All-Area Baseball TOTY: Inaugural season, coaching changes didn’t derail West Field in proper senior sendoff
2025 Standard-Examiner All-Area Baseball Team of the Year
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- West Field’s Samuel Smith (0) greets teammates Kayson Larson (30) and Kanyon Pratt (39) during a non-region game versus Weber High on Monday, April 28, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field senior Caymen Kap winds up during a non-region game vs. Syracuse on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field interim baseball coach Tyler Barfuss looks down the third-base line during a non-region game versus Weber High on Monday, April 28, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field senior Kanyon Pratt leads off during a non-region game vs. Syracuse on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Taylor.
TAYLOR — A cluster of transfers and first-year baseball players put their talents, and a bit of blind faith, into West Field’s inaugural trip around the diamond.
Leading off the history books, the Longhorns entered the spring with relatively high expectations considering the previous summer’s offseason success and the 6A programs faltering at the hands of newly opened West Field and its head coach, former Utah infielder Clayne Garrett.
Garrett and then-assistant coach Tyler Barfuss (a former head coach at Roy) had West Field’s baseball program cooking early. The staff welcomed 30-plus kids in for tryouts, including three college-bound seniors — Kanyon Pratt, Caymen Kap and Tyce Abbott — anchoring the opening-day roster.
But high school baseball isn’t played on the Field of Dreams. Through thorns and thickets, West Field is the 2025 Standard-Examiner All-Area Baseball Team of the Year.
In a 7-6 non-region start, the Longhorns weren’t themselves at the plate. A busy offseason, as recalled by Talbot, saw West Field swinging the bat at a high rate and with the sort of power the senior just couldn’t see in the same fellas lining the dugout a handful of months ago.
“Our bats weren’t hot at all like they were in the summer,” Abbott said.
Cold temperatures, chasing too often, or a pinch of bad luck — Abbott couldn’t quite point to the exact symptoms. But a 12-hit, 15-5 romp over Sky View seemingly kicked West Field into gear with the Longhorns then recording an 11-hit, 11-0 shutout over the Bobcats.
The Longhorns managed seven or more hits through their next eight games but, midway through that run, a piece of unfortunate news shook the program. Outside work commitments led Garrett to resign his position and Barfuss was named the team’s interim coach in early April.
With little more than half the regular season to go, Barfuss called the locker room together.
“(Garrett) really does deserve a lot of the credit for getting us going,” Barfuss said. “After he stepped down, I told the kids in the locker room that, from Day 1 when I was named the interim coach, we have three seniors who only have four to six weeks left. … We owe it to them to rally around them and give them that great last ride.”
Barfuss predicated the season on his seniors, mere weeks away from stepping off the prep stage for good.
“I was a little skeptical,” Pratt recalled. “But as I got to know everyone, especially (Abbott) and (Kap), a little better, I got to talking with them and created a bond that I think I’ll have forever now. All three of us are best friends now.”
Splitting its region opener with Bear River, West Field ripped off eight more wins — including four straight from April 23-28 — and was Region 11 runner-up with a 9-3 record behind champion Ridgeline (10-2). All three seniors found themselves at the center of a hot April.
By the end of the regular season, Abbott posted a team-high 43 hits and 22 RBI; Pratt led the Longhorns with 34 RBI and 12 doubles. On the mound, Kap finished 5-3 with 43 total strikeouts, rivaling Pratt’s team-high 44 strikeouts across 37.2 innings.
The Longhorns picked up the program’s first-ever playoff wins, claiming a three-game series with Green Canyon. West Field then dropped its super regional faceoff in two games at Dixie. Results aside, Pratt puts the mentorship of both his head coaches high on the shelf.
“Something they really taught me is just the true power of leadership,” Pratt said. “Without leadership, you don’t really have anything.”
Now, three members of West Field’s class of 2025 have college baseball scholarships and access to a quality education. Had they hung up their gloves or called it quits when the ship hit the rocks, it might’ve been a different story.
West Field’s first-ever baseball season leaves behind a lesson in grit.
“Compete, no matter what,” Abbott said. “If you’re down 10 runs, anything can change. You always work your hardest and go compete. There’s no reason not to, and Tyler showed us that.”
Connect with sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
