Ten years after the Bishop Verot baseball team was selected to compete at the debut USA Baseball National High School Invitational, the Vikings will make their return.
The team was invited as one of 16 teams to compete at the national baseball tournament in Cary, North Carolina.
“To be invited is a huge honor,” Vikings head coach Casey Scott said. “It’s not a regional, localized tournament. This is national.”
The tournament will take place from April 6-9 at the USA Baseball National Training Center Complex, which is comprised of a main stadium and three auxiliary fields. The field features three past champions, including Orange Lutheran (California), The First Academy (Orlando) and Huntington Beach (California).
Each participating team is guaranteed to play four games at the single-elimination championship tournament. The tournament was canceled in 2020 and 2021.
The Class 3A-District 10 runners-up last season, the Vikings went 19-9, falling in the regional quarterfinals to John Carroll Catholic.
The Vikings are returning a deep senior class, including 2021 News-Press All-Area First Team pitcher Josiah Velazquez, an FGCU commit.
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Freshman Carter Smith, one of the top nationally-ranked players in the Class of 2025, will join the squad after a football season that earned him News-Press First Team honors at quarterback.
“From top to bottom, we have a really thorough, really deep team,” Scott said. “You’re not selected to go to this thing because you have one guy who’s really good.”
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The tournament will fit nicely into Verot’s competitive schedule, which will involve extensive travel, Scott said.
Scott called the selection humbling, but it’s also evidence that the players in the program’s history helped pave the way for this honor.
“To be a team that’s returned 10 years out speaks to the longevity and history of Verot baseball and what baseball means to this school,” he added.
Basic Academy (Henderson, Nevada)
Bishop Verot
Buford (Ga.)
D. H. Conley (Greenville, N.C.)
Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)
Hamiton (Chandler, Ariz.)
Hanover (Mechanicsville, Va.)
Huntington Beach (Calif.)
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
McQuaid Jesuit (Rochester, N.Y.)
Orange Luthern (Orange, Calif.)
Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Calif.)
Servite (Anaheim, Calif.)
St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) 
The First Academy (Orlando)
Yucaipa (Calif.)
Follow News-Press Sports Reporter Dustin Levy on Twitter: @DustinBLevy. For additional coverage of sports across Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.

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