Decatur, MS - East Central's Luke Cooley will represent the Stars and Stripes Team USA at this year's Haarlem Baseball Week held July 12-19. The NJCAA will field an All-Star team of 24 student-athletes from 16 different NJCAA institutions.

Sophomore Luke Cooley of Waynesboro, MS, was named a third-team NJCAA All-American. Cooley finished the season with 115 total strikeouts, tied for second in NJCAA DII, and an 8-1 record. He also ranked in the top 15 in ERA with a 2.29. Cooley adds to his impressive postseason awards list as Pitcher of the Year (MACCC), first-team all-conference (MACCC), and All-Region 23.

"Luke Cooley is very deserving of this honor, said ECCC head baseball coach Neal Holliman. "His work ethic and commitment to our program has been outstanding.  He will continue to represent himself, our program, and now our country in a first-class manner.  We have been blessed to have him in our program for the past two years, and we enjoy following him at the next level as he moves on to Louisiana Tech Univ."

Team USA will begin its five-game schedule on July 12 against The Netherlands.
The tournament is based at Pim Mullier Stadium in Haarlem, the capital of the province of North Holland, just outside Amsterdam. This will be the amateur invitational's 31st edition, which began in 1961.  This year's Haarlem Baseball Week field includes The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and the United States.

The last time Team USA won Haarlem Baseball was in 2014 with a squad featuring future MLB players Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson, and Bryan Reynolds, among others.