DEVILS LAKE — After taking the last two games of the regular season against Fargo North, Devils Lake baseball secured the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Dakota Conference.
The Firebirds had a chance at the No. 6 seed, but West Fargo Sheyenne and Fargo Davies split a doubleheader last Tuesday. If Sheyenne had swept, Devils Lake would have faced No. 3 seed West Fargo in the first round of the EDC tournament.
Instead, the Firebirds will get No. 2 seed Fargo South. Devils Lake enters with an EDC record of 11-9, while South is 16-4.
Devils Lake swept South during the regular season, handing the Bruins two of their four losses. South, though, swept No. 1 seed West Fargo Horace (17-3) in the last week of the regular season.
Texas A&M-committed junior Caden Nelson headlines the Bruins. Nelson can run his fastball into the 90s. Devils Lake did not have to face him on the mound when the teams met previously.
“We feel like if we throw it well, we feel like we can go play with anybody,” Firebirds head coach Brent Luehring said. “A lot of times, it comes down to matchups — who they throw against us. There’s some pretty wipe-out arms in our league. And when you go face those types of arms, you’ve just got to be ready and be up for the challenge.”
The Firebirds ended up finishing right in line with where they were picked in the preseason coaches poll.
Still, that’s not bad when considering they graduated a strong senior class that included Hunter Remmick, Ben Larson, Trason Beck and Parker Brodina.
“Before the season, our expectations were not very high, losing all those seniors,” current senior Mason Palmer said. “So we know the the team we’ve put together and the way they’re playing, it surprised us at the beginning, and now we’ve just been flowing with it. And we’re very happy with how we’re playing so far.”
Devils Lake began the season 9-5 and had a legitimate shot at the top four seeds.
Ben Brodina, Alex Hammond, Cayden McCarthy, Easton Kraft and Tayven Wiberg have helped fill in the holes that were left by last year’s talented senior class. Palmer, Taydon Triepke and Will Heilman — three returning upperclassmen — have taken big strides, too.
“I feel like we’re young, but all these kids that haven’t played varsity baseball, they’re juniors and seniors, and a couple sophomores. And they all play all summer long,” Luehring said. “So what we like to call inexperience, really wasn’t that inexperienced. And it was just a question of how quick they could acclimate, and they’ve done a really good job.”
Things got a little dicey towards the end of the season. Devils Lake got absolutely walloped by Horace, getting outscored 26-5 in a doubleheader where the Firebirds saved their top pitchers. Three days later, they were outscored 21-5 in a doubleheader against No. 4 seed Grand Forks Red River.
But they bounced back with a sweep of No. 8 seed Fargo North. They won 7-4 and 12-3 to get the energy rolling back in the right direction ahead of the EDC tournament.
“These are huge for our confidence,” Max Palmer said. “I mean, losing four in a row, it’s never good, but I’m glad we didn’t let it snowball.”
Luehring said that if you told him before the season that the team would finish 11-9, he “100%” would have taken it.
“We’ve had ups and downs, but for us to come out and get 11 wins, I don’t think a lot of people predicted that,” Luehring said. “So I’m really happy, and hopefully we can keep it going into EDC.”
Mason Palmer said he saw a whole new energy during the Firebirds’ recent wins.
“Keep the morale up — I think that’s really big going into EDC here,” he said. “Got to keep the boys happy. Got to keep them interested in the game, and good things will happen.”
Devils Lake’s postseason run will begin Tuesday, May 19 against South at Starion Field in Fargo with a 5 p.m. start time.
The tentative rotation is Mason Palmer (2.00 ERA), then Heilman (5.04), then McCarthy (4.63), then Brodina (3.12). Devils Lake could switch things around depending on matchups or saving certain pitchers for certain teams.
The tournament is double-elimination. Whether Devils Lake wins or loses Tuesday, it will continue the tournament Friday at Jack Williams Stadium in Fargo. The tournament ends Saturday. The top four remaining teams advance to the state tournament.
The Firebirds have not made a baseball state tournament since 2010.
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