By David Winkworth | [email protected]

Baseball is back for the Murray Spartans this season after Covid-19 canceled last year’s season. The Spartans are led once again by head coach Marce Wilson who enters his 10th year. This season features a young team led by only four seniors Daniel Brousseau, Austin Carter, Ian Winterhalder and Dylan Spencer. 

Outfielder Carter has been a key part to the hitting success for the baseball team and his head coach knows how good this year has been so far.

“Austin can hit the ball a long way, but we need to get him on the bases, but Austin is having a great hitting season and he hits the ball deep and they are nice when they go over the fence. He is a next level hitter and is doing good for us,” coach Wilson said. 

Spencer, who plays first base for the Spartans, has made an impact on defense and has done his part on the first base bag, but as Wilson stated, “He can also hit the ball hard.” 

“Dylan (Spencer) is a great first basemen and can hit the ball hard. What he does well is he plays defensive and has quite the glove and saves us a lot of problems with how he fields.” 

Two of those seniors have been doing great things on the mound and have been a key part to the early success of this season. 

“Daniel knows his way around the mound and has a lot of confidence which is helping him with his wins. You are asking high school players to hit against junior college pitching, that is a tough ask. He is huge for us on the mound,” Wilson said. “Ian throws the ball really well and has a nice curveball and it’s pretty sneaky and there are only a few hitters in the lineup who can go after those types of pitches.” 

Murray’s baseball team is excited to be back on the field this year. 

“I feel bad that last year seniors didn’t get to play their senior season,” Wilson said. “I asked Deseret News to put every senior on the all-state team. I think that was the best way to honor that senior class.” 

With the state tournament coming up there are a few games left to be played before the final regular season schedule comes to an end. Wilson is ready for the challenge and believes this team can do something special if they keep their mind on the goals they set at the start of the season. 

“This a good team and I have had some good teams in the past, but this is a good team I have. Our teams in the past have won region championships and had some great playoff runs and we have some good players on the team, and I have coached some great players and I’m not a coach who forgets about past players. But I am hoping this year there are some kids who make some memories and legacy for themselves,” Wilson said. “We have a tough schedule ahead and I told our team this year regardless of what we do prior to the playoffs we need to be tough and win two of the three games series. That’s what we plan on doing and if you have a team that can beat us twice you have to be good.”  

At press time there was a four-way logjam at the top of Region 6, with Murray and Skyline tied for first atop the standings. The two teams split the season series.