At 13 wins and just two losses, it’s hard to find anything wrong with the start to the 2025 season for the Saskatoon Berries. They’ve been playing the right kind of streaky baseball. “I think it was seven,” said Ethan Murdoch, outfielder for the Saskatoon Berries. “And now we’re on a six right now. So yeah, we’ve played some streaky baseball I guess. But also, we only lost twice, so just those couple little miscues. But other than that, yeah we’ve been playing really well.” In a sport where going one for three at the plate is considered success, Murdoch knows better than to ride the emotional wave during a hot streak. Even when that hot streak has the Berries three games ahead of second place in the East division. “It’s hard every single day when you’re playing to have a ton of practice and time like that,” said Murdoch, who currently leads the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) with five home runs. “But you know, try to take care of our bodies and stuff during the day, earlier in the day. Get here early, do our work routines that we have every day.” Rookie righthanded pitcher Michael Sall has been working on getting his pitch count up. He went from a reliever to a middle reliever, and he wants to get starts when given the opportunity. And while the preparation might change slightly from a scheduled start day to a mid-game tap on the shoulder, he knows the expectation is the same once he gets on the mound. “It’s definitely a mentality switch between starting and relieving,” said Sall. “Relieving, you’ve got to be ready to go whenever, and ready to turn the switch on right away. But you know, once you get out there, it’s kind of the same mentality.” And when the games get close, the players are confident in each other’s ability. “It’s kind of like a team thing where it’s just like, next play,” said Sall. “And everybody around us, I mean, we pick each other up. It’s really easy when you’re really getting along like we have been this year. And I mean, it’s just easy when the guys around you are also succeeding.” When a day off is so rare and travel can wear out the athletes over the course of a season, Murdoch says the support from the home crowd really makes a difference. “Just a lot of energy at the ballpark,” said Murdoch. “And when you play every day, that can be difficult to kind of bring the same juice every day as a player. But then you come out here right before the game and you see 2,000 people here cheering really loud, it gives you a lot of adrenaline to just keep going, keep playing every day. And it makes it a lot more enjoyable when you’re out here every single day.” The Berries play Tuesday night and Wednesday at home against the Sylvan Lake Gulls. Opening pitch is at 7 from Cairns Field.
