Long Beach State University Athletics
Darren McCaughan Makes USA Collegiate National Team Final Roster
7/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Long Beach, Calif. - USA Baseball unveiled its official roster for the 2016 Collegiate National Team on Friday, and Long Beach State's Darren McCaughan was one of the 24 players to make the cut. McCaughan becomes the 12th player in Long Beach State history to make the Collegiate National Team (CNT), and the second in as many seasons, after former teammate Garrett Hampson was an infielder on last year's squad.
McCaughan has been in training camp with the CNT all week, playing at various stadiums throughout Southern California including Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium. He has not appeared in a game yet, but is scheduled to pitch Saturday against the UYA Barons. The game will be held at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
The pitching coach who will work with McCaughan for Team USA is none other than legendary Dirtbags coach Dave Snow. Oregon head coach George Horton is the manager this season, and Snow was brought back for his fourth stint as an assistant for the Red, White and Blue. Snow also coached Team USA in 1992, '95 and '96.
There is a great tradition at Long Beach State associated with a CNT selection, going back to the program's first representative, Chris Gomez, who played for Team USA in 1990-91. Excluding Hampson, who just began his professional career with the Colorado Rockies organization, all 10 of the Dirtbags who were previously chosen for the CNT went on to play in the major leagues. That list includes: Gomez (‘90-‘91), Jason Giambi (‘91-‘92), Rocky Biddle (‘95), Bobby Crosby (2000), Jeremy Reed (‘01), Abe Alvarez (‘02), Jered Weaver (‘03), Cesar Ramos (‘04), Troy Tulowitzki (‘04), Danny Espinosa (‘07) and Hampson (‘15).
The Big West has two representatives on the final roster, including the conference's Pitcher of the Year in McCaughan. UC Irvine outfielder Keston Hiura is the other Big West player to make the final squad.
Team USA will play three friendship series in the month of July, starting with a five-game series in Taiwan against Chinese Taipei (July 5-9). From there, the team will travel to Japan for another five-game series against the Japanese (July 12-17) then conclude their summer tour with five games in Cuba (July 23-27).
