When Chase Brewster of Texarkana, Texas, started Sticks Baseball seven years ago, he hoped for success. But nothing was a sure bet.
Today, his lifelong dream is coming to fruitition, Sticks Baseball is now a powerhouse for amateur baseball players 18-and-under, the high school division.
"We were 29-4 this summer and finished 16th in a field of WWBA of about 450 teams in Atlanta, Georgia," said Brewster, a 2007 Texas High graduate. "It's the biggest national tournament of the summer and was an honor just to be part of something so big."
The biggest event of the fall season is getting under way this week in Jupiter, Florida, the St. Louis Cardinals' spring training facility. The Roger Dean Complex has numerous fields for the top teams from Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana and Canada. Fortunately, Jupiter missed the brunt of Hurricane Ian.
Jupiter is about 950 miles from Texarkana. That's 16 hours and 10 minutes across land, and 2 hours and 24 minutes by air.
"You have to be invited to play in the WWBA World Championship," Brewster said. "The World Championship is the top scouting attraction in all of amateur baseball each year, and almost every top prospect in the country attends each year, along with 700-plus Major League scouts and college coaches.
"It's a great place to show your talent."
For this tournament, in which teams are guaranteed four games, Sticks Baseball will be called the 3n2 Sticks Baseball Brewster/White Sox Scout Team.
The format for the WWBA World Championships has 100 teams -- 25 pools made up of four teams each. Pool winners and the top 12 at-large bids will comprise the field for the finals.
3n2 Sticks will begin play in the tournament on Wednesday, where the Texarkana area squad will face the San Diego Show at 4 p.m. and the Rawlings National Scout Team at 6:20. On Thursday, 3n2 Sticks will collide with the Toronto Blue Jays Scout Team at 12:40 p.m., followed by 3n2 vs. Slammers Baseball 2023 at 10:20 a.m. Friday, and Midland, Texas, at 10:20 a.m. Saturday.
The tournament concludes Monday, Oct. 10.
The World Championships is a showcase for up-and-coming talent. And players get noticed.
"Since Sticks has been around we've had more than 300 players sign with colleges and about 42 players have been drafted," Brewster said.
Several local and area players have been making big contributions to the 3n2 Sticks. Five Pleasant Grove players, Luke Flanagan, Jarret Halter, Spencer Brown and Brenton Clark and Spencer Browning are involved.
Texas High's Jacob Yowell, Arkansas High's Ty Waid, Hooks' Logan and Hudson Davis, Ashdown's Walt Jones and Redwater's Preston Davis are key players, too.
Players who have been drafted include Jaden Hill (Ashdown/Colorado Rockies), Braylon Bishop (Arkansas High/Pittsburgh Pirates), Matt Goodheart (Magnolia/Philadelphia Phillies) and Wade Beasley (Horatio/Milwaukee Brewers).
"The players are the best amateur players around," said Brewster, who was an assistant coach on Genoa Central's 2012 and 2014 state baseball championship teams.
Brewster is the owner/president of the Sticks, the team's vice president is Kyle Slayton, a five-time state champion at Nashville and Fouke. Brewster's wife, Alisha, whom he married in November, also handles plenty of the workload.
The coaching staff also features Hooks standout Shane Halter, who played 10 seasons in the Majors. He and his father, Frank Halter, is in charge of the Sticks Youth squad. Dustin Moseley, who trains Sticks players in Little Rock, is a former Arkansas High and MLB pitcher.
Other key coaches are Scott Mennie (Texas High), Ricky Rushing and Zach Fowler (Liberty-Eylau), Chris Hudson (Genoa) and Lucas Wacha (Wacha Resolution) and younger brother of Boston Red Sox pitcher Michael Wacha.
Halter played for the Kansas City Royals (1997-98), New York Mets (1999), Detroit Tigers (2000-2003) and Anaheim Angels (2004).
On Oct. 1, 2000, Halter showed his versatility by playing all nine positions in a single game, joining Bert Campaneris (Kansas City Athletics, Sept. 8, 1965), César Tovar (Minnesota Twins, Sept. 22, 1968), Scott Sheldon (Texas Rangers, Sept. 6, 2000), and Andrew Romine (Detroit Tigers, Sept. 30, 2017), in the select list of players to play all nine positions in a Major League game.
Halter, a utility infielder/outfielder, went 4 for 5 at the plate with 3 RBI, and also scored the game-winning run against the Minnesota Twins in the bottom of the ninth.
In his 644-game career, Halter batted .246, with 45 home runs and 197 runs batted in.
The WWBA league serves as a second chance for players who might have been injured or didn't get to play much because of the talented, more experience players in front of them.
"The drive and passion behind why I do what I do is helping players chase their dreams of playing college baseball and hopefully getting drafted one day," Brewster said. "Baseball is a great tool that help players get an education and travel the world. We hope every kid that plays for the Sticks can be successful."
Brewster says one of the keys for success is treating players with respect.
"Treat every kid like you would treat your own," said Dirk Kinney, a St. Louis Cardinals scout and Sticks Baseball assistant coach.
Brewster admits his entire life revolves around baseball. And how was his baseball career at Texas High?
"I wasn't good enough to play," he said. "But I still enjoy all things baseball."
(Submitted photo) Sticks Baseball owner/coach Chase Brewster gives instructions to Kade Smith (11), who has committed to Arkansas, and Ethan Sutton (left), who will attend Georgia on a baseball scholarship.
(Submitted photo) Sticks Baseball coaches are (left to right) Shane Halter, youth program, and Chase Brewster, 18-and-under. Halter, a former Hooks, Texas, star, played 10 seasons in the Major Leagues for four teams. Brewster, a former Texas High graduate, is the Sticks Baseball owner.