USA Baseball U18 team to play three games at Ed Smith Stadium

USA Baseball's U18 team's seven-game "friendship series" against Canada will partially take place in Sarasota, the organization said. 

Three of the seven games in the series will be held at Ed Smith Stadium. The games will be Sept. 3-5, with the first and last games starting at 6 p.m. and the second game starting at 4 p.m. The rest of the series will be split between Bradenton's LECOM Park (Sept. 7 and Sept. 9 at 2 p.m.) and Pirate City complex (Sept. 8 at 1 p.m.) and St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field (Sept. 6 at 4 p.m.). The games are free to attend. 

The series was added following the postponement of the 2021 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup to next year.

Prior to that series, the team's roster will be set via team trials which will also be held in Sarasota, Aug. 27-31 at the Buck O'Neil Training Complex at Twin Lakes Park, with game times varying.

Check usabaseball.com for the full schedule. The trials roster includes five players from Florida, including outfielder Elijah Green, the Windermere native who attends Bradenton's IMG Academy and is considered the top batting prospect for the 2022 MLB Draft.