Longtime Wellington resident and current Stanford University student-athlete Ryan Bruno has been rewarded for a standout season with Stanford’s baseball team.
Bruno — who just completed his sophomore season at Stanford and helped propel the team to a berth in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska — has earned a spot on the 26-man USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, following a five-game intrasquad series that served as a tryout during the national team training camp in Cary, North Carolina.
The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team represented the U.S. at Honkbalweek Haarlem from July 8 to July 15 at Pim Mulier Stadium in The Netherlands.
The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team is led by University of Mississippi head baseball coach Mike Bianco, who capped his 24th season leading Ole Miss to its first-ever College World Series title in June. Bianco is joined on staff by Xan Barksdale, Drew Bianco (Louisiana State University), Scott Brown (Vanderbilt University), Cliff Godwin (East Carolina University) and Josh Holliday (Oklahoma State University).
“As I sat with the 51 players that we invited to Cary, I told them what a tremendous honor this is because you are 51 of the best amateur baseball players in the United States of America,” Bianco said. “To narrow it down nearly in half is quite a task. We shared with all of them, as honestly and candidly as we could, that there are players who will go home who will play in the big leagues and be All-Americans next year.”
Fortunately, Bruno was one of the players selected for the team.
During the national team camp, Bruno made two pitching appearances, where he struck out three and allowed just one hit and a walk over two innings of work.
At Stanford this past season, Bruno — whose twin brother Jaden is also on the Stanford team — made a team-best 30 appearances for the Cardinal, compiling a 6-1 record with a 2.72 ERA over 39.67 innings. Bruno had one save and struck out 71 batters (16.11 strikeouts per nine innings) while limiting opponents to a .150 batting average.
Seventeen different colleges and universities are represented on the current 2022 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team roster, with Bruno serving as the only representative from the Pac-12 Conference.
Team USA has competed at Honkbalweek Haarlem five times since 2000. During that time, the U.S. has earned four gold medals (2000, 2002, 2008 and 2014) and one bronze medal (2012).
The team traveled to The Netherlands on Wednesday, July 6 in order to begin play on Saturday, July 9. Team USA opened against Japan and followed with games against Italy, Cuba, The Netherlands and Curacao to complete group play.
In its opening game against Japan on July 9, the U.S. squad fell 1-0 in extra innings in a game dominated by pitching. The U.S. squad bounced back with a victory in its second game when it defeated Italy 9-0 on Sunday, July 10. Bruno played a key role in the game as he and three other teammates combined for a five-hit shutout against the Italians.
On Monday, July 11, the U.S. posted an impressive 2-0 shutout win against Cuba. U.S. pitchers Tanner Hall and Teddy McGraw combined to limit the Cubans to just four hits in the U.S. victory. On Tuesday, July 12, the U.S. improved its record in the tournament to 3-1 with a convincing, mercy-rule 10-0 victory over The Netherlands.
To check on further tournament results for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team in this competition, visit www.usabaseball.com.
