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WAHL ENJOYING EXPERIENCE WITH USA BASEBALL COLLEGIATE NATIONAL TEAM
OXFORD, Miss. – It’s
been a hectic few weeks for junior right-hander Bobby Wahl, as the Ole
Miss pitcher has been competing with the USA Baseball Collegiate
National Team this summer.
Wahl began competition with the team
on June 25 when the Collegiate National Team took on Fayetteville Swamp
Dogs in the first of four “exhibition” games against collegiate summer
league teams in the North Carolina area and emerged with a 4-0 record.
The
squad then competed in the Prospect Showcase with members of the
Collegiate National Team and 18U squads being split and combined into
the Stars and Stripes squads to face-off in the second year of the
classic.
Following the showcase, it was time for the USA
Collegiate National Team to head overseas to begin international
competition in preparation for the 26th Honkbal-Haarlem Baseball Week –
an international invitational tournament. The invitational was first
held in 1961 and has been held every other year in even numbered years
since 1972.
“It’s been an unreal experience, being able to play
with some of the best players in the country,” Wahl said from the
airport in Houston awaiting boarding for his flight to Amsterdam. “I’m
learning things from the other pitchers and have been facing some of
the top hitters in the nation and the world.”
Wahl has been
serving primarily as a reliever for the Collegiate National Team,
making four appearances to date with a pair of saves. He has struck out
nine batters and walked only three while surrendering one hit in his
four appearances. The right-hander has not allowed a run.
His
two saves came against the Cuban National Team in the series opener on
July 5, and the series finale on July 9. They were the only two wins
for Team USA in the five-game series.
It was at the friendly
series against Cuba that Wahl experienced the best, and most profound,
moment of the USA Baseball competition.
“Hearing the national
anthem at Cuba was the best moment of this experience for me,” Wahl
said. “I don’t think I really understood it all until then. I don’t
think you can appreciate it on the same level. But, when you’re out
there and you’re wearing your nation’s colors and hear your national
anthem as a foreigner in another country – it really hits you. It was
simply an amazing feeling in that moment.”
The trip to Cuba was
the beginning of a new experience for Wahl, who had never been overseas
beyond a trip to the Bahamas when he was in the ninth grade. Now, the
junior at Ole Miss is continuing that experience with the trip to The
Netherlands for the Honkbal-Haarlem Baseball Week competition that will
begin on Saturday, July 14.
The Collegiate National Team will
open play at the invitational against Japan at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday as
the first of five games before play proceeds to the semifinal round.
Team USA will also face Cuba, Puerto Rico, Chinese-Taipei and The
Netherlands.
“I’m really looking forward to getting to play
against guys from all over the world,” Wahl said of the upcoming
competition. “It will be exciting to face guys who are getting the same
opportunity to represent their country in international competition
like I am. I hope to get to meet some really cool people and trade gear
with other guys. I’m looking forward to maybe learning a little bit of
some new languages and cultures.”
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