Team Of The Week: The Cardinal Baseball Team

This is the first installment of a series of stories where I will highlight one of the local teams in the county each week.  The temperatures are warming up and spring is in the air.  With that brings the start of the baseball season.  I was able to catch up with Coach Joe Via and some of the Cardinals just before their first game of the season.  With their home field still under a foot of snow I found them practicing in the high school gym.  Despite being limited on space the Cardinals and their coaches were hard at work with a batting cage set up at one end of the gym and players fielding ground balls at the other.  There seemed to be plenty of bodies which is a change from last season. According to Coach Via, “This year we’re at 27 players, that’s more than double from last year.”  Coach Via contributes the rise in numbers in part to a large group of freshmen that have joined the team.  Coach Via goes on to credit the youth coaches in the community for getting the younger kids excited about the game and encouraging them to come out for the team in high school.  

We also discussed the ever present issue of the weather here in Caribou County and if that puts our local teams at a disadvantage.  The coach admitted that it does put them at somewhat of a disadvantage early in the season not being able to get outside while facing teams in the Magic Valley where they have been outside since practices have started.  Despite this disadvantage Coach Via was eager to show his gratitude to the Soda Springs High School administration for allowing the team to use the gym when they’ve needed to and for their overall support in general.  

Coach Via took over the program in the spring of 2020 when, unfortunately, covid hit and abruptly ended the season.  Since that initial canceled season low numbers combined with weather and other contributing factors has hampered the team and limited the Cardinals to just twelve wins over three seasons.  This may discourage some coaches but not Coach Via.  “They want to win. They want to compete and we can already see it in the gym.  Their eagerness and willingness to be coachable, that’s the most exciting thing.”  

In further talking to Coach Via we discussed what goals the team would have this year.  “Our goal is to learn and to win at everything we do.  Not just in baseball but in life.”  Coach Via went on to talk about doing the little things like cleaning up after themselves, giving 110% in drills and conditioning.  Those things will bleed off into making them good young men and champions.  

We went on to discuss which players should be on a watch list early in the season.  “There’s a few. Kyen Kirby he’s a junior and this will be his third year as a varsity starter.  Then we have Trey Dunford, Corbin Griggs, and Stoney Irick.  On the senior side we have Trey Stephens.  He gives 110% in everything he does and he’s a leader on the team.”

I had the opportunity to ask a couple of questions to a few of the members of the team.  I was informed that the team prefers sunflower seeds to gum, their nicknames are not appropriate to print and that Corbin Griggs is the biggest trash talker on the team.  After a few of the fun questions I asked, what makes this year’s team different from last year?  Corbin Griggs answered saying, “There’s 27 of us competing for spots on the team so everyone has to work hard.  Last year you just had to show up and you had a spot.”  Coach Via would agree saying,”Once we start competing internally for spots that’s when we become very good.  We can already see that guys are getting close to taking over some spots, especially the younger guys.” 

I finished off the questions asking why the public should come out and watch the Cardinals this year?  Jack Lee responded, “It’s a whole new atmosphere this year.  We have a winning mentality.”  Coach Via answered, “These guys are fighters.  They are going to fight on the field.  They’re a good group of boys turning into young men.  This group right here is gonna set the tone for the future of Cardinal baseball.”  

Coach Via is assisted by Dave Pendleburry who has been with him since he started.  This year due to the high number of players they have added Mark Kirby and Eli Horsley so the coaching staff can work with the individual kids more.  

The Cardinals opened up the season at Declo where they suffered a loss on Thursday before turning around the next day and soundly defeating American Falls 19-6.  In that victory the Cardinals led 4-3 as the first inning ended.  From there it would be all Cardinals as they would outscore the Beavers 15-3 over the next four innings.  Griggs and Dunford led the way with three runs each while Kyen Kirby, Kage Kirby, Stoney Irick, Kolton Peterson and Will McCullough each finished with two.  

The Cardinals will next be in action on the 22nd and 23rd when they compete in the Challis-Mackay Wood Bat Tournament before eventually, weather permitting, they will have their home opener on the 29th.  So grab your friends and neighbors and come on out to the ballgame and support this great group of young men.