Ty Waid, a catcher committed to Arkansas, was the top offensive performer of the Perfect Game World Wood Bat Association World Championships last week.
Waid, 6-1 and 215 pounds of Texarkana, had a score of 55.66 during the 4-day event that featured 88 of the top travel teams in the nation. The second-leading offensive performer was North Carolina commitment Gavin Gallaher, who had a score of 48.95.
Waid competed for the Arkansas Sticks 18-under Brewster/White Sox Scout Team.
Scoring involved batting average. Extra points were earned for doubles, triples, home runs and RBI.
“What Ty did was one of the more impressive things because he had to do a lot of it with breaking balls,” Sticks coach Chase Brewster said. “He was hitting in the two and three hole for one of the better teams in the event and he had one of the top players in the country behind him (2024 Arkansas target) Kale Fountain.
“He got fastballs early when he needed them and he hit them hard, and later in the event when they were mixing off speed because he had been so successful, he hit those, too. He also worked more than a few walks and let Kale kind of do damage behind him. He really had a complete performance over the seven games.”
Waid led the Sticks to a 5-2 record while defeating two final eight teams of the event, The San Diego Show and Rawlings National Scout.
His father, Billy, played for Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn at Texarkana College from 1990-92.
Class of 2024 Arkansas outfielder commitment Brenton Clark, 6-2 and 178, of Pleasant Grove, Texas, was two of three at the plate in a win against the Midland Redskins. Sophomore right-handed Arkansas pitcher commitment Mark Brissey, 6-3 and 210 of Batesville, got the win.
The last two victories in the event were against Massachusetts-based Northeast Baseball and Sandlot Baseball of Tulsa.
Arkansas coaches, along with hundreds of other college coaches, were on hand.
“Even though we didn’t win it, we were able to achieve a lot for the players,” Brewster said. “A lot of the uncommitted guys got the looks they needed from the colleges and a lot of our committed guys got the looks they needed from the professional scouts, and a lot of our guys that are committed, the colleges got to watch them firsthand.”