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ORU Head Baseball Coach Leads Team USA to Perfect Season

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Click Photo to Enlarge Team USA skipper Rob Walton (third from left) poses with the National Team coaching staff following their 1-0 win over Japan in the FISU World Championships gold medal game.

Hunter Morris (Auburn; Huntsville, Ala.) snapped a scoreless tie in the top of the 12th inning, and Kendal Volz (Baylor; Bulverde, Texas) got a game-ending ground out with the potential tying run at third base as the USA Baseball National Team led by ORU head baseball coach, Rob Walton, defeated Japan 1-0 in Sunday's gold medal game of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) World Championships at Mestsky Stadium.

It was Team USA's third consecutive FISU title. The U.S. squad completed its 2008 tour 24-0 and established a National Team record for lowest staff ERA at 0.88 (the previous mark of 1.29 was set in 2003). Team USA did not allow more than two earned runs in any game and tossed its sixth shutout of the summer in the FISU title game. "I don't think you ever think that far down the road," head coach Rob Walton (Oral Roberts) said when asked if a perfect season was imaginable at the beginning of the tour. "We just tried to build chemistry and get guys in the right spots to be successful. Our assistant coaches deserve a lot of credit for this, as does (National Team general manager) Eric Campbell for helping us put together this team."

"This team's record speaks for itself," Campbell said. "Every year is special, but I don't know how we'll be able to top what this team did. They finished 24-0, they beat Cuba's best team twice, they beat Japan three times, and they won two gold medals. It speaks volumes for college baseball, not just in the U.S. but around the world. This team beat a lot of good teams this summer, and four or five of the teams here at FISU easily could have won this event."