Strings of losing seasons, broken up by the occasional playoff appearance, have defined the Tigers since their last region championship in 1990.

The recently completed 2023 season was good on its own and may have changed things for the future. Ogden went 18-7 this year, finishing second in Region 13 and winning two postseason games.

The Tigers are the 2023 Standard-Examiner All-Area Baseball Team of the Year.

They were one of just five area baseball teams to finish with a winning record in 2023. Ogden High baseball broke a 24-year postseason win drought and in general had one of its best seasons in three decades.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

Fundamentals played a huge role in the Tigers’ success.

“Throwing to the correct base, don’t throw behind the runner, keep the ball in front of us — just simple baseball stuff, to be honest,” head coach Doyle Holt said. “I don’t think there was a huge formula. Did I go up there and change peoples’ swings, did I, you know, teach them anything that’s groundbreaking? They just did what we asked them to do: put the ball in play and don’t compound mistakes with mistakes.”

Pitching was the team’s strong suit. Senior Ellio Saenz, a two-year starter, struck out 95 batters against just 14 walks in 49 1/3 innings pitched with a 2.41 ERA. Sean Garceau, the everyday catcher and No. 2 pitcher in the rotation, had a 3.80 ERA in 42 1/3 innings with 70 strikeouts against 30 walks.

Saenz delivered in some of Ogden’s biggest wins this season. He struck out 17 in a one-hit, complete-game shutout over Morgan. Saenz struck out 13 and gave up two runs over six innings in an 8-2 win over South Summit. He also fanned eight batters and gave up four runs over seven innings in a 5-4 win over Grantsville.

Garceau, the All-Area Baseball Player of the Year, batted .494 with 32 RBIs and threw 13 runners out on the base paths. Six starters in total batted .300 or better.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

The Tigers also stole 77 bases in 25 games, which made it easier for them to score. Junior shortstop Diego DeLeon swiped 30 bags and junior outfielder Kire Thompson stole 16.

DeLeon started as a freshman, missed most of his sophomore year with a broken jaw, and came back to bat .432 with 31 runs scored and 10 doubles this year.

An 18-7 record may have seemed surprising to those outside the Ogden baseball team. The feeling was different inside the program.

“I knew it was gonna happen, we had a pretty good team this year,” Garceau said.

Ogden had a 5-1 record before going inside for two weeks thanks to rain, snow and bad drainage on the field. Ogden won its region-opening doubleheader against South Summit and entered its region series against Morgan 8-2 overall.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

The Tigers took two of three from the Trojans, beat South Summit for a third time, then lost two of three games to Grantsville. Ogden got close in both losses to the Cowboys, but both games got away from the Tigers in the later innings, thus continuing their region-title drought.

But they did find something to celebrate in the playoffs when they’ve normally exited early in many years past.

According to online prep sports postseason records, the Tigers qualified for the state tournament or play-in rounds six times between 1993-2019 and posted a record of 1-9 in those games.

Add in the 2021-22 seasons, where every team made the playoffs under the current RPI seeding system, Ogden’s postseason record since 1993 was 1-12 before this season.

Ogden’s last win that could be considered a postseason victory came in the 1999 play-in round when the Tigers beat Wasatch 3-2 before losing at Emery in the 3A first round, according to information provided by UHSAA record keeper/statistician Curtis Pettingill.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

After losing to Grantsville 4-0 in the first round of this year’s 3A state tournament, the Tigers’ 6-3 win over North Sanpete in an elimination game was their first postseason win in 24 years.

A couple days later against Emery, this time at Lindquist Field, Ogden won 8-6 to cement its best postseason in decades no matter what happened next. Garceau got through six innings with five runs allowed, two walks and seven strikeouts.

The playoff run ended with a close, 6-4 loss to Union at the neutral site of the state tournament, another place Ogden baseball hadn’t been in some time.

The 18-7 record represents one of the most dramatic three-year turnarounds of any program in the state: Ogden was 0-19 two seasons ago and 14-14 last year. The Tigers graduated just four seniors, but three were starters and vital to the team’s success.

“I feel like the reputation of Ogden’s changed and that’s pretty cool,” Garceau said.

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.