DEVILS LAKE — The Firebirds are entering the busy part of their schedule.
That means managing the pitching staff very intentionally.
The first time through the rotation, Devils Lake went with a simple 1-4. Since then, though, head coach Brent Luehring has been piecing things together strategically based on the opponent and who’s well-rested.
“It’s one of those deals where you like to think you can beat any opponent or compete against any opponent,” Luehring said. “Playing the rankings, which I don’t like to talk about, but you’re kind of like, ‘All right, we’ve got to make sure we can get at least two out of this week, and hopefully more tomorrow.’”
Devils Lake’s first four starting pitchers to open the season were Will Heilman, Mason Palmer, Cayden McCarthy and Ben Brodina, in that order.
Heilman and Palmer started again on April 21 in the Firebirds’ home opener.
The first shakeup came on Friday, April 24, when Devils Lake traveled to face preseason No. 2 Fargo South.
McCarthy pitched the first game, as scheduled. But instead of Brodina in the second game, senior Riley Brenno-Quale made his varsity pitching debut.
“We got that first one against South; we thought we stole one,” Luehring said. “We kind of were like, ‘All right, we’re gonna bring Ben back against Davies rather than against South.’”
And it went well. After McCarthy led Devils Lake to a Game 1 win, Brenno-Quale threw four effective innings in a blowout that secured an upset sweep of South.
“Riley just came out and threw the ball over the plate,” Luehring said. “They’re a really aggressive lineup, and sometimes you throw a strike thrower that has a little bit of offspeed and kind of move the ball around, and they got overaggressive and we caught a lot of fly balls. It was fun to see a senior step up and contribute and get us in the dugout and win a game that we weren’t supposed to win.”
Devils Lake’s next doubleheader was on the road against Fargo Davies on Tuesday, April 28. By then, Heilman and Palmer hadn’t pitched in a week.
But Luehring opted to hold off on using them until at least the next doubleheader.
“Davies got a lot of guys back that hadn’t been playing back from suspension, so we kind of had heard that,” Luehring said. “And yeah, we just tried to match up with what we think we can get as many wins out of this six-game stretch as we can, and trying to get our highest seed in the EDC as we can. … Plus, Mason and Will have been throwing quite a bit. So it was kind of nice to get them a couple extra days off.”
Brodina was still available from not having pitched against South. Luehring decided to save him for the second game of the doubleheader because he knew they were facing Wyatt Kosidowski, one of the better pitchers in the state, in the first game.
“We kind of thought, ‘All right, let’s play the matchups. If we can steal one of the two against these guys, and then come back with four [games] at home,’” Luehring said.
Jaxon Strong made his first varsity pitching start in Game 1. Brodina followed in the nightcap.
With this plan in place, Devils Lake got swept for the first time this season.
The Firebirds, riding off the high of their sweep over South that improved their conference record to 5-3, lost both games to Davies, which entered with a 2-5 conference record.
Pitching wasn’t necessarily the culprit, though. Devils Lake only scored two runs between the two games, and the defense combined for five errors.
Brenno-Quale also pitched again — this time out of the bullpen.
“That’s the beauty about the group we have,” Luehring said. “We’ve got 12 guys that can play and contribute, and they’re all pretty unselfish — knowing that one day they might pitch, one day they might catch, one day they might not play at all, one day they might start both games. It just kind of depends on where we’re at, what the group is and who we’re playing.”
The Davies games were the last road contests of the regular season for Devils Lake. Starting Thursday, the Firebirds began a stretch of five consecutive home doubleheaders to complete the regular season. That includes playing the bottom two teams in the Eastern Dakota Conference, Grand Forks Central and Wahpeton, on back-to-back days.
Going into their matchup against Central on Thursday, April 30, Luehring’s plan was to pitch Palmer in the first game and Heilman in the second.
It didn’t work out that way. Devils Lake took an 8-0 lead through three innings of the opener, and Palmer was cruising. With the Firebirds up big, and Palmer only at 34 pitches, Luehring decided he could start Palmer again in the nightcap and save Heilman for Friday, May 1 against Wahpeton.
The goal was to get about 100 pitches out of Palmer.
His twin brother, Max Palmer, threw the final four innings of Game 1.
So there was Mason Palmer, again, taking the mound for the start of Game 2.
“Thank goodness Max threw really good for us there, got us [through it],” Luehring said. “And then we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s come back out with Mason.’”
Mason Palmer pitched the first four innings of Game 2. He finally gave up a run in his seventh and final inning of the day. He threw 71 pitches.
Between the two games, Palmer threw 105 pitches over seven innings. He struck out 11 and allowed one run on three hits.
So either way, Devils Lake got seven innings from Palmer on Thursday. It just wasn’t in the most traditional sense.
“We’ll take it any way we can get it,” Luehring said.
Taydon Triepke pitched the next two innings in relief of Palmer. He threw 27 pitches.
With still one inning to go, Luehring went with Heilman — who was originally supposed to start on Thursday — for the seventh.
“We just figured if he did his job, it’d be about a 10- to 15-pitch inning, and he’d be able to throw [Friday],” Luehring said.
Heilman said he was surprised but felt good to go.
“I didn’t even know it till I came back to the dugout and they’re like, ‘Can you throw an inning?’” Heilman said. “I was like, ‘Yeah.’”
Heilman threw a 15-pitch, 1-2-3 seventh inning to close out a 7-3 win. He got some reps while keeping his arm rested enough for Friday’s start against Wahpeton.
“So it was perfect,” Luehring said.
The pitching plan sets up Heilman and McCarthy to presumably be the starters against Wahpeton. Devils Lake then goes into a tougher week with Grand Forks Red River and West Fargo Horace on the schedule.
One would have to imagine Palmer and Heilman get used at some point during those games, too. But Luehring is keeping things unpredictable for opposing teams, trying to maximize his roster and compete for seeding in a crowded EDC.
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