FARGO — Mason Palmer befuddled Park River hitters on Friday.
Under the towers that illuminated a warm, windy night at Starion Bank Field, Palmer worked his magic in a one-hit shutout. He struck out 10, didn’t issue a walk and needed only 80 pitches to get the job done.
“He’s a dog, man,” Devils Lake coach Eric Nygaard said. “We were kind of in between him and another pitcher today, too, and we just said, ‘He’s the guy.’ He’s getting recruited to do the exact same thing for the next four years for Jamestown. He wanted the ball, and he did his job tonight. So, very proud of him.”
No. 1 seed Devils Lake (26-7) won 5-0 — its second straight shutout win, clinching a state berth with a region semifinal victory over No. 4 seed Park River Post 147 (13-14).
“It’s awesome,” Palmer said. “The defense is playing good, the pitching is good; swinging together at-bats and scoring runs. We’re looking good right now. We’re just gonna keep the vibes up. We’re gonna to keep trying to play hard, and hopefully we can get it done [Saturday].”
The game started at 9:37 p.m — more than two hours later than originally scheduled. There was a fair amount of madness in the games that preceded, including a 12-inning marathon and a 13-11 boxing match.
The sky was black by the time Palmer threw his first pitch.
“That was my worry going into it. It was like, ‘This is a long day,’” Nygaard said. “For the players, I couldn’t imagine it for them. Are they tired? Do they need a nap? Are they just wanting to get this thing going? But it ended up being okay. I mean, right now it’s good temperatures and hardly any wind. No mosquitoes, which is awesome, too.”
Nygaard was right — the temperature started in the 80s and dipped into the 70s by the end of the night, which came within an hour of Saturday.
There was a breeze, but that became more mild, too, as the night wore on.
“I honestly love these night games,” Palmer said. “It just feels like a backyard game. You’re just playing with the guys. And it didn’t really throw us off at all. … We were just relaxing; we were locking in for the game beforehand.”
Palmer’s performance backed up his words as he looked quite locked-in from the start.
There was no messing around. Palmer retired the first nine batters he faced.
He collected six strikeouts in that span, punching out two in each inning.
The Devils Lake offense had to contend with a good pitcher in his own right, Tucker Omdahl, an Alexandria Tech commit. The Storm cashed in on an early opportunity. In the bottom of the first, both Palmers reached base, and Will Heilman drove them in with a single to make it 2-0.
Omdahl struck out the next five batters.
Jacob Solseng spoiled Palmer’s perfecto with a leadoff single in the fourth. Palmer induced a 6-4-3 double play a batter later, making it through four scoreless innings while facing the minimum.
“The curveball was working tonight. I was throwing them off,” Palmer said. “They couldn’t really time them up, either [pitch], because I could throw it in any count. … And the defense made some good plays. Taydon [Triepke] with the sliding catch out in right, double play up the middle. I think defense really helped tonight, too.”
Palmer hit a batter with one out in the fifth, then struck out the next two. He threw a 1-2-3 sixth with his ninth strikeout. He’d thrown just 72 pitches to this point.
Devils Lake chased Omdahl after an RBI single by Ben Larson with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Omdahl threw 99 pitches. He struck out seven, walked two and allowed six hits.
“Fortunately, we got some runners on,” Nygaard said. “We haven’t seen him all year. … But he brought it, too. He was keeping his pitches in the zone, and our hitters made some adjustments later on in the game.”
A couple of baserunning mistakes cost Devils Lake a bigger inning, but Brody Rainsberry added an RBI bunt single, and nine-hitter Tayven Wiberg smacked another hit to make it 5-0.
Wiberg was playing left field as opposed to Ben Brodina, who was starting for this team before a two-week trip to Las Vegas to play basketball.
“We got our lineup kind of set up and stuff,” Nygaard said. “I think [Brodina] knows that, too. So we’re kind of working him in where we can. And his time’s coming.”
Palmer had to wait a little longer than usual to return to the mound for his final inning of work. But there was no rust. He caught Connor Bernhoft looking at a curveball, then induced a pair of fly balls to complete the shutout.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Palmer’s outing was that he managed to strike out 10 batters while keeping his pitch count at 80. The lack of walks allowed him to achieve this feat.
Palmer only had two three-ball counts, and they both came in the third inning.
“That was awesome,” Nygaard said. “I kept thinking of James [Mikkelson] in the book, was like, ‘How many pitches does he have?’ … He just kept pounding that ball right in the strike zone.”
Palmer faced just one batter over the minimum.
Through two games in this tournament, Palmer and Heilman have combined to throw 13 scoreless innings with 18 strikeouts and just four hits allowed.
“I go back to the first couple weeks of summer baseball. Our pitchers were giving up a lot of runs,” Nygaard said. “Our pitchers have put some time in. I think they’ve gotten used to my philosophy of pitching. And it’s just awesome to see them go out and just pound the strike zone. And we’ve got 11 guys on our staff that can pitch, so some of those guys don’t get the innings that they could probably get from other teams.”
This was only Palmer’s third start of the summer, as he dealt with an elbow issue earlier this month. In the 20 innings he’s thrown, he’s allowed just one earned run (0.45 ERA) while striking out 36 (16.2 SO/9).
“Coming off an elbow problem, it’s good to keep [the pitch count] down, hopefully not inflame it up, and just make sure I can throw [Saturday] and play from shortstop,” Palmer said.
Devils Lake will fight for the region championship Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against No. 7 seed Casselton Post 15.
“I think seeding-wise, tonight was probably the most important game, just to get in the state tournament,” Nygaard said. “And now it’s a bonus that we can go out and get a one seed going over to Williston.”
Regardless of Saturday’s result, the Storm will prepare to ride their little van across the state next week to Williston. The state tournament begins July 30.
“I think stringing together at-bats; we want to keep our energy up in the dugout,” Palmer said of the team’s focus. “Keep the energy going. We don’t want to get down. If bad things happen, we don’t want to live on those bad things. We want to move on. We’ll move past it, and hopefully good things will happen, and we will move on from the bad ones, and hopefully we can get it done.”