Road to WCBL started in Carnduff
for Berries’ star Beck
By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Carter Beck hits a triple to complete the cycle on August 11, 2024. |
Growing up in Carnduff, which is a town with a population around 1,200 located in the southeast corner of the province, Beck’s introduction to the game came from watching his father, Blair, play senior baseball. At a very young age, there were signs baseball might be a big part of Carter’s life.
“When I was three-years-old, I was already attracted to being a bat boy,” said Beck. “I don’t think I could carry a baseball back then, but I was trying to be the bat boy.
“I went and watched like pretty much every senior baseball
game he played in Carnduff on the Astros when I was younger. I can remember
when I was 13-years-old I got on the lineup, because they had nine guys.
“In case someone got hurt, I was sitting (in the dugout). I
was ready to go. I was pretty excited.”
Other
memories from those days watching Blair play senior baseball saw a youth aged
Carter running around to collect foul balls to get 25 cents for each ball he
returned to the scorers table. He would gather up enough foul balls to buy a
Freezee at the end of the night.
He also had
fun playing catch with his father’s teammates. The baseball games also provided
cherished time for Carter to be with his grandpa.
“I just loved being around the ball field watching it,
playing it and getting serious with the guys,” said Beck. “It really brought me
close to baseball when I was younger.”
Beck grew
up playing minor baseball in Carnduff and would end up suiting up for the South
East Twins baseball program that plays games out of Estevan, Weyburn and Alameda.
Playing for the Twins under-18 AAA team, Beck took part in Baseball
Saskatchewan’s provincial championship tournaments that were held at Cairns
Field on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds in July of 2022 and 2023. In
2023, Beck was named the most valuable player for the Saskatchewan Premier
Baseball League’s under-18 AAA level.
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| Carter Beck (#20) has great speed on the base paths for the Berries. |
Beck suited up for the Berries as a rookie in their inaugural campaign in 2024. It ended up being a spectacular campaign for Beck.
In 51
regular season games with the Berries, he posted a .374 batting average, 11
home runs, 38 runs batted in and 53 runs scored. Beck claimed awards from the WCBL
as the circuit’s Rookie of the Year and Most Outstanding Canadian.
Leading up
to his second season with the Berries, Beck is currently playing in the NCAA
Division I ranks with the Indiana State University Sycamores Baseball
Team as a sophomore.
Beck was
honoured to take home a pair of league awards in his first campaign with the
Berries.
“It was really
cool,” said Beck. “I think I was in my eighth or ninth grade when I saw they
did a top Canadian award in the WCBL.
“I said to my
dad, “That would be pretty cool to get one day.” Sure enough, last year being
able to do it was pretty cool. It just kind of happened with the season I had going
well for me all year.
“Getting some acknowledgement,
I guess for a good season, that was really cool. It is good to have a
small-town Sask kid get those awards in that league too being a
Saskatchewan/Alberta league.”
During his
final season with the Twins in 2023, the idea of playing in the WCBL in
Saskatoon popped into Beck’s head. On March 29, 2023, the Sask Entertainment
Group (SEG) and the WCBL announced during a press event at the Indoor Training
Centre that Saskatoon was granted a WCBL expansion franchise to begin play in
May of 2024.
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| Carter Beck hit .374 for the Berries in the 2024 regular season. |
On July 5,
2023, the new baseball team announced that Joe Carnahan would be the club’s first head coach. He built a legacy in
the WCBL in Swift Current playing for league championship teams in 2001, 2005
and 2006. Carnahan became the team’s head coach and guided them to league
titles in 2010, 2016 and 2017.
When
Carnahan came calling on the recruiting trail, Beck answered.
“Being in the first year definitely played a role,” said
Beck. “I thought it was going to be a really cool experience.
“Just knowing like what they’ve done with the (WHL’s
Saskatoon) Blades and the (NLL’s Saskatchewan) Rush and that it is all the same
organization, that got me pretty excited. I just thought with the new team,
there would be a lot of fans out there, and I knew they would do it right. I
just wanted to play somewhere where I knew it was going to be a lot of fun and
hopefully get some big crowds.
“They seemed to be the best fit.”
When Carnahan was recruiting Beck, the veteran coach knew
the skill player developed a good reputation of being spectacular both at the
baseball diamond and away from the game. Carnahan appreciated what Beck brought
to the baseball park.
“I like just the
way he plays the game,” said Carnahan. “He plays the game hard.
“He wants to win,
and his skill set was very good too. The way he plays the game, he plays the
game hard every pitch.”
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| Carter Beck takes questions during a post-game interview. |
“He has been
great,” said Carnahan. “That is exactly what we want with our organization.
“We want to have
guys who are not only good players but good people. He represents our
organization well, the city of Saskatoon well, his family well and now Indiana
State well. He is a good ambassador for all that.
“We’re very happy
to have him. He is one of a kind.”
Carnahan added that the first season Beck had with the
Berries was pretty special.
“I thought he had
a very good season especially for being a freshman to come in and not only
contribute, but to be an impact guy defensively, offensively and with some
power,” said Carnahan. “He did a great job for us all year.”
As an expansion team in 2024, the Berries went through their
bumps. They started out 3-8 and improved rapidly to finish with a 31-26 record
to place sixth overall on the 12-team circuit. The Berries packed Cairns Field
attracting an average of 1,931 spectators for their 26 regular season home
dates.
In the post-season, the Berries prevailed in a best-of-three
East Division semifinal series 2-1 over the Medicine Hat Mavericks, who are
annually one of the circuit’s toughest teams.
Game 1 of the best-of-three East Division Championship
Series saw Beck deliver the most memorable moment in the team’s short history.
In a 14-1 romp over the Moose Jaw Miller Express at Cairns Field on August 11, Beck
hit for the cycle going 4-for-5 at the plate with three runs batted in.
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| Carter Beck signs autographs for some young Berries fans. |
With the
single, double and home run under his belt, Beck came up to bat in the bottom
of the seventh with a man on looking for the triple. He ultimately completed a
feat that will always be a career highlight.
“My fifth at bat I came up with like we were up by 10 runs,”
said Beck. “I looked at the outfield.
“I might as well try and hit the triple is what I thought. I looked at the outfield and saw that my place spot was in left field. I got a fastball away that I was able to hit over there.
“I think the left-fielder might have done a little bit of a
circle to get to it. I’m sliding into third, and I’m almost over sliding the
bag. Sliding into third, getting up and seeing everybody on their feet
celebrating, it was really cool.”
The set with the Miller Express went to a series deciding Game 3 on August 13 at Cairns Field. The Berries season came to an end after they fell in a tight contest 5-3. They gave the fans a final salute before departing the field.
Last
January 6, the Berries announced Beck as their first returnee for the 2025
campaign. The Berries open the season on Thursday, May 29 traveling to Weyburn
to take on the Beavers at 7 p.m. at Tom Laing Park. They open their home
schedule on Saturday, May 31 at 4 p.m. taking on the Regina Red Sox at Cairns
Field.
During the 2024 campaign, Beck enjoyed having numerous family members come out to his games in Saskatoon and when the Berries played on the road against the circuit’s other Saskatchewan member teams. While 2024 was great, Beck is looking forward to a thrilling second campaign with the Berries in 2025.
“It is going to be super exciting,” said Beck. “I think
people know what they are going to get now when they come to games too.
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| Carter Beck (#20) looks forward to the 2025 season with the Berries. |
“It should be a lot of fun again.”
For more information about the Saskatoon
Berries and their upcoming WCBL season, feel free to check their website at www.saskatoonberriesbaseballclub.ca.
