Southern baseball player pitches on the biggest stage across the nation

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — From the bluff to North Carolina, and then Seattle, Southern University Baseball’s Nicholas Wilson spent the summer pitching on the biggest stages across America.

“Whenever I stepped on the mound in between the lines, I think I knew that I deserved to be out here,” said Wilson.

The right-handed pitcher spent the end of June and early parts of July competing with Team USA’s Collegiate National Team out in Cary, North Carolina. After two scoreless outings in scrimmage play, he proceeded to make the cut of 31 players for the final roster.

“There’s about 10 first-rounders on that team. And so it’s just really cool to just look around and just know that I can be a part of that and I can play at the next level,” Wilson said.

Wilson competed for the Red, White, and Blue against Chinese Taipei. The five-game series concluded with a walk-off on the Fourth of July.

Rather than sticking around to celebrate, Wilson boarded a cross-country flight to Seattle and participated in the inaugural HBCU Swingman Classic.

“Being on the mound in Seattle, I kind of had to take a moment to look around the stadium and breathe it in because it’s just to be on that kind of stage with that many people there and just being able to be the first to represent HBCUs on that kind of level was just, just absolutely awesome,” said Wilson.

Wilson with four other Jaguars played in the Emerald City and met Ken “The Kid” Griffey Jr., spent the game in the dugout, and shared why he wanted to participate in the event.

“So that these guys get an opportunity to play at the highest level, get drafted, go out there and further their career in the game of baseball. Everybody can still participate in the game of baseball, whether that’s the commissioner’s office, because you have the players union, you have the warrior. You can always stay in the game that you love and help the next generation,” said Griffey.

“It means a lot for as an HBCU player for somebody that’s one of the greatest to really just believe in us,” said Wilson.