Hart Pitcher Lorraine to Play for West in Olympic Festival

Andrew Lorraine, a left-handed pitcher from Hart High, is among 128 players nationwide who have been selected to play on one of four baseball teams during the U. S. Olympic Festival, to be held June 30-July 11 in Minneapolis.

Lorraine, a Stanford-bound senior who was selected The Times’ Valley Pitcher of the Year after posting a 9-0 record with six saves and an earned-run average of 0.91, will play for the West team.

“It’s a great honor to be included in a group of guys like that,” Lorraine said.

Lorraine is the only Valley-area player to be selected.

Each team, made up of players aged 17 to 18, will play in two exhibition games and four medal games. The West will be coached by Mel Swerdling of Sepulveda, the commissioner of American Legion District 20. Swerdling coached the West to a gold medal in 1988.

Lorraine, 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, was selected from a group of thousands of nominees. High school coaches are sent player-profile forms in the spring that are to be returned to a Team USA selection committee. Players are required to submit two letters of reference from professional scouts. A player’s high school statistics are then reviewed and evaluated before the selections are announced.

Players whose coaches do not return the player profiles are not eligible for consideration, Swerdling said.