Wylie Prep’s Wyatt Wilson signs his national letter of intent to play baseball for Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Shelly Dowdle/The Wylie News) (More Photos)

Signing a national letter of intent is a big day for any high school athlete. Each year, seniors from across the nation put the pen to paper to extend their playing careers to the collegiate level. For Wylie Prep’s Wyatt Wilson, that was the reality last Wednesday, March 8.

In front of his family, coaches and teammates, Wilson signed on to play baseball at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. There, he will play for coach Ryan Hunt and the Phoenix. 

Cumberland is quite the prolific program at the NAIA level, having won three national championships over the last 20 seasons. Coach Hunt was part of each of those titles as an assistant coach before taking over the program in 2022. 

As for Wilson, he will bring a lot to the table next year for the Phoenix. During his senior year with the Patriots, Wilson was one of Wylie Prep’s top pitching options, while spending most of his time at shortstop when he wasn’t on the mound.

On the mound, Wilson made seven starts for the Patriots this spring, tossing a combined 19 innings in those matchups. He struck out 29 hitters on the year, while allowing an opponent’s batting average of just .213.

While pitching and shortstop were his primary duties for Coach Trent Brown at Wylie Prep, he can also help in the outfield, having played centerfield on several occasions this spring. 

At the plate, Wilson was the Patriots’ leadoff hitter this year. Across 13 games, he batted .214 while sporting the team’s second-best on-base percentage thanks to a patient eye in the batter’s box.

Wilson walked a team-high 18 times, and once he was on base, his speed was a factor many teams had no answer for. Not only was he successful in all 14 of his stolen-base attempts, a team high, but he also scored a team-high 16 runs.

He helped lead the Patriots to a 6-7 record this past season, successfully reaching base in all but two contests. During his time at Wylie Prep, he earned both first and second-team honors on the all-district squad, while also being named Second Team All-State and Academic All-State. 

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