SMCC Baseball Sophomore Wylie Waters Named NJCAA Honorable Mention All-American

PHOENIX ---

Sophomore infielder Wylie Waters of the South Mountain Community College baseball team earned 2024 NJCAA Division I Honorable Mention All-American honors after an outstanding season for the Cougars in 2024. Waters batted .404 in 55 games for SMCC and added 47 runs, 74 hits, 14 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 43 RBIs, and two stolen bases. He earned Region I Division I Tournament MVP after helping lead the Cougars to the Region I Division I Championship. 

Waters ended the year having reached base safely in 37 straight games, which included an eight-game hitting streak. He had a season-high four hits twice and had a season-high five RBIs in a win over Phoenix College on Apr. 12. Waters posted a pair of triples in a win at Chandler-Gilbert on Mar. 30, and sported a .988 fielding percentage in 240 defensive chances. 

In 36 ACCAC games, Waters batted .434 with 34 runs, 53 hits, nine doubles, four triples, four home runs, 26 RBIs, 16 walks, and two stolen bases. He homered in contests with Phoenix College twice, Cochise College, Central Arizona, and Yavapai College.

In the Region I Division I Tournament, Waters batted .400 with six runs, eight hits, three doubles, seven RBIs, and seven doubles in six games as SMCC claimed road series at Central Arizona and Pima CC to claim the Tournament Championship. 

Waters was second on the squad with 21 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games. When the dust all settled, Waters ended the year ranked second in the ACCAC in on-base percentage (.498), fourth in batting average, fifth in hits, tied for fifth in slugging percentage (.607), and tied for eighth in triples. 

Waters is the Cougars' first NJCAA All-American since Sebastian Zawada in the 2015 season.