Salmon baseball claims 1st state trophy in 8th year of existence

SALMON — Closer to infancy than adulthood, the Salmon High School baseball program played its first game in 2019, when this year’s seniors were in fifth grade.

Take away the canceled COVID-19 season of 2020, and the Savages entered 2026 having played in just seven seasons of high school baseball. Before this year, Salmon had won a combined total of 36 games. So expectations were low — for everyone outside of the program, at least.

No one outside of Salmon saw the Savages as a legitimate contender for a district championship.

But Salmon did what no one thought they would. They won 30 games in 2026, claiming their first district championship, first state tournament berth and first state trophy — finishing fourth. For that, head coach Mike Lane’s team is the East Idaho Sports baseball Team of the Year.

Lane told EastIdahoSports.com that he is “pretty sure” his team has realized the significance of its achievements this year, though it was hard to acknowledge the good immediately after being eliminated from the state tournament.

“I think it has had time to set in a little bit more now, now that we’ve had time after the losses in the state tournament,” he said. “It may take even a little more time, but it’s obviously pretty special.”

The Salmon baseball program has only begun to see the fruits of its laborious development. Prior to this year, Lane said, the team has struggled with consistency from class to class.

In years past, Lane, the only head coach Salmon baseball has ever known, said that the program would have a handful of good sophomores, but few or no juniors and freshmen. That meant players were thrust into playing time for which they weren’t ready.

There was no way to develop talent behind players who had already established themselves.

This year, Salmon had 24 players — including five seniors, several highly impactful juniors and both sophomores and freshmen who filled important roles.

“I think the difference this year was leadership; there was a lot better leadership,” the coach said.

But that leadership wasn’t just the result of players growing within the program. It came from a season full of close losses last year.

With seniors like Cody Cox, Thomas Baumer and Clayton Allen leading the way, Salmon had that little extra that turned tight losses into tight wins.

But that mettle wasn’t tested early in the season, when Lane’s preseason expectations changed.

Coming into the season, Lane thought his team had a chance to challenge for a district championship. But a hot start to the year had him thinking bigger.

As he explained, the Savages played a tough schedule early, facing a pair of 3A teams they viewed as contenders twice each, as well as 4A Gooding, in the first two weeks of the season.

But Salmon started the year 8-0, beating Declo twice by run-rule, the same way they beat Challis-Mackay — by run-rule.

Salmon started the season 8-0 against those tough opponents, outscoring them 138 to eight. Then they continued their winning ways to a 14-0 start.

“From there, I think there was some real expectations of, ‘OK, we can probably go farther than just the district tournament,'” Lane said, adding that the feeling across the state was that Salmon was the product of a soft schedule.

“It was like, ‘No, I think those teams actually are pretty good, but we’re really good,'” he said of that opinion. “The kids started believing it, then it didn’t take long before we were like, ‘OK, we’ve got a good team.”

The Savages hit a mid-season speed bump in the form of four losses in five games. But they bounced back to claim a conference championship. Then they cruised through the district tournament, winning all three games by run-rule.

After beating North Fremont 12-1 for the district championship, Lane said, the Savages really let loose for the first time. After acting like they’d been there before — the way the old adage suggests — all season, the Salmon players finally showed real joy in their success.

“That was the first time they really were up, hugging each other, celebrating, throwing their gloves. To me, that was a really cool moment,” Lane said.

The Savages kept cruising in the regional round, beating a very game Wendell squad 11-0, then 13-3 to earn a spot in the state tournament.

But the joy ride ended with back-to-back losses against Malad and then Melba.

Even when things went wrong, though, the team showed its growth from the previous year, when errors or mental mistakes would lead to “bickering back and forth.”

“There was a lot more camaraderie, and that was really awesome to see,” Lane said.

Now, after enjoying success at that level for the first time in program history, Lane believes Salmon is set up to continue growth toward the ranks of a perennial contender.

“We were in a really good spot with depth this year, and we’re going to be in a pretty good spot with that next year as well,” the coach said.

Wyatt Pilkerton, Eli Pakuer, Dane Piippo and Kesl Severe will return as seniors next year to lead a solid young group, including what Lane called a “solid group” of freshmen.

Now, though, the Savages will have to win while they wear a target on their collective backs, not as the surprise they were this year.