Jesuit's McCullers going global to play for country

Lance McCullers has worn plenty of different baseball jerseys in his young life, and he has taken pride in pulling on each one.

None, however, have held quite the meaning as the one the Jesuit High standout has slipped on every day the past two weeks as a representative of the United States' 18-and-under National Team.

"When you put on a USA uniform, it's kind of like, you look in the mirror and see USA across your chest, you see U.S. on your hat, it's a bit different," McCullers said. "I kind of got chills the first time I put it on."

McCullers will continue wearing that jersey a while longer as the U.S. opens play Friday in the IBAF AAA World Junior Championship. McCullers and his USA teammates recently wrapped up a 13-game tune-up for the 12-nation tournament, which will be held in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, through Aug. 1.

It will be the first international baseball experience for McCullers, and he is looking forward to it.

"I want to play in a big game for the USA, in the title game. I want to play against good competition in a hostile atmosphere," McCullers said. "I just want to get the whole feel of how the international circuit works."

McCullers wants the most out of this opportunity because it never was a certainty. Though considered one of the nation's top young high school players, McCullers knew he faced an uphill climb to make this squad when he headed to the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., in late June.

At 16, McCullers was one of the youngest players to receive an invitation to the Tournament of Stars, a premier event featuring 128 players from across the nation that essentially serves as the first step toward earning a spot on the 18-and-under national squad.

"Pretty much off the bat you're an underdog because there's such a small chance at making the team, and then you're young (and) they don't know if you can handle it," said McCullers, who is eligible to play on the U.S. 16-and-under team. "I kind of just went out there, I didn't try to press, I didn't try to do more than I could, I hustled and I played like I've always played before."

All that he accomplished on the field, however, did little to quell McCullers' nerves when it came time for the evaluators to make cuts - first from 128 to 36 at the conclusion of the TOS, and then from 36 to 20 after the weeklong National Team Trials that followed.

"It was ridiculous how good the competition was during the final week of the actual trials," McCullers said. "When they went from 36 to 20, it was so up in the air. You have 36 of the best players in the country, and I have no idea how these coaches can decide who they're going to cut and who they're going to keep. Some of the players they cut are going to be top draft picks.

"But it worked out, and I'm just happy to be a part of the team."

Now McCullers, one of two rising juniors on the team, will try to help his country claim gold, something the U.S. hasn't done at this tournament since 1999. In the past two IBAF World Junior Championships, the United States has lost to Korea in the gold-medal game.

"This is a great experience. Playing for the USA and representing your country, it means a lot," McCullers said. "Hopefully we can get to that championship game."