DURHAM, N.C. - Former Portland Pilot Travis Hanson is one of the 24 players that will represent the United States at the 2005 CONCEBE Regional Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Phoenix, Ariz., November 15-19, announced by USA Baseball. The roster is made up of professional, non 25-man roster players of the 30 Major League Baseball organizations. This is the sixth time USA Baseball has utilized Major-League affiliated professional players for international competition, following the 1999 Pan Am Games, the 2000 Olympic Games, the 2001 World Cup, the 2003 Olympic Qualifier and the 2005 World Cup.

A shortstop for the Pilots from 2000-02, Hanson earned a spot in the Texas League All-Star game earlier this year and has continued to show why he is a top prospect as a third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals. He finished the season for the AA Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals among the league leaders in several categories by hitting .284 with 20 home runs, 97 RBIs, 29 doubles and three triples.

In his three years on The Bluff, Hanson earned All-West Coast Conference honorable mention honors as a junior in 2002. He was drafted in the ninth round by the Cardinals in the 2002 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

Six countries from North and Central America are slated to compete in Arizona, with the top four finishers advancing to the Americas Olympic Qualifier in Havana, Cuba, in August, 2006. In that event, the four teams representing CONCEBE will compete against the top four regional qualifiers from both the Caribbean and South American regions for two bids to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The third and fourth place finishers in Cuba will advance to a secondary Olympic qualifying event to be held sometime in 2007.

The six countries that will compete in Arizona are: Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the United States. Live gameday scoring and boxscores will be available as well as live audio broadcasts of all five Team USA games on www.usabaseball.com or www.mlb.com.