Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
It’s amazing the difference a week can make in the Western Canadian Baseball League.
Preparing for a winner-take-all Game 3 against the Regina Red Sox in the opening round of the WCBL post-season, the Saskatoon Berries elected to put utility threat Nick Stinson into the lineup at designated hitter with their season on the line.
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Just six days later, Stinson is one of the hottest bats in the league and has the Berries two wins away from claiming the franchise’s first WCBL title.
“Every at-bat just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win to the best of my ability,” Stinson said.
“I’ve been thankful to play for a lot of championships in my career both at the high school and college levels. It’s not new to me coming out here and playing in these high-pressure moments.”
Kings of the East Division for the first time, the Berries will take to the diamond at Pogadl Park in Sylvan Lake, Alta. on Saturday night in the franchise’s inaugural trip to the league’s championship series.
Saskatoon will look for even more production out of Stinson at the designated hitter spot, who leads the team with a .583 batting average in just three games played and is tied with rookie catcher Aiden Kilshaw for a team-high six RBIs in the post-season.
Saskatoon Berries designated hitter Nick Stinson, centre, leads the team with a .583 batting average and six RBIs in three WCBL post-season games. (Steve Hiscock/Saskatoon Berries)
Knowing there’s a maximum of three games left in the Berries’ 2026 season, he’s hoping to depart Saskatoon on a high note.
“I’m definitely going to miss (my teammates) when it’s all over,” Stinson said. “It means a lot man, I just want to cap it off with a ring.”
Berries head coach Joe Carnahan is no stranger to the WCBL championship series, winning three titles as a player in 2001, 2005 and 2006 while in Swift Current and another three championships as a coach in 2010, 2016 and 2017.
This will be his first trip to the finals wearing Berries purple and blue, however, and said it’s well earned after three years of hard work by the franchise since coming into the WCBL as an expansion team.
“You just see all the work everybody puts into it,” Carnahan said. “Away from the field, at the field, the staff, players, game day staff, everybody there is. It’s nice to be able to get to the finals here.”
Saskatoon strung together a solid regular season with a 38-18 record and earned home field advantage in the first round of playoffs, however they were pushed to an elimination Game 3 by the Red Sox and escaped with a 5-3 win last Sunday to advance to the East Division final.
In the second round, the Berries earned their first series sweep in franchise history with back-to-back 7-4 wins over the top-ranked Moose Jaw Miller Express, including Wednesday’s series-deciding Game 2 at Cairns Field.
Those moments have prepared the Berries for what’s to come in the league final, according to Carnahan.
“This year we’ve had dang near everything happen,” Carnahan said.
“We’re not going to see anything new that hasn’t happened. It’s just how you respond to mistakes and how you respond when this happen, and we can lean on our past experiences to do that.”
It’s a trip to the WCBL championship series that many people thought would have occurred last season, after the Berries set the league’s single-season wins record with 46 victories.
That was until an East final upset at the hands of the Red Sox, which returning players like Nathan Houston remember vividly.
“Last year, we were expected to go to the final and run away with it, run away with the post-season,” Houston said.
“I think we fell under some pressure and couldn’t get it done. We definitely owe it to the fans to go out there and win it.”
Saskatoon now matches up against a very similar opponent in the Sylvan Lake Gulls, who dispatched the top-seeded Okotoks Dawgs in a two-game series sweep this week.
Both the Berries and Gulls finished the regular season with identical 38-18 records and split their season series at 1-1, while both possess a strong pitching staff and deep batting lineup.
“They’re a really good club,” Carnahan said.
“They’re probably the best club that we played all year. It’s not a surprise that’s who we’re playing and we’ll have to play good baseball to compete with them.”
One major difference will be the playing surface in Sylvan Lake, which is artificial turf compared to the natural grass the Berries play on.
That said, Stinson isn’t worried about the adjustment with most Saskatoon players getting that experience during the college season.
“We play on turf a lot,” Stinson said. “My college field is turf, I think we played like 58 games this year and 50 of them were on turf. A lot of us are used to playing on turf and it’s a nice facility they have there.”
Both the Berries and Gulls will be competing for their first WCBL championship, with Sylvan Lake falling one game short of a title on their home field last year following a Game 3 loss to Regina.
This will be Houston’s second trip to a championship series, after he fell in a Game 3 heartbreaker to Okotoks in 2024.
Now looking to capture glory with the Berries, the Melville, Sask. athlete believes the pieces are in place to bring the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy to Saskatoon.
“I thought we played (Sylvan Lake) pretty good when we went there this season,” Houston said.
“I’m pretty confident in our group. Obviously, I know we’re going to go out and play good baseball against them, and we’re going to get the job done.”
The Berries will host a free watch party at Cairns Field on Saturday night for Game 1 of the series for fans in Saskatoon, who are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for donation to local food banks.
Opening pitch for Game 1 between the Berries and Gulls is set for 7:05 p.m. from Sylvan Lake, with the series shifting to Saskatoon for Game 2 on Sunday night.
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