Texas Tech University Athletics
Former Tech Pitcher Jeff Karstens Named To Team USA
October 10, 2007 | Baseball
Oct. 10, 2007
LUBBOCK, Texas - Former Red Raider hurler and current member of the New York Yankees Organization Jeff Karstens will represent Team USA at the 2007 International Baseball Federation (IBAF) World Cup in Chinese Taipei, Nov. 6-18.
The roster is made up of professional, non-25-man roster players of the 30 Major League-affiliated (MLB) organizations. This is the eighth time USA Baseball has utilized Major League-affiliated professional players for international competition, including the 1999 Pan Am Games, the 2000 Olympic Games, the 2001 World Cup, the 2003 Olympic Qualifier, the 2005 IBAF World Cup, and the 2006 COPABE Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Karstens, who pitched one season for the Red Raiders back in 2003, made his Major League debut with the Yankees back on August 22, 2006 at Seattle. While with the Major League club in 2006, he posted a 2-1 record in eight games (six starts) and an ERA of 3.80. This past season he was with the Triple A Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Yankees and compiled a 5-0 record with a 1.49 ERA through 48 1/3 innings of work.
Karstens is one of three Big 12 alumni on the squad as he joins Jason Jaramillo who lettered at Oklahoma State and Brian Duensing who played for Nebraska. Among the other 24 players selected by USA Baseball include Chicago White Sox (Triple-A Charlotte) pitcher Heath Phillips (Lake City, FL) and Toronto Blue Jays (Triple-A Syracuse) pitcher Lee Gronkiewicz (Justin, TX), both of whom also played for the 2006 squad that qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Sixteen countries will begin IBAF World Cup competition in two groups of eight teams, with the top four of each group advancing to quarterfinals after seven days of round-robin play. Joining the U.S. in Group A will be Chinese Taipei, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Panama, South Africa, and Spain. Group B features Australia, Canada, Cuba, Germany, Korea, Netherlands, Thailand, and Venezuela.
