DEVILS LAKE — On the first day of practice, Jeff Carpenter introduced his new assistant coach as “Coach Baeth.”
“And everyone just started laughing,” said Jackson Baeth, the newest member of the Devils Lake Storm coaching staff.
Just two summers ago, Baeth himself was on the Devils Lake Storm. He finished his Devils Lake career in 2024 as an all-region player. The slugging third baseman led the Firebirds to one of their best seasons since 2010 and helped the Storm A team to a state appearance.
Carpenter, head coach of the A team, has been trying to bring Baeth back as a coach ever since.
“He’s been recruiting me to coach ever since I graduated,” Baeth said. “I wanted to last year; it just didn’t work out with my schedule. And this year I cleared things up a little bit, so I’m able to coach.”
Baeth now plays college baseball at the NCAA Division II level for the University of Minnesota Crookston. This summer, he’s back in his hometown as an assistant coach for the Devils Lake Legion B team. It’s his first real foray into coaching.
“It’s awesome,” Baeth said. “I know last summer I was back, and I wasn’t around the program. And it was eating me alive not being here, and not being a part of the baseball program. So I was really excited when Jeff said he wanted me to come coach. And it’s awesome to put back into this program what it gave to me. So I’m excited to keep doing it.”
Baeth redshirted at Crookston in 2025, then used his first year of eligibility this spring. The experience has opened him up to a higher, more competitive level of baseball.
“It’s been good. I love it down there,” he said. “Learned a lot, a lot more than I ever did. It’s just fun to keep growing. And excited to go back every year, but it’s nice to be back home, too.”
With the Storm, he’s coaching kids who are only a few years younger than him.
“And I think it’s a good part of it,” he said. “I mean, they know they can talk to me about almost anything. And I think it brings a good dynamic of being serious, but also being lighthearted and still keeping the game fun.”
Baeth is coaching under Parker Schmid, who’s also fresh to his role. Schmid has been around the B team for a few years as an assistant, but this summer is his first as head coach.
“I’m pretty nervous at first, not gonna lie,” Schmid said of his promotion. “But I’ve had some good guys to be under the last couple years, and they’ve taught me a lot. And excited to hopefully teach those kids what they taught me.”
Some of the coaches Schmid has been under include Dustin Brodina and Eric Nygaard.
Schmid has been nothing but impressed with what Baeth has brought as an assistant.
“He knows a lot more baseball than I do,” Schmid said. “He knows all the fundamentals, and I just try to manufacture.”
Baeth said he’d never really been a coach before, at least not in an official capacity. But he’d always liked helping kids. With the baseball knowledge he possesses from his strong high school career and his advancement to the college level, it was a natural fit.
“I like working with younger kids that have been in the same position as me,” Baeth said. “So it’s always been something that’s kind of grown on me, even when I was a player. So it’s nice to finally get out here doing it.”
Baeth said he and Schmid have worked well together.
“I think we have the same mindset on a lot of things. We both want to be aggressive and put the ball in play and run and all that,” Baeth said. “So it’s a good dynamic. And I wouldn’t have it any other way, really.”
The Storm program is crowded this summer, especially with three super-seniors and some kids from the neighboring areas joining. That trickles down to the B team, which carries plenty of experience in its own right. In fact, third baseman Easton Kraft briefly overlapped with Baeth on the varsity team two years ago.
The team is mostly comprised of the spring junior varsity team, but players like Kraft, Jaxon Strong, Riley Brenno-Quale, Henley Driessen and Mack Elsperger have all gotten varsity action at various points. Shortstop John Molina was a starter for Nelson County/Midkota’s Class B varsity team.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that played JV in the spring and have played a lot in the past,” Baeth said. “It’s just a matter of doing the little things right. We pitch it well and put the ball in play a lot, and we should be a hard team to beat.”
The Storm beat Cando Post 79 in their first two games under the Schmid-Baeth duo. In their home opener on June 8, they lost a pair to Midway Minto Post 201.
They split a doubleheader with the Williston Oilers on Wednesday, ahead of the Robert Montgomery Memorial Tournament in Grand Forks the following weekend. All in all, that’s a 3-3 record to being the Baeth coaching era.
“It’s fun so far,” Baeth said. “The kids are great. They’re learning still, but that’s all part of it.”
This summer, ultimately, may just be opening a door for a longer path for Baeth down the road.
“I want to do it as long as I can, as long as my schedule allows for it,” Baeth said. “I never want to stop being around baseball, so there’s no reason for me not to coach.”
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