With the season underway, here’s a look at a few storylines to watch for 2025
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It seems like only yesterday that area schools were celebrating basketball and wrestling state titles.
But it’s now officially spring sports time and that means a first look at a few baseball storylines as the new season gets underway.
How does Sugar-Salem top its first state title?
Adding a second blue trophy would be nice.
“It was definitely magical,” coach Brady Gardner of last year’s run to the title.
With a lineup loaded with talent, the team’s success last year was not a surprise, but it was a hurdle the Diggers had previous struggled to get over in past seasons.
The team graduated two of its best players in Tommy Woodcock and Carson Harris, but return All-State first-teamers Dawson McInelly, Jackson Gardner and Will Chappell, along with a core group of upperclassmen who have been with the program since they were freshman.
Ben Aldrich returns from injury to replace Woodcock at catcher, and the pitching staff is set with Gardner and McInelly coming off solid seasons.
“They all love to compete every single day,” Brady Gardner said, noting several players won multiple state titles on the football team and are motivated to add another one for baseball in their senior seasons.
Are the young Bees ready?
Bonneville reached the third-place game at last year’s 4A state tournament featuring a lineup heavy with sophomores and juniors.
This year?
“It could translate into some really good things,” coach Ryan Alexander said of the team’s experience. “All of our guys spend the offseason working … they’ve been in the weight room working on the physicality side of things. They’ve put in a lot of good work and now it boils down to does the work and training translate to the field. That’s always a let’s wait and see type of situation.”
Most of the younger players added to their offseason experience by playing on the American Legion Bandits team or the Bonneville American Legion A team.
Alexander said the pitching staff may be the deepest Bonneville’s had in some time despite not having a dominating ace like a Randon Hostert or Davin Luce.
“We’ll see how that plays out,” Alexander said.
Speaking of pitchers …
Blackfoot’s Dax Whitney not only led the Broncos to a third-place finish at last year’s 4A state tournament, he signed with Oregon State after earning Idaho’s Gatorade Player of the Year.
Whitney finished his senior season with a 10-0 record and 0.27 earned run average while striking out 130 batters in 52.2 innings.
Is there anyone in east Idaho who can match those numbers this season?
That’s a storyline that’s yet to play out.
Welcome to the official state tournament.
This will be the first year the state baseball tournament is sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association.
That means major changes to the postseason.
Each classification will now have a double-elimination play-in tournament with just four teams advancing to the state tournament, which is also double elimination over the three days.
As one coach noted, expect pitching staffs to be taxed over the postseason as teams figure out how to navigate the new format.
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