USA – Baylor’s Kendal Volz was named the third-best professional prospect from the 2008 USA Baseball National Team in Baseball Americas rankings. Volz was the highest-rated of the teams four pitchers from the Big 12 Conference.

A product of Smithson Valley (Texas) High School, Volz was eight-for-eight in save opportunities for the National Team during its 2008 summer tour and posted a 0.00 ERA. He allowed only one unearned run on six hits with 16 strikeouts over 14.0 innings.

Volz, a weekend starter at Baylor, recorded saves in Team USAs two wins over Cuba’s Olympic Team at Haarlem Baseball Week. It marked the first two wins by a U.S. collegiate national team over Cuba’s top team in the 30-year history of USA Baseball. He also recorded the save in Team USAs 1-0 victory over Japan in the gold medal game of the FISU World University Championships in Brno, Czech Republic.

Team USA finished its 2008 tour 24-0 and established a National Team record with a 0.88 staff ERA.

San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg, who also competed for the U.S. Olympic Team in Beijing, was named the National Teams top prospect, followed by Vanderbilt southpaw Mike Minor and Volz. Fellow Big 12 right-handers Kyle Gibson (Missouri) and Andrew Oliver (Oklahoma State) followed Volz in fourth and fifth, respectively. Lefty Tyler Lyons (Oklahoma State) was rated 12th.

Photo/Baylor Bears

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