Rio Ruiz chooses football over baseball
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Bishop Amat quarterback Rio Ruiz has decided to stick with the football team and not join the USA 18U baseball squad when it goes to Colombia in November.
He was set to leave the football team this month and miss three games, but when the tournament was postponed and changed to November, he was forced to make a tough decision.
‘I’m not leaving my team,’ Ruiz said Monday.
Ruiz, a third baseman, is expected to be a first-round baseball draft pick in June.
He has been playing football throughout high school while also focusing on baseball.
‘We talked as a family and there was no way he’s going to leave his team during the playoffs,’ Ruiz’s father, Rudy, said.
Ruiz had wanted to finally play for a national team after having to drop out each year for football. His football coaches had agreed to let him miss games this month to play baseball.
Ruiz, a senior, didn’t start last week against Garfield after missing pre-season practice for an all-star baseball game. Now he’ll be able to focus on Anaheim Servite, the team the Lancers play this weekend.
-- Eric Sondheimer