themselves. Sometimes in game one you see them try to do something they maybe aren't ready to do, especially at the plate. Tomorrow we are going to throw things at them that they haven't done before, so our coaching staff has to be patient, work through it and help them understand the importance of the little things. A lot of these players have always been able to rely on their skill level being a cut above, but now the skill level is all the same. The difference maker is going to be the ability to do the little things really well. We have to know who knows baseball, talking about baseball IQ. Who understands situations, who understands how to make pitches."
(On creating a team in such a short amount of time)
"It is difficult but the advantage we have is that (18U National Team director) Matt Blood has been watching these guys since the last summer and then into spring, and then at Tournament of Stars and NTDP. So we have a really nice hold on what their skillset and what they can do. Matt is progressive, he is out in front of all of this and has been able to anticipate a little of what this team could look like. He has done a great job of bringing a level of skill here that is pretty impressive."
Stripes IF Nolan Gorman
(On the first day of trials)
"My goal for the first day was just to have fun. You come out here to compete with the top 40 players in the nation. You just have to have fun and do what you do."
Stripes RHP Kumar Rocker
(On competing at the trials)
"I was just trying to go out there and compete, do the best that I could and let whatever happens, happen. This is a a true honor to be here. This is easily the best 40 players in the country. Just to be a part of it, here about how they go about their business, what they talk about, how they live, it is different. These are some of the best coaches in the country too. If you just listen to them you are going to learn so much every day."