Wiltbank, Delmarva Aces come out on top of 104-team Cooperstown tourney

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Cooperstown, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, is synonymous with baseball greatness.

It’s where every die-hard player hopes their career will take them.

Middle schooler Wyatt Wiltbank of Worton already has been there, done that.

And he’s got a championship ring to prove it.

Wyatt is the starting center fielder for the Delmarva Aces’ 12U East travel team that won the Cooperstown Dreams Park-Tournament 5 last month.

He batted .391 with nine hits, including three homers, nine runs scored and nine RBI and had an on-base percentage of .481. He pitched 4 2/3 innings of spot relief, and played error-free in the field and from the mound.

The Aces went 10-0 in the June 24-30 tournament with an average run differential of 11.8.

Their closest game in the weeklong tournament was their first game, an 11-4 triumph over the Park Sharon Nationals from North Carolina.

There were 104 teams.

After five games in round-robin pool play, which determined team ranking, the Aces were seeded No. 7.

They coasted in the subsequent single-elimination bracket portion of the tournament — “Once we got out of pool play we became more confident,” Wyatt said — to reach the championship game.

Then, the Aces dismantled Wesley Chapel Storm, a travel team out of Florida, 18-5. The game was called after four innings due to the 10-run rule.

Wyatt, who batted eighth in the order, went 1-for-2 with a walk.

“It was very exciting,” he said in an interview at his home earlier this month.

The championship game was played in a stadium with a sell-out crowd of a couple thousand people, according to Wyatt, which included about 300 players from teams the Delmarva Aces had beaten and “they were cheering for us,” he said.

Wyatt said the Aces went into bracket play “very confident, but not cocky,” knowing that any one of 15 teams could win it all.

The Cooperstown Dreams Park tournament put the exclamation point on a 10-month season for the Aces, who finished with a jaw-dropping 62-2 record. The two losses were to teams from West Chester, Pennsylvania and Howard County.

Wyatt is the only Kent County player on the Delmarva Aces’ 12U East team.

Based in Bishopville [Worcester County], the program has a decidedly Eastern Shore identity. Wyatt’s teammates, for example, hail from Seaford, Delaware and Salisbury, Berlin and Hurlock — among other locales.

After a successful tryout, he joined the Aces for the 10U season. He’s been with them for three years.

Prior to that, Wyatt was with Centreville-based Bigbie Shore Performance for his 8U and 9U seasons.

Wyatt started out with Kent County’s youth baseball program, playing at the T-ball and coach pitch levels.

For the past two summers, while playing with the Aces, Wyatt also played in the Kent County program. He was a member of Kent’s 2025 all-star team of 9- to 11-year-olds that won a district championship.

His preferred position is center field, but he can play any outfield position as well as second and third base and do some pitching.

He throws and bats right-handed.

The Delmarva Aces program is demanding and requires a commitment from the entire Wiltbank family — parents Jonathan and Jen and even younger sister Willow.

It’s a two-hour drive one way to Bishopville. Four days a week.

After taking July and August off, practices and games will start again in mid-September and continue through November.

Training in December and the cold weather months, what is known as the off-season winter academy that is held in Middletown, Delaware, includes speed and agility workouts twice a week; hitting drills once a week; and a full team practice once a week.

Wyatt said none of this would be possible without the support of his family, which includes grandparents John and Josie Wiltbank, Todd and Susan Barnhardt, and Wayne Wilson and Sherry Joiner.

Of Team Wiltbank, he said, “They drive me to every practice, always there on time. They always do what’s best for me. I’m really thankful for that.”

Wyatt is getting an early lesson in time management, juggling his schoolwork and other activities with baseball.

“I would say I’m a decent student,” he offered, adding that he has consistently made the grade on the Principal’s List at Chestertown Christian Academy, where he completed the sixth grade in June.

Looking down the road, Wyatt would like to play college ball, ideally as a recruit at LSU or the University of Georgia, and then at the professional level.

When his playing days are over, perhaps he will pivot to a second career as a sports broadcaster.

What is it that makes baseball so special?

“It’s the life lessons,” Wyatt said. “It builds character. … Baseball is a game of failure.”

When it comes down to it, at least for a 12-year-old, “it’s really fun too.”

He added, “You’re basically playing with your friends in the biggest game of your life.”