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Oregon State right-handed pitcher Andrew Moore (North Eugene) has earned an invitation to compete for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team via its training camp later this month. He will compete for one of 24 spots on Team USA’s roster, which will be set June 29. Moore will join the club June 19. By earning the invite Moore, will become the eighth Oregon State player to wear the red, white and blue for the CNT. He follows Jonah Nickerson (2005), Kevin Gunderson (2005), Darwin Barney (2006), Kevin Rhoderick (2008), Matt Boyd (2011), Dan Child (2012) and Michael Conforto (2012 and 2013). Additionally, Brian Barden played for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics and Carter Bell and Jordan Lennerton have competed for Team Canada at various points of their careers. Moore finished the 2014 season with a 6-5 record and 2.77 earned run average in 16 games, 14 of which were starts. He had his best start of the season Friday against North Dakota State, striking out a career-best – and Oregon State postseason record – 14 batters in eight innings. He followed that up with two innings of relief Monday where he struck out four.
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Freshmen A.J. Balta and Matt Krook have been named to the 2014 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-America Team, released by Collegiate Baseball newspaper on Wednesday. Balta (Manhattan Beach, Calif. / Valencia High School) was one of four first basemen named to the team. He finished the season batting .242 with three home runs and 29 RBI with seven stolen bases. He started 56 or Oregon’s 64 games and had 15 multi-hit games. Balta earned all-tournament team honors at the Nashville Regional Tournament last weekend after batting a team-best .333 (5-for-15) with two triples, a .412 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage. Krook (San Mateo, Calif. / St. Ignatius HS) was one of 27 starting pitchers named freshmen All-American, despite missing the season’s last two months after having elbow surgery. The Ducks’ lefty finished the season with a 2-1 record and a 1.79 ERA while leading the Pac-12 in strikeouts and strikeouts looking before being injured. Krook finished his freshman season with 60 strikeouts in just 45.1 innings pitched, while allowing just 22 hits. Krook and Balta are the fifth and sixth Ducks’ players to earn freshmen All-America recognition. Jake Reed was named a freshman All-American in 2012, while Garrett Cleavinger, Cole Irvin and Mitchell Tolman all claimed the honor in 2013.
