Hamburgers sizzled on the grill as the sun slowly sunk below the western horizon. The crack of a bat echoed through Halliwell Park and fastball with some heat on it smacked into a catcher’s mitt.
All the familiar sounds of a baseball game.
There’s a buzz in Pocatello. It’s Gate City baseball.
Fans are filing in droves to Halliwell to watch the Grays, the town’s new semi-professional baseball team competing in the Northern Utah Baseball League.
On a summer night two weeks back, you couldn’t find place to park much less sit when the Grays hosted the Hyrum Hornets for their season home opener.
Then Wednesday, the Grays were back in town and not the threat of rain or 55-degree temperatures could dissuade baseball fans from showing up to cheer on the home team they defeated conference-rival Smithfield 9-3.
The Grays are 9-4 overall and 7-2 in the NUBL, a game behind first place.
I’m not sure Terry and Erica Fredrickson, co-owners of the Grays, have wrapped their minds around the initial support Gate City has garnered. Who would have guessed a semi-pro ball club in Pocatello would have fans gobbling up hats, T-shirts and baseball tickets?
The most popular baseball team in Pocatello isn’t the New York Yankees or the Colorado Rockies — it’s the Gate City Grays.
Frankly, I can’t believe it. In the two years I’ve covered high school and legion baseball in Pocatello the crowds have been sparse or nearly non-existent when it’s cold.
Yet the Grays, it seems, have enraptured Pocatello’s attention. It’s been a beautiful thing. We’re only two games into an 18-game Grays home schedule. There’s plenty of baseball left. And with guys like Diego and Fernando Robles — two brothers from Caldwell — anchoring a lineup with home run power scattered from top to bottom, it looks like Gate City has the stuff to contend for a championship.
With all the fanfare directed toward the Grays, though, I feel like it’s my duty to point out a few of the other ball clubs in Pocatello. They don’t have a semi-professional affiliation, but baseball fans in the Gate City should still appreciate their talents.
I’m talking about Pocatello American Legion Baseball.
Pocatello’s three Legion teams are split into two categories. There’s the oldest squad competing in “AA” — the Runnin’ Rebels. Then there are two teams playing Single-A baseball, the Razorbacks and the Rebels.
The Rebels are comprised of the youngest kids. Getting right to the point, the Rebels are usually lousy. Many years, they’re battling older teams and are simply overpowered. But there’s depth in Pocatello baseball right now, so the Rebels pack a counterpunch. Under first-year head coach Chris Kerns, they’re above .500 at 9-7 and they’ll only get better from here.
The Razorbacks are one of the premier Legion teams in the state. They’re 16-0 and bursting with an overflow of talent in the field defensively, on the mound with their arms and at the plate.
The Runnin’ Rebels are the oldest team, composed of 12 recent high school graduates and a couple underclassmen. These guys are the best of the best and they’re in the middle of a daunting schedule that started with a tournament in Reno, Nev., and includes stops in Billings, Mont., and Seattle.
The Runnin’ Rebels, Razorbacks and Rebels are a combined 44-12, a .786 winning percentage.
With the Legion program humming along and the Grays exploding onto the scene, it’s been a banner year for baseball in Pocatello.
Fans should take the time to check out Halliwell when any of them are playing. It’s not just the hamburgers on the grill that are sizzling.
Awesome to see such great baseball players in the Pocatello Legion program.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone stopped to thank Jim Burrup, Troy Nalley, Matt Rodehouse or Tony Sasser?
Keep up the great work Runnin Rebels, Razorback and Rebels!