By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– There’s an old saying amongst competitors:
If there’s a scoreboard on, you’re playing to win the game. If there’s a Championship to be won, you play to win said Championship.
And that’s the standard that Tucker Brack instilled with the Marion Berries last Summer in their inaugural season in the West Coast League.
“Everyone that is a competitor, if there’s a scoreboard on…you’re playing to win the game. The standard was set from Day 1 when we talked, our goal is to be in the playoffs. And if there’s a Championship, to be in it.” said Brack. “There’s only one team that could do it all the way, but that’s the standard. When you put on a uniform, you’re competing in anything, the standard is to find a way to win.
“It’s a credit to those guys to buy-in to that and understand that’s what we’re trying to do and develop. It’s that fine line is the development and work on the competing part. Compete to win.
And it was a rocky start to the season for the Berries in their first season. The first half through league, they started the season 12-15 and were sitting seventh in the WCL South division. But then, they rallied. All those games together, the 21-straight games with 19 on the road, it began to pay off as they got hot in the second half of the season.
They went 16-11 in the back half of the season, finished fourth in the WCL Playoffs and qualified for the WCL Postseason where they fell to the Portland Pickles in the opening series of the playoffs.
Fast forward a few months and here was the program back for Year 2. They return 14 players from last year’s squad.
And it just speaks to the culture and standard that they established in 2025, and hope to continue into this season.
“It’s huge. And there’s some that aren’t here yet, they’re still playing. It’s a credit to the organization. What Luke, Pat, Cole, Maddie, the whole Berries…everybody to create an environment that kids want to come back to,” Brack said. “Everyone we reached out to, wanted to come back and that’s a credit to what we’re building is for a place where they want to come, to feel good to send their kids, their players and that kind of goes with the standard. We want to create that environment where guys want to come to and want to get better.”
Taylor Brenneman, a Sprague and Chemeketa-grad who just wrapped up his junior season with NCAA Division-II William Jewell, is one of the 14 returners and spoke towards the optisitism of what this year could bring after last year’s 33-29 season.
“Last year was awesome. It was our first year as a West Coast League team and we made the playoffs as a first-year team, so I think that’s the best thing you could do to start the team’s legacy and hopefully we can add on and go further than we did last year and I’m really excited to see what the year brings,” said Taylor Brenneman. “Hopefully we can come out with a bang, come out hot and start the season with a ‘W’ and build off of that from there.”
The Berries will open the season Friday with a three-game series with the Port Angeles Lefties at Chemeketa Community College. Game 1 of the series will be at 6:35pm.
“Last year was awesome. It was our first year as a West Coast League team and we made the playoffs as a first-year team, so I think that’s the best thing you could do to start the team’s legacy and hopefully we can add on and go further than we did last year and I’m really excited to see what the year brings,” said Sprague-grad Taylor Brenneman. “Hopefully we can come out with a bang, come out hot and start the season with a ‘W’ and build off of that from there.”
Brenneman pitched and played in the Outfield for the Berries last year, going 3-0 on the bump and saw 39 at-bats hitting for the Berries coming off his sophomore year at Chemeketa. Brenneman spent this past season pitching with the William Jewell Cardinals.
“It’s huge. And there’s some that aren’t here yet, they’re still playing. It’s a credit to the organization. What Luke, Pat, Cole, Maddie, the whole Berries…everybody to create an environment that kids want to comeback to,” “Everyone we reached out to, wanted to comeback and that’s a credit to what we’re building is for a place where they want to come, to feel good to send their kids, their players and that kind of goes with the standard. We want to create that environment where guys want to come to and want to get better.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
