THE NETHERLANDS – When summer comes around and college baseball season comes to an end, players usually fill wooden-bat league rosters, or just go home till the fall semester cranks up.
Following that routine, left-handed pitcher Davis Wright wrapped up his career at Spartanburg Methodist and planned to head to Western Carolina in the fall.
Unlike most college ballplayers, he took a detour to Europe.
Wright, a 2022 Blythewood High graduate who finished his time with the Pioneers and will see more action with the 2025 Catamounts, was selected to play on the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Team USA All-Star team. Team USA, made up of 24 athletes from 16 NJCAA programs, flew to Haarlem, The Netherlands to take part in the Baseball Week Haarlem (Honkbal Week) July 12-19.
“It kind of was a surprise,” Wright said about finding out that he was named to the team. My college coach (longtime Pioneers head coach Tim Wallace) texted me and asked me if I had a passport, and it went from there.”
The 2024 Team USA roster was posted to the NJCAA website June 11 and includes five players from Iowa Western Community College, six players from Florida colleges, four players from Kansas schools, and other players from Illinois, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Mississippi.
Wright, who was 8-2 in 12 starts with 72 strikeouts and a 2.54 earned-run average in his sophomore year with the Pioneers, was the sole South Carolina Representative.
“It was an awesome experience to play and represent my country,” Wright said. “It’s something I thought I’d never get a chance to do.”
Before leaving for Haarlem, the team met up in Charlotte and practiced for a few days at UNC-Charlotte’s baseball facilities. From there the team boarded the plane at Charlotte Douglass International Airport and headed for The Netherlands, where they practiced a little more before the 7-day tournament got started.
“We had never played together as a team,” Wright said. “We were just a bunch of guys throughout the country who met in Charlotte, but it didn’t really take long. We’re all young and we’re doing the same thing, so it didn’t take too long for us to get it together.”
Things didn’t go well on the field at first. Team USA fell 6-1 to The Netherlands on the first day, and Japan beat them 9-5 on the second day.
From there, Team USA won four straight games in as many days. They beat Italy 6-4 July 14, Chinese Taipei 6-5 in 10 innings July 15, and Spain 2-0 July 17. The next day they topped the Netherlands 2-1 in 10 innings to reach the championship game against Japan July 19.
Japan, which breezed past the competition in six games, handed Team USA a 10-4 defeat to win the tournament.
Even though the event ended on a sour note for Team USA, Wright said the overall experience was something that he’ll remember for years to come.
“It was really fun to play there. The crowds were great and it was great competition to play against,” Wright said. “It’s definitely a different feeling to play for your country and against other countries.”
And, he and the team did get around a little bit when they weren’t playing ball.
“We did get out briefly. We went and looked around in Amsterdam and walked around Haarlem finding places to eat,” he said. “I didn’t ever plan on traveling to Europe, but it happened. It was really cool.
“I think it’s something I’ll remember forever,” he added. “It was a really cool experience. Not many people get the opportunity to play in something like this. Baseball has given me a lot of opportunities and experiences and that’s one of them.”
