USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series
The 37th Annual USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series will take place in Japan from July 12-16.
July 12th: Botchan Stadium (Matsuyama),12pm
July 13th: Tokyo Dome (Tokyo), 6pm
July 14th: Kleenex Miyagi Stadium (Sendai), 6 pm
July 15th: Tsuruoka Dream Stadium (Tsuruoka), 6pm
July 16th: Meiji Jinguu Stadium (Tokyo), 6pm
※All dates and times are in Japan Standard Time
The US National Team was selected after ten days of trials that included intersquad games and practices. The team consists top non-draft-eligible college players in the United States including 1 junior, 14 sophomores, and 7 freshman players including Trevor Bauer (UCLA) and Kolton Wong (University of Hawaii), who were on the Freshman All-America Team.
The stars of the Japan national team is junior right hander Yuuki Saito (Waseda University) and senior Kazuhito Futagami (Hosei University) who was the MVP in the recent All Japan University Tournament. Seven seniors, who will be eligible for the upcoming draft, will be included in the squad.
Tickets still remain and details will be listed on the All Japan University Baseball Federation website.  Notable past MVPs from this five game series include current Colorado Rockies Todd Helton (1993) and Huston Street (2003), current Yomiuri Giant Yuya Kubo (2001) and current Chiba Lotte Marine Shouitsu Oomatsu (2004). Japan won the last series, 3-2, in the 36th Annual USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series, played in the United States in 2007.
06/07/2009 at 3:34 am Permalink
Any broadcast info on these games?
Also, irrelevant to this entry but probably of interest to your readers, Carps and Tigers open the new Niigata Stadium tommorow and wednesday
http://www.hardoff-eco-stadium.jp/
06/07/2009 at 4:35 pm Permalink
Er, you mean Kazuhito Futagami, right?
There are a lot of other fantastic players on that team. Waseda’s Ohishi, Toyodai’s Inui, Meiji’s Nomura, Asia-dai’s Higashihama Nao… Nakata Ryoji, the largest collegiate baseball player in the country… Shingo Kamegai, who batted .429 this season with Hosei… Toyodai’s Kojima is also a pretty good player (he and Nakata are team captains for Toyo and Asia respectively).
I’m planning to go to the Tokyo Dome game, not sure I can make it to the Jingu one though.
As for the Niigata stadium, supposedly Masumi Kuwata will be there on Sunday for the first game the BCL Niigata Albirex play there… but the weather forecast for this entire week looks pretty dismal in Niigata.
06/07/2009 at 4:49 pm Permalink
Yeah, that new stadium in Niigata looks awesome.I’m going to the BayStars/Dragons series in September so look for a stadium report at that time.
06/07/2009 at 5:06 pm Permalink
I am not aware of any live coverage on these games, if anybody has information please bring it up. Thanks for the news bloodsmurf, I think that will be something I should bring up in the next couple of days. I will be looking forward to hearing the comments about the new stadium and the Collegiate All-Star Series from you all.
06/07/2009 at 5:25 pm Permalink
I fixed Futagami’s name btw. I missed that in my late-night editing of this one.