University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Olsen Earns Invite to USA Baseball Team Trials
June 19, 2017 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ UCLA right-handed pitcher Jon Olsen has been invited to the 2017 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Trials, announced the organization on Monday. Olsen will be competing for a spot on the 24-man roster that will compete this summer against Chinese Taipei, Cuba and Japan.
Olsen, a native of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was named an All-Pac-12 team selection after posting a record of 7-1 with a 2.86 ERA. He struck out 80 batters with 31 walks over 85.0 innings of work. Olsen ranked top-10 in the conference in ERA, strikeouts and opponents batting average with a team-low .202.
During Pac-12 play, Olsen had a perfect 6-0 record and led the team with a 2.08 ERA and held conference opponents to a .174 opposing batting average. He twice tied a career-best with nine strikeouts this season against USC at Dodger Stadium on March 5 and at Washington State on May 14. Olsen set a career-high with 8.0 innings pitched allowing just one run at Oregon on May 27.
UCLA head coach John Savage was named manager of the Collegiate team in December of 2016 and will be joined by Long Beach State head coach Troy Buckley, Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee and Cal State Fullerton head coach Rick Vanderhook.
UCLA has sent 14 players to play for the USA Baseball National Team a total of 18 times. Most recently, James Kaprielian led Team USA in 2014 and was awarded with the Performance of the Year Award for his 6.0 inning shutout of Chinese Taipei.
The 2017 Collegiate National Team will train at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., and compete in a series of games with teams from the Coastal Plains League from June 20-25. The U.S. will then host international friendship series against Chinese Taipei and Cuba from June 27 โ July 7, in Cary, Charlotte and Durham, N.C. The U.S. will then host Japan in the 41st USA vs. Japan College All-Star Series in Conn., Mass., and N.H. The Chinese Taipei and Cuba series will be streamed live on USABaseball.com.
Follow @USABaseball and @USABaseballCNT on Twitter for all of the latest news on USA Baseball and the Collegiate National Team.
