University of Tennessee Athletics
Arencibia Finishes Summer with Highest Batting Average on Team USA
August 04, 2005 | Baseball
Aug. 4, 2005
The 2005 USA Baseball National Team (16-4) concluded its summer tour Wednesday with a doubleheader sweep of Nicaragua in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Team USA ended its season on an 11-game winning streak, and rising Tennessee sophomore J.P. Arencibia finished the summer with a .404 batting average -- the highest on the elite American squad.
Arencibia made 14 starts for Team USA while seeing action in 16 of the club's 20 games. In addition to leading Team USA in batting average, the Miami, Fla., native paced the squad in hits (23) and slugging percentage (.579) while tying for the team lead in RBIs (12).
Arencibia joins the list of six former Vols who have represented the United States on Team USA, but he is the first player from Rocky Top to hit better than .400 during his stint with the National Team. Tennessee's other Team USA members include Todd Helton (1993), R.A. Dickey (1994-96), Augie Ojeda (1995-96), Chris Burke (2000), Javi Herrera (2001) and Luke Hochevar (2004).
Since current UT head coach Rod Delmonico took over the Big Orange program in 1990, 11 Vols have either played for Team USA or have been invited to tryout.
