Carnahan’s summer a Dutch treat

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http://www.panews.com/sports/local_story_232222010.html?keyword=topstory

Carnahan’s summer a Dutch treat

By Dave Rogers

The Port Arthur News

PORT NECHES — When school starts in a week or so, one Port Neches-Groves athlete will have a story to tell about what he did on his summer vacation.

Indian senior Jon Carnahan just returned from a week in Europe where he competed for Team USA against adult teams from four European countries in the Holland Invitational Baseball Tournament at Oldenzaal, The Netherlands.

Team USA won the gold medal.

“I was proud to represent the USA over there,†said the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Carnahan, who should be a third-year starter for PN-G’s varsity baseball team next spring. “It was great. I had so much fun.â€

The trip was organized by USA Athletes International, a Kansas-based company that puts together tours abroad for high school all-star teams selected by the company and its coaches.

USA coach Brandon Raines, the baseball coach at UT-Dallas, invited Carnahan to be on the team last fall after seeing him perform at a showcase event at San Jacinto Junior College.

Raines’ team was composed of 16 players, 14 of whom are 17- and 18-year-old high school students. One was 19, another 16, Carnahan said, and all but two of them were Texans.

Two West Brook players, Aaron Stovall and Will Partain, accompanied Carnahan, but by the time the trip had ended, he had 30 new friends.

“The other guys, we’re all good friends now,†he said. “They had a girls’ softball team go with us, too. They also won the gold medal. We all exchanged numbers and e-mail addresses. Girls, too.â€

At Oldenzaal, a community on the German border about 70 miles east of Amsterdam, Team USA spent the second week in August playing against teams from Germany, Russia, Moldavia and two from the Netherlands in what has been a long-running annual event.

Carnahan and his teammates were surprised to find their opponents were men aged 25 to 35.

But that didn’t stop the Americans from winning four out of six games, including an 8-6 win over a Netherlands team in the gold medal game.

Carnahan played two games at catcher, pitched in two games and also played first base, third base and designated hitter.

“Hopefully, this will help me get into college somewhere,†he said.

Carnahan has been contacted by a number of schools, including Lamar, Baylor and Sam Houston State, but hasn’t been offered a scholarship yet. Still, he hopes to be in position to take advantage of November’s early signing period.

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Congrats to Carnahan, Partain and Stovall.  Proud to have you guys to represent the USA and Southeast Texas. 

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Congrats to Carnahan, Partain and Stovall.  Proud to have you guys to represent the USA and Southeast Texas. 

I second that cleanup. Carnahan played with us in Babe Ruth, great role model and a pretty good ball player who will play at the next level.

[1andonly]

Congratulations to all these boys! They are an inspiration to kids all over the United States. They have great futures in baseball and will accelerate for their team this year. I cant wait to see how far PN-G goes this year!! GO INDIANS

we will all forever trully bleed purple