Ever since the opening pitch of the Western Canadian Baseball League season in May, the Saskatoon Berries have sprinted onto the diamond in celebration more often that not.
That trend continued on Tuesday night at Cairns Field, as the Berries earned their eighth victory in a row 7-3 over the visiting Weyburn Beavers.
It continues a loose atmosphere post-game which has made the summer fly by, according to Saskatoon star outfielder Carter Beck.
“It’s just a lot of fun out there,” said Beck. “The more you can have fun, the more you can survive the summer because it’s a long summer. It’s a grind, 56 games. If you’re able to just have fun — and it’s easier to have fun when you’re winning, obviously — it makes it a lot easier.”
Winning has been a big part of that joyous feeling for the Berries in their sophomore season in the WCBL, as they improved their record to a league-best 42-7 through 49 games.
It’s quite the situation that new pitcher Calvin Junek has walked into, joining the Berries late into the season with the hope of getting some more innings of work in before he heads back to school.
“It’s awesome coming to the team, especially a team with this powerhouse [lineup],” said Junek. “It’s just a lot of fun to be here, especially with the fans and the facilities.”
The University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley commit has gotten off to a strong 2-0 start to begin his tenure in Saskatoon, allowing just four hits and one earned run against in Tuesday’s series opener against Weyburn.
Suffering just one loss since July 17, the Berries have been a model of consistency with the club having gone the entire season so far without suffering back-to-back losses.
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While the overall picture of the season has been an extremely positive one for those inside the Berries locker room, there are little tweaks to their game that are being made down the stretch drive ahead of playoffs.
“We don’t take any of the wins for granted that’s for sure,” said Berries infielder Mason Roell. “Each night gives us stuff to improve on. (Tuesday) wasn’t our best ball, but we found a way to scrap it out and down the stretch we’re just continuing to work on eliminating those mistakes and just being more seamless through the whole game.”
With top spot in the East Division locked up ahead of playoffs, the Berries are now hunting down the best regular season ever recorded in the WCBL.
Down to just seven games left in their schedule, the Berries need only three more victories to pass the 2024 Sylvan Lake Gulls for the league’s single-season wins record, which currently sits at 44 games won.
“Not to say it’s everything but I feel like if that wasn’t there it would be like, ‘Oh let’s just get through these last seven games,’” said Beck. “It gives you something to play for and hopefully setting a new record is something that this team would be really cool to do it with.”
Talk of the wins record hasn’t necessarily been an everyday discussion in the Berries locker room, according to assistant coach Chance Wheatley, but has been in the back of players’ minds and is providing the team a goal to raise their standards with.
“It’s something that I think everybody wants and it just gives guys a little bit more motivation going out there,” said Wheatley.
The wins record push will be short-lived for Saskatoon, however, as they will be fully immersed in WCBL playoffs in a week’s time as they get ready to face either the Regina Red Sox or the Moose Jaw Miller Express in the opening round.
It’s a best-of-three series which the Berries have eagerly been awaiting since they secured their spot in the post-season way back on July 12.
“We could have been done two weeks ago and gone to the playoffs,” said Roell. “Everybody is ready to hop into the playoffs and games that I don’t want to say really matter, because every game matters, but those are the games you for sure want to win.
Starting next Wednesday, the real test of what kind of powerhouse the team has built at Cairns Field will be revealed according to Beck, as they begin their quest for the franchise’s first WCBL championship.
“A lot of guys are just getting excited and ready to get to playoffs,” said Beck. “That win goal gives us a little more to worry about for these few games and then once we get to playoffs, it’s when it gets to be a lot of fun.”
“They talk about October baseball and we won’t have October, but that’s our October.”
The Berries will be without outfielder Jalen Freeman for the team’s games on Wednesday and Thursday against Weyburn and Regina, as he finishes serving the remainder of a five-game suspension handed down by the WCBL in relation to an off-field altercation last Friday in Swift Current, which resulted in nine ejections and seven suspensions.
Opening pitch between Saskatoon and Weyburn goes at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night at Cairns Field, while the Berries could have a chance at tying Sylvan Lake’s wins record on Thursday, visiting the Red Sox at Currie Field.
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