CARY, N.C. – College of Charleston freshman pitcher Bailey Ober completed his three-week stint with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team on July 5 after a series with Chinese Taipei.
A native of Charlotte, N.C., Ober remained on the team past the training camp cuts as the only alternate for the series against Chinese Taipei. He made two relief appearances in the five-game series, including one in the 10th inning in an international tiebreaker scenario.
In that appearance on July 1, he allowed just one run to score despite starting the inning with two runners on base and no out per tiebreaker rules. During the regular season, Ober only allowed two runners with no out in one out of 106 innings pitched.
He finished his summer with four appearances, pitching 6.2 innings and allowing four runs, one earned, on four hits for an ERA of 1.35. He struck out eight batters and walked just three.
“I had a great experience playing with Team USA,” Ober said. “It was awesome to be able to play and meet some of the best players in the country all on one team. It was incredible experience to be able to compete with 'USA' across your chest.”
Ober was the first CofC Baseball player to compete for USA Baseball. He won the 2014 NCBWA Freshman Pitcher of the Year after a phenomenal freshman season. He led all NCAA freshmen with an ERA of 1.52 and a record of 10-3. His walks and hits per innings pitched (WHIP) of 0.86 set a new school record and ranked seventh in the country.
He was named a Freshman All-American by Baseball America, the NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game. He was also on the ABCA All-Region team.
Ober has not been the only current Cougar player playing this summer. Carl Wise has been playing in the elite Cape Cod wooden bat league with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. Erven Roper (Woodstock River Bandits), Alex Pastorius (Cincinnati Steam), Austin Bello (Sag Harbor Whalers), Bradley Jones (Forest City Owls), Nick Pappas (Columbia Blowfish), Morgan Phillips (St. Cloud Rox) and Blake Butler (Lakeshore Chinooks) are also playing summer ball.
