Smoak Named To USA Baseball National Team

South Carolina sophomore first baseman Justin Smoak is one of the first 11 players to be named to the 2007 USA Baseball National Team as announced on Wednesday afternoon by USA Baseball.

The announcement of the final nine players and two alternates will be made in June. Smoak and Team USA will play in the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the World Port Tournament in the Netherlands as well as several series across the U.S. throughout the summer.

In his second season at Carolina, Smoak has been among the SEC and nation's leaders in home runs (17) and RBI (60). Smoak has started all 53 games and is batting .324 (68-for-210) and owns a .439 on-base percentage to go along with a .624 slugging percentage.

Smoak will be joined by fellow SEC players Pedro Alvarez of Vanderbilt and Cody Satterwhite of Ole Miss.

2007 NATIONAL TEAM MEMBERS

Pedro Alvarez INF So. Vanderbilt

Brett Hunter RHP So. Pepperdine

Lance Lynn RHP So. Ole Miss

Brian Matusz LHP So. San Diego

Josh Romanski OF/LHP So. San Diego

Tyson Ross RHP So. California

Cody Satterwhite RHP So. Ole Miss

Justin Smoak INF So. South Carolina

Jacob Thompson RHP So. Virginia

Brett Wallace INF So. Arizona State

Jemile Weeks INF So. Miami (Fla.)

USA Baseball is the National Governing Body of amateur baseball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The organization selects and trains the USA Baseball National Team, the USA Baseball Junior National Team (18-under), the USA Baseball Youth National Team (16-under), the USA Baseball 14U National Team (14-under), and the USA Baseball Women's National Team which participate in various international competitions each year. For more information on USA Baseball please log onto www.usabaseball.com.