BATON ROUGE — LSU shortstop Aaron Hill has been named to the United States national baseball team, following four days of tryouts at Team USA headquarters in Tucson, Ariz.
Hill, a native of Visalia, Calif, is one of 22 players who will represent the USA in the first ever FISU Collegiate World Baseball Championships August 3-11 in Messina, Italy. The team began its 17-game Red, White and Blue exhibition tour throughout the United States on Monday night in Tucson, and will also visit The Netherlands in late July for a six-game tournament against international competition.
Hill hit .329 with nine home runs and 47 RBI as a sophomore despite missing 10 games early in the season after separating his right shoulder on Feb. 16 against Mercer. He was named as an honorable mention Freshman All-American in 2001 after batting .299 with five home runs. Hill has helped the Tigers win the NCAA Baton Rouge regional in both 2001 and 2002, as LSU finished 44-22-1 in 2001 and 44-22 in 2002, losing in the 2001 super regional to Tulane and the 2002 super regional to Rice.
Hill is one of three players from Louisiana colleges to be selected to the national team, joining Southern second baseman Rickie Weeks and Tulane pitcher/outfielder Michael Aubrey.
Other notable players on the roster include Texas right-handed pitcher Huston Street, who was named the Most Outstanding Player at the College World Series after pacing the Longhorns to the national championship, as well as a pair of Southeastern Conference catchers, Clint Sammons of Georgia and Landon Powell of national runner-up South Carolina.
For a complete team roster, player profiles and schedules, as well as live play-by-play and scoring from all Team USA games, log on to USA Baseball’s official website, www.usabaseball.com.
TIGERS 11TH IN FINAL POLLS: LSU was ranked 11th in the final polls that were issued Monday by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. The eight teams who made the College World Series, along with Florida State and Houston, comprise the top 10 of both polls.
For complete polls, visit the magazines’ respective web sties at www.baseballamerica.com and www.baseballnews.com. The USA Today/Baseball Weekly will be released at approximately 5 p.m. Central time on Monday and can be accessed at the following address: www.usatoday.com/sports/college/baseball/usatpoll.htm.