CARY, N.C. – The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team’s Red and Blue squads played to a 4-4 tie Friday night at the National Training Complex. Justin Foscue (Mississippi State), who had three hits and drove in three runs, had the game-tying hit in the seventh for the Red team.
It looked like the Red team was going to win the game on Foscue’s seventh-inning single but left fielder Logan Allen (FIU) threw out a runner at the plate to finish the game in the 4-4 tie.
“(Tonight’s game) shows how good college baseball is,” said head coach Dan McDonnell (Louisville). “They are competitive offensively. Tonight tells me it’s going to be hard to make cuts. It’s really going to be hard. These guys belong.”
Foscue and Heston Kjerstad (Arkansas) were the standouts at the plate, as each drove in three runs. Kjerstad led the Blue team out of a 3-0 hole with a two-run homer off the right field foul pole in the fifth inning, then provided an RBI single in the sixth.
Red held a 3-0 lead through three innings thanks to a nice outing from Reid Detmers (Louisville). Detmers threw three scoreless innings with two strikeouts to get in line for the win before Blue stormed back.
“When (Detmers) has the breaking ball going it allows the fastball to play up,” said McDonnell, Detmers’ college coach at Louisville. “He got a lot of swings and misses.”
Mason Pelio (Boston College) also threw three innings and allowed only one unearned run for the Blue team. Pelio got out of a jam in the fifth before settling in and allowing only one hit and walking two. His lone run was scored as a result of the international tiebreaker rule providing runners for Red.
The Collegiate National Team is back at the National Training Complex for another Red vs. Blue game Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.
K
ey Moments
• Tanner Allen (Mississippi State) got the scoring started with a two-out single to center field in the top of the first.
• Collegiate National Team veteran Max Meyer (Minnesota) was impressive in his 2019 debut, striking out two in one inning of work.
• Justin Foscue (Mississippi State) crushed a two-run double to left field on a 3-0 count with two outs in the third to score two runs. It was 99 mph off the bat.
• Reid Detmers (Louisville) threw three scoreless frames (3.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO).
• Mason Pelio (Boston College) stranded two runners with a strikeout to end the top of the fifth. Pelio threw three innings in his Collegiate National Team debut, allowing only one unearned run.
• Heston Kjerstad (Arkansas) hit a towering two-run homer in the fifth off the right field foul pole.
• Foscue (Mississippi State) hit an RBI single with two outs in the seventh, the predetermined last inning, before the winning run was cut down at the plate to end the game in a tie.
• Logan Allen (FIU) made a great throw to the plate to cut down the potential winning run for Red and end the game with the third out of the top of the seventh.
Notable Information
• The game was played as a modified scrimmage with runners, batting order and outs changed with coaches’ decisions.
• No pitcher threw more than three innings in the scripted game.
• International tiebreaker rules were used in the last two half innings with runners placed on first and second base to start the inning.
• There has been only two errors in the first two Red vs. Blue games, both coming on pickoff attempts in Game 2.
On Deck
• The Collegiate National Team Training Camp continues the Red vs. Blue series Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. The Red and Blue will play four total intrasquad games before facing CPL Select on Monday.
