Triston Hartfiel, Bear River Athletics

It might’ve been easy to disregard the ups and downs Bear River baseball endured before slotting themselves in as No. 5 seed at the 4A state baseball championship in May.

After all, every team has them.

However, a 1-3 start and preseason facial injury to senior starter Degan Rigby were glaring red flags of a club “struggling to find ourselves” early into their schedule, 14-year Bear River skipper Donald Hawes said.

So, Hawes said, the same Bear River team that clawed its way into Game 11 in the playoffs against top-seeded Dixie underwent an identity crisis at the start of the season.

“Degan getting hit, it kind of shocked us a bit,” Hawes said. “I think our guys were like, ‘Hey, we rely on (Rigby) a lot but we’re going to have to do some things ourselves.”

Triston Hartfiel, Bear River Athletics

The Bears more than pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.

Bear River, closing March at 9-4, quickly regrouped and pumped out 10 more wins in April, including a nine-game winning streak that cruised into May, resulting in a second-place Region 11 finish and a 23-win season.

Bear River is the 2024 Standard-Examiner All-Area Baseball Team of the Year.

Senior first baseman Gehrig Marble, named after Yankees legend Lou Gehrig and who models his play on Phillies star Bryce Harper, said the turnaround indicates just how much power seniors can have with their actions.

Marble plans to continue his playing career at Salt Lake Community College this fall.

Triston Hartfiel, Bear River Athletics

“I feel like I gave everything I had and helped my team on and off the field as best as I could to help us win, or mentor the younger kids,” Marble said.

Bear River met its season’s end with a 10-2 defeat to Dixie, just one game separated from the finals. His job now done, Marble said it’s time for the next slate of seniors to pick up the shovel.

“I kind of want to leave behind hard work,” Marble said. “I like to show an example of working hard at practice every day, but also working hard at games, staying after practice and doing the right things off the field and in the classroom.”

Marble and his teammates set that precedent early during a preseason trip to St. George, where many teams across the state organize when the weather up north doesn’t play ball. Rigby, even after a potentially season-altering injury, considers those trips some of his favorite all-time memories at Bear River.

Back in the lineup after two weeks, Rigby credits his team with the lion’s share of his recovery in March.

“It’s just a great community,” Rigby said. “It was really easy. As soon as it happened, people were coming to my house all the time and there’s a great support system behind it… (Hawes) was at my house every day and my family, of course, my mom and dad were there for me the whole time.”

Among that supporting cast were junior infielder and pitcher Holden Potter (1.52 ERA) and junior outfielder Brooks Drollinger (.419 batting average), two faces expected to step into the leadership circle full-time next season.

And it’ll be no easy task covering the ground made by Bear River’s four outgoing seniors — Marble, Rigby, Talon Marble and Easton Goodliffe — who combined for 123 RBIs and 154 total hits during their final romp together.

“It’ll be awfully hard to replace all four of those guys on the lineup card,” Hawes said. “More importantly, the part of leadership that they played. They all have their unique quality … I think they’ve taught this junior class a lot and I saw a lot of those leadership qualities come out this year with them, too.

“Each team’s different, and each group kind of has the same goal … They’re looking forward to competing for a region title again in one of the toughest regions that we have. That’s what we’re looking to do.”

Connect with preps reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.

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