Trio of Cougars Named First Team All-ACCAC, All-Region I Division I
PHOENIX ---
Sophomores Dominic Chacon, Nikolas Miller, and Wylie Waters of the South Mountain Community College baseball team earned First Team All-ACCAC, and All-Region I Division I honors for their work during the 2024 season. Chacon led the Cougars with 11 home runs, 38 RBIs, 58 walks, and 27 stolen bases to earn First Team honors for the second straight year. Waters batted a team-high .401 with 10 doubles, four triples, five home runs, and 31 RBIs and hit .434 in 36 conference games. Finally, Miller finished 10-1 in 17 appearances and 14 starts and posted 88 K's, a 3.29 ERA, and a 1.34 WHIP in 76.2 innings of work.
Chacon enjoyed a stellar sophomore season with SMCC. His final line for the regular season was a .280 batting average, 59 runs, 49 hits, 10 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs, 38 RBIs, and 27 stolen bases. He led all conference players with 58 walks, was third in home runs, tied for fifth in stolen bases, and was sixth in on-base percentage (.477). In conference action, Chacon batted .268 with 40 runs, 33 hits, seven doubles, eight home runs, 26 RBIs, 43 walks, and 22 stolen bases in 38 games.
Chacon had 13 multi-hit and a team-best 10 multi-RBI games during the campaign. He hit three home runs in a doubleheader at Eastern Arizona on Apr. 16, including two in game two, and had a season-high five RBIs in that win.
Waters came on strong for SMCC, finished the year fourth in the ACCAC in batting average, and tied for eighth in doubles. In conference play, Waters finished second in batting average, tied for fifth in hits (53), tied for eighth in runs (34), and was second in triples (4). His final line in 45 games in 2024 was a .401 batting average, 38 runs, 59 hits, 31 RBIs, 20 walks, and two stolen bases. He also boasted a .497 on-base percentage, second in the league, and a .626 slugging percentage that ranked fifth.
Waters is on an eight-game hitting streak and has reached base in the last 27 games. 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.
Miller tied for the conference lead in wins with 10, was second in strikeouts (88), third in innings (76.2), ninth in ERA (3.29), and 15th in WHIP (1.37). He went 8-0 with a 2.43 ERA, 66 strikeouts, and a 1.30 WHIP in 59.1 innings against conference opponents.
He posted a season-high nine strikeouts twice, in wins over CGCC and Cochise College, and had eight games with at least five strikeouts. He was especially tough on the road, winning league games at Yavapai College, Eastern Arizona and Glendale CC.