News Home

06-24-2009

Tournament of Stars Update: Mudville Pinnacle Lefty is Called Upon Relief

Matt Boyd Earns Game #1 Win in Relief Courtesy: Mudville Sports Information

Cary, NC - Mudville Pinnacle veteran was called upon relief to help lead his USA Baseball Stars (1-0) over Babe Ruth (1-1) 10-5 in the opening round of Pool A play at the NTC Stadium.  Matt Boyd (1-0) relieved Shane Henderson of Texas to thwart the third inning rally. 

Boyd received the game victory, pitched 3.1 innings, giving up 2 earned runs on five hits, (2 infield hits), striking out two and picking one Babe Ruth runner. USA Baseball plays PONY and fellow Washingtonian Drew Vettleson today at 4 PM at the USA Baseball National Training Center in Cary.  Ironically, the only two Northwest players at this event are committed to Oregon State.

The Tournament of Stars (TOS) is made up of 144 of the nation's best ballplayers that are international age-eligible (born in 1991 or 1992). They are invited by 8 youth baseball groups (AABC, American Legion, Babe Ruth, Dixie, PONY, NABF, RBI, and USA Baseball) and compete on 8 teams under the same names. The seven youth groups select their players first, then USA Baseball selects an "at-large" team from the players not selected by the seven youth groups. Generally speaking, official invites for the tournament will be sent from the USA Baseball office in late April. These players form the pool of talent from which USA Baseball will select its 18U National Team to represent our country in international competition.  The 2009 team will compete at the 2009 COPABE Pan Am "AAA" (18U) Championships in Barquisimeto, Venezuela in early October.