Another spring baseball season has come and gone.
Devils Lake squeezed 12 home games into 21 days this season, and played 23 games in 39 days overall.
The Firebirds went 12-11 — their third straight season with an overall winning percentage of .500 or better. Their regular-season Eastern Dakota Conference record was 11-9, giving them a winning conference record for the third consecutive year.
For the second time in the last three seasons, Devils Lake was a win away from the state tournament.
The Firebirds will head into 2027 still looking for their first state baseball appearance since 2010. Here are some final thoughts and takeaways as spring turns to summer.
Despite postseason letdown, offense improved as a whole from last season
I wrote about it back when Devils Lake was 9-5, but it still stands true with the season complete.
Despite graduating Hunter Remmick, Trason Beck, Fausten Olson and Parker Brodina, the Firebirds’ offensive numbers got better rather than worse.
The team batting line — not including the postseason — went from .273/.374/.335 in 2025 to .296/.388/.371 in 2026. Devils Lake improved its team walk rate by more than a full percent while decreasing its strikeout rate by a similar amount.
In that regard, this season should be viewed as a success. Mason Palmer, Taydon Triepke and Will Heilman made drastic improvements at the plate, while Ben Brodina stepped up big-time as a first-year varsity starter. Each of the four aforementioned players had a batting average above .300 and an OPS above .800. Palmer led the bunch with a .381 average and 1.014 OPS. Alex Hammond, Easton Kraft, Cayden McCarthy and Tayven Wiberg also settled into their new roles.
One common link between the last two seasons, though, is that the offense didn’t gel in the postseason. In 2025, the Firebirds didn’t score a single run in the playoffs. This year’s showing was slightly better — Heilman and Max Palmer had key clutch hits in the game they won — but the overall numbers were still not to the standard needed to advance.
Devils Lake hit just .151/.250/.178 over three playoff games. The team’s walk rate was under 10% and its strikeout rate over 26%. Even in the 4-1 win over Davies, the Firebirds struck out 11 times and were stagnant during the middle innings.
Mason Palmer reached base five times in 10 postseason plate appearances, but pretty much everyone else had numbers below their season averages.
So it goes in the playoffs — especially in baseball, often the most unforgiving and random of all the sports. It doesn’t take away from the very solid regular season this group had, but it is a glaring reason why the team ultimately fell just short of making the state tournament.
The pitching plan sort of worked out
Devils Lake shuffled its pitching options around nearly all season, and that continued in the playoffs.
The Firebirds took a gamble by pitching McCarthy in Game 1. By doing this, they risked having their season end without No. 2 starter Heilman getting a chance to pitch. If Davies’ Wyatt Kosidowski had outpitched Mason Palmer in Game 2, there would have been a “What if?” lingering around Heilman and the team.
But Palmer outdueled Kosidowski to keep the Firebirds alive. So, in the end, Devils Lake’s top three starting pitchers all got a chance to pitch an EDC game. There are still different ways they could have configured it; Palmer could have pitched Game 1, and the path could have looked different. It’s hard to go too deep into second-guessing, given all the variables that would have been at play.
But at least the team’s three main pitchers got to go out there and give it their best shot in the most important games of the season.
Palmers’ Firebirds careers conclude
Mason and Max Palmer’s time in Firebirds uniforms has come to an end.
It’s worth appreciating how much they accomplished across multiple sports.
The twins were part of the state championship basketball team as sophomores, with Mason essentially the first guy off the bench. That team ended a 99-year title drought. Later, the Palmers ended up leading Devils Lake to its first state football championship in school history, with Mason the quarterback and Max one of the leading receivers. Mason was the Senior Athlete of the Year.
The Palmers had more significant roles in basketball the last two years and helped take second- and third-place finishes. Mason received all-state honors each year.
They’ve both been linchpins of the baseball team for the majority of their time in high school. Mason flourished on the mound and at the plate en route to all-EDC honors as a senior. Max has been the leadoff or second hitter for the better part of his four years.
As the Palmers go off to play baseball at Jamestown together, they leave behind some pretty special Firebirds careers.
What does the next era of Firebird baseball look like?
Devils Lake will also say goodbye to a starting outfielder in Triepke — a valuable part of the team for the last few seasons — along with Riley Brenno-Quale and Jaxon Strong, who both got substantial varsity action for the first time.
As always, the team will go through some changes next year.
With no Palmers, the Firebirds need to find their new middle-infield guys. They have Wiberg to play second base; he’s a primary infielder who got moved to the outfield this year to fit in positionally. Shortstop is likely up for grabs.
McCarthy and Kraft, who were first-year varsity starters as juniors in the corner infield spots, now have a solid year of experience to help prepare them for next season. You can likely pencil them in at first and third base, respectively, though McCarthy can also play corner outfield.
They have center field secured in Hammond, who will be entering his junior year. They will also still have Heilman and Ben Brodina, two good hitters with infield and outfield experience.
Brodina is a strong athlete and has a good arm, so perhaps he takes over shortstop with Heilman and McCarthy playing the corner outfield spots. It remains to be seen until next spring, though. Heilman and Brodina are the top catching options as well, which makes it more complicated.
The pitching rotation should still be okay, anchored by Heilman, McCarthy and Brodina, though losing the ace in Mason Palmer is a notable hit.
I would also expect Henley Driessen to get more playing time next year. As a junior, he was limited to 21 varsity plate appearances, but he did well, going 6-for-18 with two doubles.
Ultimately, there was cause for doubt heading into this season because of who they lost. But they made it work, putting together a solid campaign, and there will be a sizable group of kids back next season to try to figure it out all over again.
Leave a Reply