A trio of Cal State Fullerton sophomores – righthanded pitchers Wes
Littleton and Chad Cordero and outfielder Shane Costa – have been
named to the USA National Team, USA Baseball announced today from its
headquarters in Tucson, Ariz.
Fullerton players make up nearly one-seventh of the 22-member team, which
was selected from a pool of 35 players that just completed a four-day
trials process at Hi Corbett Field. The Titans have had two players on
the same national team on three occasions (1992, 1995, 1996), but have
never had three players selected to the same squad.
Louisville's Lelo Prado will serve as the head coach for Team USA. He
will be assisted by Terry Alexander of Jacksonville, Sunny Golloway of
Oral Roberts, and Terry Rupp of Maryland. Team USA will play a total 30
games this summer, including 17 on the domestic side of their Red, White
and Blue Summer Tour, which will also take the team to The Netherlands
and to the first ever FISU Collegiate World Baseball Championships in
Messina, Italy August 3-11.
Littleton, named a third-team All-American by Baseball America,
was 9-4 for the Titans with a 2.40 ERA that ranked seventh in the nation
among pitchers with 100 or more innings. Opponents batted just .237 against
the sophomore from Oceanside, Calif.
Cordero, out of Chino, Calif., was again one of the most dominant closers
in the country, posting a Big West-best 12 saves and a 2.91 ERA. Since
the start of the 2001 season, only Wake Forest's Dave Bush has racked
up more saves than Cordero's 26, which ties him for second on the Titans'
all-time list.
Costa earned first-team All-Big West Conference honors this season after
batting .365 with 23 doubles, 40 RBI and 14 stolen bases. He was hit by
26 pitches, tied for the eighth most in a season in NCAA Division I history.
The Visalia, Calif. native hit in 22 consecutive games over one stretch,
the longest streak by a Titan since 1999. He was also the lone Titan named
to the all-regional team at Stanford.
Fullerton has had nine players on Team USA, including Olympians Bob Caffrey
(1984), Phil Nevin and Jason Moler (1992) and Mark Kotsay and Brian Loyd
(1996). Kirk Saarloos was the most recent Titan to don the red, white
and blue when he served as the team's closer during their 2000 summer
tour.
