UF's Brian Johnson Invited To USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Trials
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 | Baseball
Florida freshman left-hander/designated hitter Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) has been invited to the 2010 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Trials set for July 5-11 at the National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. Johnson will be fighting for a spot on the final 22-man roster that will be selected on Sunday, July 11. The team will then tour across the United States, with the summer season culminating on July 30-Aug. 7 at the FISU World University Baseball Championships in Tokyo, Japan. Johnson will join Gator teammate Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) at the Trials.
Named as a Freshman All-American by both Louisville Slugger and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), Johnson earned spots on the SEC's All-Freshman Team as a starting pitcher and designated hitter. In 15 appearances on the mound, with 14 starts, the southpaw is 6-4 with a 3.97 earned run average and has recorded 48 strikeouts in 70.1 innings. Johnson has served as the Gators' DH in 26 games and is batting .413 (33-for-80) with 19 RBI, 13 runs, nine walks, five doubles, four homers and two grand slams.
The dual threat was tabbed as the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Gainesville Regional after going 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate and twirling seven shutout innings in the championship game. Johnson went 3-for-5 with a leadoff homer in the third inning in the second meeting with Florida Atlantic and was 2-for-3 with his first career triple in the win over Oregon State. Last weekend, he hit a team-high .429 (3-for-7) in the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional sweep of Miami (Fla.) and drove in three runs. Johnson was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on April 5 and again on May 3 and was chosen to the Watch List for the John Olerud Award presented to the nation's best two-way player.
The Gators (47-15) open play at the 64th NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Neb., versus UCLA (48-14) on Saturday at 7 p.m., live on ESPN.
-UF-
