Harrison, Rasmussen Receive USA Invites
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State freshmen KJ Harrison and Drew Rasmussen have earned invitations from USA Baseball to compete for roster spots on the 2015 Collegiate National Team.
Both will start play with Team USA June 18 and look to make it to the team’s 24-man roster. Team USA will open up its summer slate June 20 against the Holly Spring Salamanders, and is scheduled to play 17 games through July 8. Teams on that schedule include Chinese Taipei (June 22-29) and Cuba (July 1-6). All 17 games are slated to played in the state of North Carolina, with stadiums in Cary, Durham and Charlotte.
Both Harrison and Rasmussen were named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team on Wednesday, and each was also named a First-Team All-Pac-12 performer last week. Harrison was also named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
Harrison was named the Pac-12’s Freshman of the Year and a First-Team All-League honoree last week. He ended the season with a .309 average, 12 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs and a league-leading 60 runs batted in.
Rasmussen, meanwhile, was named an all-league first team selection. The Spokane, Wash., native went 7-4 this past season with a 2.80 earned run average. He struck out 82 and held opponents to a .223 average in 106 innings.
The duo will give the Beavers 11 players who have worn the red, white and blue, including 10 with the Collegiate National Team. The Beavers will now also have players with Team USA in five consecutive seasons, following Matt Boyd (2011), Michael Conforto (2012, 2013), Dan Child (2012) and Andrew Moore (2014).
The Beavers’ athletic trainer, Josh Therrien, who serve in the same role for Team USA this summer. Ed Blankmeyer (St. John’s) will lead the club, and will be assisted by Gary Henderson (Kentucky), Rich Hill (San Diego) and Paul Mainieri (LSU). Henderon was an assistant coach at Oregon State under head coach Pat Casey from 1999-2002.
For more information on the Oregon State baseball team, follow the club’s official Twitter account at Twitter.com/Beaver_Baseball, by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateBaseball or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverBaseball.
