In July, senior Beau Peterson won the National Home Run Derby at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia. He won with nine home runs.

Each batter gets two and a half minutes to hit as many home runs as possible against a pitching machine or coach. The derby is a single elimination bracket tournament with a total of nine batters.

“Me and eight kids were brought in, and the top two qualified for the Home Run Derby. [It] happened to be me, it was an awesome experience,” Peterson said.

Peterson plays across many different leagues. These showcases, such as the Home Run Derby, can be crucial to players’ futures, many college and professional level recruiters could be in attendance.

For Peterson, these events played an important role in his commitment to play at the University of Texas next year.

“The dream is to play in the big leagues one day. But I mean, wherever that is to go, develop and get college experience, or, start out of high school, wherever it takes me is, that’s the best route.”

Peterson elaborates on travel baseball becoming much more competitive, due to the fact that teams take players from all over the country to compete

“Going from state to state you’re playing against everybody, trying to play for a chance to either play for a college team or get drafted,” Peterson said.

Peterson’s mom Lori Peterson is an important support for him.

“It’s been a tough road. The highs and the lows, baseball is one of the toughest sports you could play, his mental game his junior year was when it was obvious for us how much he’s grown,” Lori said. “[Seeing him] be able to learn from his mistakes [and] the way he responds to those failures now has been very rewarding.”