Bat boy to Berries slugger: Ethan Murdoch chasing WCBL title in senior season

Global News

25-06-2025

After a handful of seasons playing in the Western Canadian Baseball League, senior Ethan Murdoch wanted one last chance to suit up in his home province of Saskatchewan.
It's a move which has paid off in spades at the plate for the Saskatoon Berries outfielder, becoming one of the top offensive threats in the WCBL.
Taking the field in all but one game so far this season for Saskatoon, Murdoch is leading the team with 21 RBIs and 22 runs scored, while tied for the Berries' home run lead alongside Cory Wouters with five deep shots this summer.
'Our lineup makes it easy,' said Murdoch. 'I don't really have a lot of pressure on me up there, just go up and get my swings off. I know we're going to score every night, I feel like we score 10 (runs) every night.'
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Returning after a year away from the league, the Marshall University slugger began his journey in the WCBL well over a decade ago.
Dating back to a time when even the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets were still around, Murdoch was found on ball diamonds around his hometown of Swift Current in the early 2010s.
It was there that he became the bat boy for the Swift Current 57's franchise, then called the Swift Current Indians, alongside the team's head coach Joe Carnahan.
'I used to be the bat boy I think at eight or nine years old,' said Murdoch. 'In that setting just taking in how (Carnahan) coached the game back then and also working with him in the off-season. I've been hitting with him for years and he obviously shaped my swing. Also the way I play on the field, but also just the mentality in the field, in the box.'
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Fast forward 13 years and Murdoch is now swinging the bat at Cairns Field with Carnahan instructing him, as the Berries first head coach in franchise history.
'I've known him since he was seven or eight years old as a bat boy,' said Carnahan. 'Then he was catching bullpens for us when he was in high school. Just to have the opportunity to be able to coach him, then just seeing his development over the years, then him going off to school and now being able to be a little piece of it this year too.'
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Murdoch is one of 10 Saskatchewan-born players listed on the Berries roster this season joining fellow outfielder Carter Beck (Carnduff), infielders Cory Wouters (Saskatoon) and Nathan Houston (Melville), catcher Jackson Hodgson (Saskatoon), as well as pitchers Adam Beamin (Saskatoon), Carter Kopp (Saskatoon), Colin Plain (Saskatoon), Dallen Rude (Muenster) and Merek Yeager (Muenster).
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According to Carnahan, Murdoch's journey from WCBL bat boy to one of the top producing hitters in the league is a testament to the pathways which are open for baseball-crazed kids across Saskatchewan.
'You look at our team alone, all of the Saskatchewan kids we have throughout the province,' said Carnahan. 'It's just an opportunity for the Saskatchewan kids to play good level baseball in the summer and be close to home.'
Reunited at Cairns Field with the man who helped spark his passion for the game all those years ago in Swift Current, Murdoch is determined to wind up his collegiate career by celebrating a league title alongside Carnahan — putting in the same level of trust with the Berries head coach that he's seen throughout his development in baseball.
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'Trusting him, trusting that if I come here I can get better and I can have a good experience here,' said Murdoch. 'I know the way he runs his program here and that was really important to me, just knowing what I'm going to get every day because I was around it however many years ago. Just knowing the expectations he has that I'm going to show up here to get better.'
In a short amount of time, Murdoch has become one of Carnahan's most trusted bats at the top of the Saskatoon lineup and added the outfielder will be a big part in determining how deep the league-leading Berries will go this summer.
'He's earned everything he's gotten,' said Carnahan. 'His work ethic is second to none, he fits in really well with this group and he'd fit in with any group. We're very fortunate to have him here.'
Holding the WCBL's best record at 18-3 nearing the midway mark of the 2025 season, the Berries wind up a home-and-home series with the Regina Red Sox (11-9) on Wednesday night with a 7 p.m. opening pitch at Cairns Field.