<h1><span lang=""style="font-size:42pt;">Carnahan relishing head coach journey with Berries</span></h1>

2025 WCBL coach of the year looking forward to 2026 season

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Joe Carnahan throws out a ceremonial first pitch on July 28, 2023.

Joe Carnahan couldn’t resist the opportunity to help build something from scratch with the Saskatoon Berries.

In the spring of 2023, Carnahan had been out of the WCBL for an extended stretch after resigning as the head coach and general manager of the Swift Current 57’s in September of 2020. He was contacted by Berries president Steve Hildebrand and Berries director of baseball operations Mark Campbell about coming up to Saskatoon to become the expansion team’s first ever head coach.

During those talks, Carnahan’s confidence grew that the team’s management wanted to run the franchise the right way and give the incoming head coach the resources he needed to succeed. On July 5, 2023, the Berries announced that Carnahan was hired as the team’s new head coach.

“It was pretty much a no-brainer to come up here just to have the opportunity to work with this organization and just kind of help start a team from the ground up,” said Carnahan. “It was just a great opportunity that you couldn’t pass up on.”

Having built a legendary career in the WCBL in Swift Current, Carnahan’s arrival in Saskatoon gave the Berries a huge shot of instant credibility. The product of Ashland, Wisconsin, played for Swift Current from 2001 to 2007 and helped the team win league championships in 2001, 2005 and 2006.

Carnahan was named the circuit’s most valuable player in 2002 and 2005 and was playoff MVP in 2001 and 2005. During those years, teams in the WCBL, which was then known as the Western Major Baseball League, could have players that had graduated from playing at post-secondary institutions.

Starting in 2008, Carnahan became Swift Current’s head coach, and he guided the team to league championships in 2010, 2016 and 2017. Carnahan was named the league’s coach of the year four times, when he was the skipper in Swift Current.

In coming to Saskatoon, Carnahan said the biggest unknowns regarded what the fan support would be and how the Berries operations would look on a day-to-day basis. Both exceeded his expectations. While the Berries were an expansion club in 2024, Carnahan expected the team would make some noise that season in the WCBL.

Joe Carnahan, left, shakes hands with Matthias Trondson on May 28, 2024.

“Just you know like every year, your expectations are to win, and that is why you want to do things,” said Carnahan. “That is why you know kind of the business plan was the way it was and just the way the players are treated and the resources and everything.

“It is set up to win, and that was our expectation right away. I am just fortunate enough to have built a lot of relations throughout my baseball career to help get some guys up here right away that can compete at a high level and just kind of set the foundation as far as the culture and the expectation baseball wise.”

The Berries did stumble out of the gate to a 3-8 start in 2024. Under Carnahan’s watch, they improved rapidly and finished the regular season with a 31-26 record to place Saskatoon sixth in the 12-team circuit. They turned Cairns Field into the hotspot place to be that spring and summer in Saskatoon attracting an average of 1,931 spectators for their 26 regular season home dates.

In the post-season, the Berries advanced to the WCBL’s East Division Championship Series falling in the best-of-three set 5-3 in a series deciding Game 3 to the Moose Jaw Miller Express. During that campaign, centre-fielder Carter Beck, who was raised in Carnduff, Sask., rose to star status.

In the Berries 14-1 Game 1 victory over the Express at Cairns Field in the East Division final, Beck became the first Berries player to hit for the cycle. He was named the WCBL rookie of the year and most outstanding Canadian player in 2024.

Carnahan was pleased with how far the team came in that campaign.

“We definitely had a rough start,” said Carnahan. “A lot of times in this league or summer leagues it is a matter of when you actually get the most or all of your guys up right away.

Joe Carnahan takes part in a media scrum on May 28, 2024.

“That year, we just happened to be where a lot of our pitchers were coming up a little bit later. We were a little bit thin there, and it kind of showed. Once we got everybody up here and we kind of got into a routine, then everything kind of worked out.

“We started playing a little bit better, and we made a little bit of a run in the playoffs and wish we could have got a little bit further. Moose Jaw played us well, and we just couldn’t get by them.”

Last season in year two of the franchise, the Berries hit the ground running returning a number of key players including Beck, Ethan Menard, Jalen Freeman, Bailey Sorensen, Cory Wouters and Colin Plain. The Berries would set a new WCBL record for regular season wins topping the circuit with a 46-9 record. The old record of 44 wins was set in 2024 by the Sylvan Lake Gulls.

Saskatoon proceeded to down the Miller Express 2-1 in a best-of-three East Division semifinal series. The Berries claimed a 16-12 victory in a series-deciding Game 3 with Beck hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the 10^th inning.

In the East Division final, the Berries went to a series-deciding Game 3 against the Regina Red Sox. The Red Sox claimed a 6-2 victory and advanced on to win the WCBL championships.

Carnahan would be named the WCBL coach of the year due to the outstanding regular season the Berries had. It marked the fifth time he claimed that honour in his career and the first time he did so guiding the Berries.

He said the Berries heartbreaks in the East Division final show how the level of play in the league goes up in the post-season.

“To win a championship in any league is hard,” said Carnahan. “You have short series in the playoffs, your best of threes.

Joe Carnahan, left, shakes hands with Carter Beck on Aug. 11, 2024.

“Bats can’t get cold, or it is tough to have a guy who has a tough outing or anything like that, because you don’t have a lot of time to bounce back. You’ve got to tip your hat to Regina. They played well and ended up winning the championship.

“It was a good series with them, three good games. They just came out on top, but we were right there. If something goes one way or another a different way, we might have come out on top, but tip your hat to them.”

The Berries will begin their third season on May 28 when they travel to Weyburn to take on the Beavers. Saskatoon’s home opener will be Saturday, May 30 at 4 p.m. at Cairns Field against the Beavers.

Going into the 2026 campaign, the Gordie Howe Sports Complex is working in partnership with the Berries and the Sask Entertainment Group to install 352 new seats as part of new stadium seating sections on the field behind home plate at Cairns.

The Berries will also host the 2026 WCBL All-Star Weekend on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19, which marks the first time that festivities around the circuit’s all-star game will run over two days. Festivities start at 4 p.m. on July 19 and include a bunt contest, a little league home run derby, a WCBL home run derby and a live concert by Jordyn Pollard. The WCBL All-Star Game is slated for 1 p.m. on July 19 and a post-game autograph session will follow.

Carnahan is looking forward to what is in store in year three for the club.

“Every year is bigger and better and there is always something new added,” said Carnahan. “This year we have the all-star weekend.

“We also have the seating expansion at Cairns (Field), which will be nice. We have a good group of guys coming back as well and a bunch of new faces. It is always exciting to see a bunch of guys from all over North American and beyond come together for a short three months to three and a half months season and kind of see how they jell and work together as a team and just be around each other every single day at the park.

Joe Carnahan, centre, works from the Berries dugout on Aug. 10, 2025.

“It is fun with just people from different areas and cultures all jelling together.”

For more information about the Saskatoon Berries and their upcoming WCBL season, feel free to check their website at www.saskatoonberriesbaseballclub.ca.