June 24, 1997
Cal Players Playing Well on USA Baseball Tour
MORIOKA, Japan - The 1997 USA Baseball National Team, led by California head coach Bob
Milano, is currently 6-3 this summer, having lost two of three games to Japan in
the 26th annual USA-Japan Collegiate Championship series.
In the most recent game Tuesday, June 24, at Morioka, Iwate, Japan, the
United States fell to Japan, 4-3, as the host team takes a 2-1 lead in the
five-game series. Japan had defeated the Americans, 11-4, June 21, but Team USA
rebounded with a 9-6 victory June 22.
Two current Cal baseball players, sophomore shortstop Brian Oliver and
sophomore catcher Jason Hill, have both made the USA National Team's 24-man
travel roster and both are playing extremely well for USA Baseball so far this
summer. Oliver, a first team All-Pac-10 selection this spring, had a run-scoring
double in Tuesday's game and has started seven of the team's nine contests at
second base, batting .444 (second on the team, 12-for-27) with three doubles, a
home run and three RBI. Hill has started 5-of-9 games for Team USA behind the
plate and is batting .438 (7-for-16) with two doubles and six RBI.
