High school baseball: Alta shortstop earns position on Team USA

For the second straight year, a high school player from Utah has made a U.S. National baseball team.

This time, Alta shortstop Kavin Keyes earned the right to wear the red, white and blue for Team USA's 18-under team. He was one of 34 players to participate in a six-day trials period last week, and he made the 20-player roster.

"I was the happiest person when I found out," Keyes said. "It's exciting. I had the biggest smile in the world."

Last summer, Pine View's Marcus Littlewood played for the 16-under national team. He was invited to the 18-under trials last week but did not participate.

Keyes played in two games during the trials and batted .333. He came off the bench in Team USA's first two exhibition games and showed some versatility by playing second base and catcher.

"It's fun," Keyes said. "There are a lot of good kids on the team. It's great."

The U.S. 18-under team has an exhibition game against Louisburg College today. Team USA will then leave for Venezuela to participate in the 2009 COPABE Pan Am AAA Championships.

Keyes said making Team USA was the payoff for a lot of hard work. Only a junior at Alta, Keyes has started for the Hawks the last two seasons. Last spring, he was a first-team all-state pick after batting .467 with 12 doubles for Alta.

e-mail: aaragon@desnews.com