Robin Lausen, a sophomore catcher, just finished up playing for Sweden’s national baseball team over the summer.
“…I got onto (the Sweden team) because I went to a mini camp in Sweden my freshman year and they liked what they saw,” said Lausen.
Lausen, who was born and raised in Sweden, moved here and then went to go and play in Stockton where he was redshirted as a freshman; his first year he did not play at all. Then last year he came over to Skyline and played for Coach Dino Nomicos.
In his first and only year playing in the U.S. and for a college team, Lausen hit a .267 batting average, appearing in 25 games last year. “It’s great, he has a phenomenal work -ethic and it rubs off on people around him which sparks competition on the team,” said Skyline teammate Par Emil Axelsson.
“Robin has been actively scouted by the national team for a number of years and on the verge of playing for some time,” he continued. “He was on the roster last championship as well but didn’t play as much as he did this championship.”
Having been on the team before, Lausen got a call in the middle of April about coming out to play for the Swedish team. In the middle of June, after summer baseball, he went and got his ticket and left for the national team. This year it was Lausen’s job to be more of a role player for the team, whereas in past seasons he was more of a back-up guy since he was so young when playing for the national team.
“We played eight games,” said Lausen. We played against a lot of good teams like Holland, Italy and Spain. Those are all teams that are in the World Baseball Classic right now.”
The competition is different over in the European league. There are teams that have guys from the minor leagues playing for the different national teams. “They compare it to playing low minor league baseball,” said Lausen. The toughest team he played against was Holland because they had a lot of players who were semi-professional and beat Cuba a year ago in the World Championship.
“It’s a special feeling,” said Lausen of his time playing for Sweden. “It’s different when you put on that uniform and play for your country.”
