‘This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.’ El Capitan player headed to Australia.

Fernando Garcia was installing windows in the house of Rudy Flores last year when the conversation turned to baseball. As it turns out, Garcia coaches a team out of Fresno each year that he takes to the World Boys Baseball Tournament. The tournament has been held in countries like Brazil, Japan and Australia.

Flores mentioned that he has a nephew who plays baseball Garcia might want to take a look at.

That’s how the soon-to-be El Capitan sophomore Julien Natividad-Lopez, 15, is headed to Sydney, Australia on Wednesday to play in the 37th annual World Boys Baseball Tournament.

“It was unexpected,” Natividad Lopez said. “It was a blessing in a disguise. It’s awesome.”

Garcia hand picks his team each year from the Central Valley. After talking with Flores, he watched Natividad-Lopez play and offered him a spot on his Greater Fresno Boys Baseball 15-and-under team.

“Julien is a pretty special player, I’ll tell you that,” Garcia said. “He’ll play a lot of positions for us.”

Natividad-Lopez played at the varsity level as a freshman for the Gauchos this past spring. He started at third base and earned all-Central California Conference second-team honors after hitting .345 in 10 conference games for El Capitan.

“This year I played third base, but I can play anywhere but catcher. Catching isn’t my thing,” Natividad-Lopez. “Wherever coach needs me to play, I’ll play. Playing time is playing time.”

Former El Capitan star Braiden Ward, who just finished his freshman season at the University of Washington, made a similar trip to Australia. Former Buhach Colony players Brock Floro and Jake Jefferies made trips to Brazil and Japan, respectively with Garcia’s Greater Fresno Boys Baseball organization.

The World Boys Baseball Tournament will feature teams from Japan, Australia, Korea, Hawaii and San Diego.

Natividad and his family are using this opportunity as a family vacation. He’ll be joined by his mother Angelica, sister Juliana and grandmother Olga Olague.

“I’m excited,” Julien said. “My grandma has never been out of the country. It’s awesome to get all this family support. Some of my teammates on this team are going by themselves. I get to spend two weeks with my mom, grandma and sister. All because I was selected for this team.

“I do feel sorry for my dad. He gets to stay home with the dog.”

Natividad-Lopez says one of the things he’s looking forward to is meeting new people, especially the players from the other countries that will be playing in the tournament.

“Playing on this team has given me a chance to already meet new people,” Natividad-Lopez said. “All the guys on this team are friendly. I’m a talkative person. I like to say hi to people. I can’t wait to meet the Australian players and the Japanese players.”

Natividad-Lopez wants to take in the whole trip.

“I want to go sight-seeing,” he said. “We’re going to be out of the country. I don’t want to just sit in my hotel room, on my phone. I think I’ll try to stay off my phone for as much as I can for two weeks.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m going to Australia to play something I love. I wasn’t expecting to ever go out of the country to play baseball.”