Gourson Selected to USA Collegiate National Roster
June 29, 2023 | Baseball
USA Baseball on Thursday afternoon announced that UCLA rising junior infielder Duce Gourson has been selected to the 31-man USA Collegiate National Team roster that will represent USA in a pair of five-game series against Chinese Taipei and Japan.
The final squad, which will play from Jun. 30 to Jul. 12 at various venues across the Carolinas, was named after the completion of the 2023 Collegiate National Team Training Camp in Cary, N.C.
Gourson was a standout during the four-game Stars vs. Stripes intersquad series in Cary. He started all four games of the series, and was especially hot with the bat early on, reaching base in nine of his first 10 plate appearances. He reached five times in game one of the series, then followed that up with a 2-3 performance in game two. Overall, Gourson played three different positions (second base, shortstop, third base) and went 4-13 (.308 batting average) while drawing seven walks.
The San Diego, Calif. native becomes the 23rd UCLA student-athlete all-time to play on the Collegiate National Team dating to 1979. He's the first Bruin to make the roster since Garrett Mitchell in 2019, and he joins a prestigious list of UCLA-Team USA alumni including Gerrit Cole, Brandon Crawford, Troy Glaus, David Berg, James Kaprielian, and Adam Plutko.
Gourson is coming off a standout sophomore campaign with the Bruins. He led qualifying Bruins in nearly every offensive statistic, including batting (.319), on-base percentage (.438), slugging (.515), runs (48), hits (65), doubles (10), walks (36), and total bases (105).
Gourson added career-highs in home runs (10) and stolen bases (eight) en route to Pac-12 All-Conference Team honors. A versatile defender, he made starts at three different infield spots during the 2023 campaign, including 26 at second base and 21 at shortstop.
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