Dexter BB has wealth of 'building blocks' for a bright future

DEXTER – The numbers don’t lie when it comes to evaluating the 2023 baseball season for Dexter High School.

The Bearcats absolutely lost four more games (15) than they won (11) this spring. That can’t be denied. However, what is also true, is that the program won 11 games for the second consecutive season.

For the Bearcats program, that achievement (double-figure victories in consecutive years) hadn’t been done in over a decade.

What is also indisputable is the fact that 11 wins being attained had only been achieved by Dexter three times in the previous 10 seasons.

“We have young men who want to be good,” first-year Bearcat coach Steve Edwards said after his team fell 3-1 to Notre Dame in the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 semifinal.

He could have emphasized the word “young,” because, despite having five seniors (Cole Gibson, Logan Jelenik, Kaeden Kennedy, Cole Nichols, and Brock Wyman), the Bearcats field an absolutely young roster with plenty of potential.

“We know that we have a good program here in place,” Edwards said. “And we know that it is going to get better.”

And that process will start in a couple of weeks with a summer schedule of games being played by Bearcat athletes from recently graduated eighth graders through the 2023 junior class.

“We’re going to play Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays all the way through June,” Edwards said. “It is the continuing the building blocks to process and understand Dexter baseball and what we are trying to do here.”

There are a lot of “building blocks” to lay a successful foundation upon.

In the recent District tournament, seven of the nine position players (14 players in all) Edwards utilized against the Bulldogs, as well as in an opening win over Doniphan, will return in 2024.

“I think the sophomores and freshmen are going to be something special,” Edwards said, “along with a couple of juniors, who got into the mix.”

One of those young players, who is already a star on the diamond, is junior-to-be Beau Carrier.

Dexter had just four hits and a single run against Notre Dame, and Carrier was responsible for half of those hits and that run.

Against Doniphan, Carrier, who plays third base when he isn’t on the mound, threw 6 1/3 innings, allowed no earned runs, and struck out four Don hitters.

“He believes in himself,” Edwards told Semoball.com regarding Carrier following that win. “and the team believes in him. He works hard.

“He’s not going to get frustrated with himself, he’s not going to get mad about his performance or if someone did something else on the team. He’s not going to let that bother him. He’s going to be consistent the whole time.”

Another experienced piece back in 2024 will be senior-to-be Ryan Young, who served as a designated hitter in the District games.

Against Doniphan, Young had three hits, while 2023 freshman Gibson Booker (double), and 2023 sophomore Nolan Alford (triple) also had big hits.

Other young players who gained a lot of experience this spring included: Houston Neely (freshman this spring), Fisher Menley (sophomore), Jackson Howard (sophomore), and Hunter Larson (sophomore).

“We’ve all got to be fired up,” Edwards said of the future. “We’ve all got to believe in it. If we all do, then it is contagious and other people want to come around.

“There were a lot of people at (East Park for the District games). They are supporting Dexter Bearcat baseball. I think it is just going to keep growing over the next few years.”