COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou baseball standouts Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) and Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) have been invited to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team (CNT) Summer Prep session, which began last Friday (June 19) in Cary, N.C. Howard and Houck are two of 29 of college baseball's best players competing for a spot on the 24-man roster, which will play on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Summer Tour, which includes a five-game series with Cuba beginning on July 1. In addition, Mizzou graduate assistant coach Trevor Coleman has been added to the coaching staff as a bullpen coach.

The team played a pair of games over the weekend, going 1-1 in a pair of tune-ups. Houck pitched three innings in a 3-1 win over Holly Springs of the Coastal Plains League on Saturday. Houck struck out four and allowed just three hits and one run over the three innings of work, walking just one batter.

Howard and Houck are the first Tigers to play with the CNT since Eric Anderson did so in 2011, when Mizzou head coach Tim Jamieson managed the team. This year's CNT is managed by St. John's head coach Ed Blankenmeyer and the coaching staff includes San Diego's Rich Hill, Kentucky's Gary Henderson and LSU's Paul Maineri. Coleman and N.C. State's Tyler Younger will serve as the bullpen coaches, with Josh Therrien (Oregon State) serving as the athletic trainer. Brandon Golden (St. John's) will serve as strength and conditioning coach and Brent Ingram (Kentucky) will serve as press officer. The team is coordinated by Chris Neilson and is under the direction of general manager Eric Campbell.

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