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Schuster Starts Today In Stars Tournament

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By CRISTINA LEDRA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 20, 2008

Mitchell senior left-handed pitcher Patrick Schuster is spending this week among some of high school baseball's elite at the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars presented by Major League Baseball in Cary, N.C.

The Tournament of Stars is comprised of 144 of the country's top baseball players born either in 1990 or 1991 and were invited by eight youth baseball groups that each have teams competing.

Schuster is representing the Dixie team that after two games in the tournament is 2-0. Dixie defeated P.O.N.Y., which features Hillsborough High's Marlon Mitchell, 6-4 on Tuesday and RBI 4-3 on Wednesday.

Schuster gets his start on the mound today in the third of four games of pool play.

Semifinals are Saturday and the final Sunday.

Dixie did not play Thursday, instead spending part of the day getting a tour of the Durham Bulls' facilities and attending a Bulls game in the evening. The Bulls are the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Tournament of Stars serves as the selection process for the USA Baseball 18U team and this tournament in North Carolina is the first phase of that process.

The 34 best players from this tournament will be invited to the National Team Trials in Phoenix next month and from that, 20 will compete in the IBAF World AAA Junior Championships, July 25-Aug. 3, in Alberta, Canada.

"To be honest, if I make it, I'm not going to go," Schuster said. "I have prior arrangements. I'm going to play in some other baseball stuff because I feel it's a little more important than making this team because it's not going to give me the exposure that I need."

EIGHT CHOSEN FOR ALL-STATE: Schuster was one of eight Pasco County players selected for the Florida Sports Writers Association All-State baseball team as voted on by the media.

Schuster was a Class 6A honorable-mention pitcher after going 5-2 this season with 88 strikeouts and a 1.07 ERA.

Pasco shortstop and Tampa Tribune Pasco County Player of the Year Jacob Schrader was a Class 4A first-team selection at infield. Schrader, a junior this past season, had a .472 average, 46 RBIs and struck out only five times in 106 at-bats.

Also from Pasco, Dustin Brown (.347 batting average) was a third-team outfielder and Dylan Giella (.412) was an honorable-mention infielder.

From Land O' Lakes, South Florida-bound pitcher Trey Dahl was a Class 5A second-team selection after a 10-1 season in which he recorded 98 strikeouts and had a 1.71 ERA in 651/3 innings pitched and 285 batters faced.

Dahl's teammate Matt Fugelsang was a second-team utility player, recording 100 strikeouts with an 8-2 record on the mound and a .362 average at the plate.

T.J. Wharton (.375) and Marcel Duarte (.367), who is joining the Johns Hopkins baseball team, were both honorable-mention selections from Bishop McLaughlin.

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