He was good with getting to touch the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy at some point during the evening.
Ethan Murdoch admits he was standing in behind many of his Saskatoon Berries teammates when head coach Joe Carnahan told him to “get up here” and be the one to accept the hardware and bring it to his teammates.
It was a moment the senior slugger won’t soon forget, just moments after the Berries clinched the two-game sweep of the Sylvan Lake Gulls to capture their first Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) championship.
In his mind, it was the perfect way to end his collegiate career.
“To be able to hold it up first, hold it up to the crowd and see their reaction, and bring it to the boys … I mean, that was unbelievable,” Murdoch said.
“It’s up there as number one in my career in terms of baseball moments and just moments in life in general.”
He calls it a “great reward” for a hard-fought season and a lot of work put in over the course of his baseball journey.
THE INFLUENCE OF COACH JOE
A product of Swift Current, Murdoch grew up as a bit of an understudy of Carnahan, even serving as the 57’s batboy and catching bullpens for them in high school.
The McCook Community College product finally got his chance to suit up with the 57’s in 2023, hitting .333 with four home runs and 30 runs batted in, even making the WCBL All-Star Game.
After spending the summer of 2024 with the Harrisonburg Turks of the Valley League, Murdoch got a call about spending a summer with the following summer back at home with a familiar face: Carnahan was fresh off coaching the expansion Berries in their inaugural season.
“He’s been a big part of my career and a big part of my life in general,” said the 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-hander. “You know what you’re going to get from him, he knows a tonne about the game, and he’s just really good at handling the people and different pieces of the game.”
Murdoch thrived with the team in his first season (2025), hitting .325 with 10 home runs, 53 RBI and 13 stolen bases as the Berries captured the WCBL record for wins in a season, going 46-9.
However, their dreams of a WCBL championship were thwarted by the Regina Red Sox in the East Division Championship Series.
KEEP SHOWING UP
With a bitter taste in their mouths, Murdoch and the Berries were determined to make amends in 2026.
They rolled to a 38-18 record, which was good enough for second place in the East Division, with Murdoch among the league leaders in batting average (.358), hits (82), doubles (17), home runs (14) and RBI (62).
The Marshall Thundering Herd graduate says they had to go through some adversity with wins and losses, as well as injuries and player departures, which wasn’t something they saw a lot of the prior season.
“I think we were really resilient and just kept playing the game really well,” Murdoch said. “This team didn’t really get fazed when things went wrong. We made a couple of mistakes every game and we just kept showing up.”
When the Berries survived an opening round best-of-three series with the Red Sox that went three games, they felt like no one else could beat them.
They then swept the Moose Jaw Miller Express and the Gulls to lay claim to the franchise’s first WCBL championship in its three-year existence.
For his part, Murdoch hit .300 with three roundtrippers and six RBI in seven postseason contests.
GOING OUT ON TOP
“This playoff run was special,” Murdoch said after the final out was registered in the 11-1 game two win over Sylvan Lake.
It meant even more to the Berries doing it at home in front of a capacity crowd of more than 2,500 fans at NexGen Patch at Cairns Field.
“It was so fun with these guys,” Murdoch continued. “It’s just an incredible feeling of accomplishment because we deserve the celebration and it’s just so much fun with this crowd.”
His family was also in attendance for the finale, even though they were a little sleep deprived as Murdoch’s older sister gave birth to a healthy and happy baby recently.
He says they made a point of seeing as many games as possible during his final summer of baseball.
Murdoch is set to join the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos this fall as their new strength and conditioning coach.
He admits it will be a tough pill to swallow as he had dreams of playing baseball professionally, but having the opportunity to win it all in his final season in his home province is quite a way to leave it all out on the field.
“It’s a bittersweet moment for sure, but I know some guys on the other side tonight and last week and the week before where they’re done and they’re not done with a ring,” Murdoch said.
“For me, it’s going out on my own terms and I went out on top, so it’ll definitely feel a lot easier with this one tonight, for sure.”
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