Turner Invited To USA Baseball National Team Trials May 8, 2003– Fullerton, Calif.
Cal State Fullerton freshman second baseman Justin Turner was officially
invited Thursday to the 2003 USA Baseball National Team Trials, to be
Turner has started 45 games at second base and is batting .329 with team-highs
in walks (25) and sac bunts (eight). He has also stolen 10 bases and driven
in 30 runs. Defensively, Turner has committed just three errors (just
one fielding error) in 196 chances for a .985 fielding percentage. Baseball
America ranked Turner as the best freshman second baseman in the country
through the midseason point.
USA Baseball will invite 36 of the nation's top freshman and sophomore
collegiate players to the USA Baseball National Team Trials. The 2003
USA Baseball National Team will play approximately 25 games this summer.
Team USA will open its tour with a five-game series against the Japanese
Collegiate All-Stars – the 32nd annual meeting of the two countries
– and then play approximately 10 additional games during July in
various states before traveling to the Pan Am Games in the Dominican Republic.
Cal State Fullerton's baseball program ranked third in a USA Baseball
study that lists the top 50 collegiate baseball programs in terms of representation
on USA Baseball National Teams since 1984.
The Titans' program tallied 38 points, trailing only Stanford (65 points)
and Miami (41 points) in the list released today. Points were awarded
in three categories: total number of players to play for Team USA, number
of years participated by those players and number of years with a representative
on the team.
Fullerton has had 12 players make 15 appearances in 11 different seasons.
Current Titans Wes Littleton, Chad Cordero and Shane Costa all wore the
Red, White and Blue this summer, making up nearly one-seventh of the national
team.
Other Titans to play for Team USA since 1984 were Bob Caffrey, Phil Nevin,
Jason Moler, Mark Kotsay, Brian Loyd, Dante Powell, Ted Silva, Ryan Owens
and Kirk Saarloos.
