ESTEVAN — Carter Beck hopes this season will be a memorable one.
Beck, who hails from Carnduff, is entering his final season of eligibility in minor baseball. Last year was certainly one to remember, as he was named the top player in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League’s U18 AAA circuit.
Last season, Beck had a .470 batting average, an .585 on-base percentage, 31 runs, 24 runs batted in and 73 total bases in 24 games played for the Southeast Performance Pump U18 AAA Twins.
He also helped Team Saskatchewan win the bronze medal at the 2022 Canada Summer Games in Niagara.
Beck will be back with the Twins this season, and looks forward to helping them improve on last season, when they were one of the top teams in the league and made it to the provincial semifinal.
“I just hope we have a really good year as a team and try to win provincials; that would be my goal for this year,” said Beck.
He’s entering this season with confidence, but he also recognizes that a lot of players haven’t done as well in their third season of U18 ball as they did in their second.
“I think we should be really good this season. We have eight third-year [players], which is a lot, but we have some second years that could step up big for us from last year, and we have some decent first years as well,” he said.
Beck knows all of the second and third-year players, and he has dealt with a lot of the newcomers to the team through helping his father coach last year.
“They’re all good kids and pretty good players, too,” said Beck.
Beck played hockey with the Estevan Apex U18 AA Bruins during the winter months. He also spent a lot of time in the gym in Glen Ewen for exercise and started practising a few weeks ago.
Beck hopes he can parlay his performance at the minor baseball level into success in post-secondary baseball. He has already committed to play for the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., an NCAA Division 2 program, starting in September. He said the university recruited him, and it helped that they are coached by Tanner Spencer, who is from Craik.
“It seems like they have a nice facility and everything, and even though it’s in Bismarck and it’s kind of cold, they head down south to play.”
They spend nearly two months playing road games in warmer climates.
He initially wanted to go somewhere further away than Bismarck that would be in a warmer area, but he also didn’t want to take the junior college route, which has been common for a lot of players from Saskatchewan.
“I decided to go for a D2 [division 2] school right out of high school, and it’s close to home,” said Beck.
The University of Mary has been getting better every year, and the coach is taking them in the right direction, and Beck hopes he can help them continue on an upward path.
