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Four Southern Californians make 14-under USA Baseball national team

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Four players from Southern California were among the 18 who made the final USA Baseball 14-under national team roster that will travel to San Felipe, Venezuela, to compete in the COPABE Pan Am 14-under championships Aug. 14-22.

Infielder-outfielder William Aguilar of Lawndale, pitcher-catcher Chris Betts of Long Beach, pitcher Bailey Falter of Chino Hills and infielder-pitcher Isaak Gutierrez of Norwalk were among the six players from California to make the team, the most from any state.

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The team will play two intrasquad scrimmages Saturday and Sunday before playing host to a pair of exhibition games against the Canes 15-under team from Charlotte, N.C., on Monday and Tuesday in Cary, N.C. The team leaves for Venezuela on Thursday and then plays its first game the following day against Brazil.

Pool play runs from Friday through Aug. 18, with the semifinals on Aug. 19 and the championship on Aug. 21.

--Ben Bolch

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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