June 24, 2008
DURHAM, N.C. - Baylor right-handed pitcher Kendal Volz was named to the 2008 USA Baseball National (Collegiate) Team, America's governing body for amateur baseball announced Tuesday. Volz, who will be a junior next season at Baylor, was one of 20 players named to the roster Tuesday. Two more players will be added by week's end to finalize the 22-man team.
Volz, a product of Smithson Valley [Texas] High School, is 9-8 in two seasons at Baylor. After becoming the ninth pitcher in school history to record at least six wins as a freshman in 2007, Volz posted a 3-6 record and finished third on the team with a 4.20 ERA in 2008. Plagued by poor run support this season, Volz led the team with 85 strikeouts in 70.2 innings and ranked 17th nationally with 10.83 strikeouts per nine innings.
A native of Bulverde, Texas, Volz is the first Baylor player to earn a spot on the National Team since Michael Griffin in 2003. Volz appeared in four games during the National Team Trials and posted a 1.13 ERA, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits and four walks with 13 strikeouts over 8.0 innings. In Monday night's Blue-White scrimmage that concluded the trials period, Volz pitched 2.0 innings and struck out all six batters he faced.
Volz is one of four pitchers from the Big 12 Conference on the 2008 National Team, joining Tyler Lyons and Andrew Oliver of Oklahoma State and Kyle Gibson of Missouri. Other pitchers named to the squad were A.J. Griffin (San Diego), Chris Hernandez (Miami-FL), Mike Leake (Arizona State), Mike Minor (Vanderbilt), Kevin Rhoderick (Oregon State), Blake Smith (California) and Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State).
Position players on the 2008 National Team are outfielders Kentrail Davis (Tennessee), Matt den Dekker (Florida) and Josh Fellhauer (Cal State Fullerton), infielders Christian Colon (Cal State Fullerton), Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech), Ryan Jackson (Miami-FL) and Hunter Morris (Auburn), and catchers Micah Gibbs (LSU) and Ryan Lipkin (San Francisco). Leake also is an infielder, and Smith also plays the outfield.
The National Team is comprised of the nation's top non-draft-eligible college players. The 22-man team plays the Chinese National Team in a six-game series, beginning Wednesday at 6 p.m. CDT in Greenville, S.C. The National Team also competes in the Haarlem Baseball Week in the Netherlands during early July before traveling to the Czech Republic for the FISU World Championships, an event the United States has won each of the last two times.
Rob Walton (Oral Roberts) serves as head coach of the National Team with pitching coach Jerry Meyers (Old Dominion) and assistant coaches Nino Giarratano (San Francisco) and Ritch Price (Kansas). Eric Campbell is the team's general manager.
