Playing with Pride

When the USA national baseball team took the field for the first time last weekend at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, the cheers were a little louder for two of the players introduced.

Those players earned the praise over at Frank Sancet Field, where they both started for the Arizona baseball team this past season.

Senior third baseman Omar Moraga and sophomore shortstop Keoni DeRenne are the two Wildcats among the 44 players at camp with the national team.

"It was awesome," DeRenne said after his RBI double helped the USA to a 7-2 win over the Mexican national team Saturday night. "Especially when I was announced. I kind of had the jitters."

Moraga said he was "nervous," though not just because of the game itself.

The Tucson native had, by far, the largest individual cheering section in the stadium.

"Coach (Ron) Polk came up to me and told me I could invite as many people as I wanted, there were no NCAA restrictions," he said.

Moraga's cheering section was vocal throughout the game, even booing his teammate Ryan Owens when Owens came up to pinch-hit for him, something that Owens didn't seem to understand as he walked up to the plate.

The Saturday game was the culmination of what DeRenne called "a real long week" of preparation.

"We get started at practice around 2:30 every day and we're at the park until about 1 a.m.," he said. "It creates insomnia."

Moraga called it "a day full of baseball.

"It's tough because we've been off for almost a month," Moraga said. "It's tough on the feet, on the legs, but we got back into it pretty fast."

If Moraga and DeRenne manage to impress the coaching staff enough during the team's nine game homestand against Mexico and Canada they will make the cut of 26 players who get to travel to Nicaragua for the World Championship Qualifying Series June 17-26.

Both Moraga and DeRenne agreed that the biggest difference between college and international play is the different styles of the various players.

"The tempo's different," Moraga said. "Mexico has a real flashy style. If you play to their tempo, though, you can get beat, so you have to stick to your own."

DeRenne also had to play a different position in Saturday's game, starting at second base, where he said he hasn't played since ninth grade.

"In order to make the team I'll have to be versatile," DeRenne said. "Show I can play a lot of different positions."

DeRenne and Moraga participated in the national team's fall tryouts in Tucson this past year.

DeRenne said when UA head coach Jerry Stitt gave him the packet that contained his invitation his reaction was "whoa.

"I was honored," DeRenne said. "I knew I had to get myself ready for this."

DeRenne said he is more relaxed now than he was in the fall because there are fewer players to compete with.

"Whether I make the team or not I've enjoyed the experience," he said.

Moraga learned of his invitation to camp in the midst of the Arizona-Arizona State series in Tucson when Coach Polk was visiting.

"It's a great honor to be included with this group of young men," Moraga said.