Christian Coppola named to USA Baseball Collegiate National Team

Christian Coppola made an immediate impact for Rutgers during his freshman season and it will continue this summer.

Coppola became the third Scarlet Knight in history to make the Collegiate National Team, joining Todd Frazier in 2006 and Bobby Brownlie in 2001. The USA will feature a 31-man team and take on Chinese Taipei and Japan in two five-game series from June 30-July 12.

Coppola was named to the team after tossing three scoreless innings during Team USA’s intrasquad this week. He allowed just one baserunner and struck out four without a walk.

During his first season in Piscataway, Coppola became the first freshman in program history to be named First Team All-Big Ten. He led the conference with a 3.68 ERA while going 5-5. He tossed 66 innings while striking out 71 and walking 37.

“We are all excited for Christian, who stepped up and performed very well against elite competition at the Collegiate National Team training camp,” head coach Steve Owens said in a press release. ”I’m sure he will enjoy the next two weeks competing with Chinese Taipei and Japan. His coaches and teammates along with our Rutgers baseball fans are rooting him on.”

The USA will take on Chinese Taipei in a series from June 30-July 4 at the National Training Complex in Durham, NC. This will be the 20th series between the two sides. The USA currently leads 15-0-4. They will then take on Japan from July 7-9 with four of the five games taking place at Joseph P. Riley Ballpark in Charleston, SC. The USA leads this series 24-19.