July 3, 2018
CARY, N.C. - Rising sophomore right-hander Tanner Burns has been named to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team 26-man roster, head coach Paul Mainieri and USA Baseball announced Monday.
In two appearances with Team USA last week, the Decatur, Alabama, native logged 4.2 innings of work and allowed one run on three hits with one walks and five strikeouts.
Burns pitched 2.0 perfect innings with three strikeouts in his Collegiate National Team debut vs. the Coastal Plain League Select last Wednesday. He also helped close out a sweep of Chinese Taipei with 2.2 innings of work Monday. Burns entered the game and escaped a bases-loaded, one-out situation with a strikeout and groundout. He ultimately allowed one run on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
One of four rising sophomores to make the Team USA final roster, Burns is coming off a Freshman All-American campaign during which he went 7-4 with a 3.01 ERA. He logged 86.2 innings of work and struck out 77 batters, marking the most by an Auburn freshman since 2008.
The Collegiate National Team will open the 42nd USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series at 7:05 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 3, at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, North Carolina. The second game of the series will be held at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park at 6:05 p.m. ET on the Fourth of July.
Games three through five will feature stops at Minor League Baseball and Coastal Plain League parks in the Southeast, including Savannah, Georgia (July 6), Charleston, South Carolina (July 7), and Macon, Georgia (July 8).
Team USA will then travel to Havana, Cuba, for the 7th USA vs. Cuba International Friendship Series to close out its summer, July 10-14, with all games scheduled to be played at historic Estadio Latinoamericano.