WILLISTON — As soon as Taydon Triepke induced the popup that would secure Devils Lake’s first Legion state championship since 1984, the first player to come steamrolling out of the dugout, hollering and swinging his arms, was senior Landon Sundeen.
Sundeen didn’t have an at-bat in the state tournament. He didn’t run the bases. He didn’t play the field.
Yet that didn’t make the moment any less special.
“I’ve played on a lot of Devils Lake teams. They’ve been great throughout the years. We’ve never just been able to finish it, get the job done,” Sundeen said. “And so it was nice to have a good six-run rally by the boys and to put it away and be champs, finally.”
Sundeen, a recent graduate of Lakota High School, got to share the experience with Nelson County teammates Brody Rainsberry and Lakin Ronningen. Kids from that area have played Legion ball for Devils Lake over the last couple of years, with Nelson County not having enough players for its own team.
Sundeen and Rainsberry were the only seniors for Nelson County/Midkota baseball last spring. They also competed together on the football, basketball and track and field teams. Rainsberry was a starter and Sundeen was one of the first guys off the bench on the Nelson County basketball team that made it to the Division B state tournament last winter.
“Football, he blocks for me. He allows me to run the ball,” said Rainsberry, an all-state quarterback and Shrine Bowl honoree for the Chargers. “Basketball, he’s a good post inside. And baseball, obviously a good first baseman. When I’m playing short during the spring, he’s always there for me. Overall, just a really good guy, good friend to have.”
Rainsberry and Sundeen have shared a baseball field for the last decade. They were fixtures at shortstop and first base, respectively, for the Chargers, while batting in the top four spots of the lineup.
Their friendship goes back even further.
“I’ve known him since I was a kindergartener, and we’d go to movies and go to sporting events,” Rainsberry said. “We’ve got a group of guys that just do everything together over there in Lakota.”
When Nelson County started combining with Devils Lake for Legion ball in 2025, Sundeen and Ronningen were both on the B team. Rainsberry was by himself on the A team.
Sundeen received a promotion to the A team in the middle of last season after hitting two home runs for the B squad. He and Rainsberry have been teammates on the A group ever since.
“It’s awesome. We’ve been playing sports together our entire lives,” Sundeen said. “I love him. I love playing with all those Nelson County boys, and then Lakin to come here too — it’s nice to have our little group. It started last year. At least you have somebody you really know, and then you kind of branch out from there. But it’s nice to really have those guys to lean back on as family.”
Regardless of the sport, Sundeen developed camaraderie with Rainsberry over the years on the field or court. They have completely different physical compositions — Sundeen is taller and stronger, while Rainsberry is smaller and faster. But they click when working together.
“In football, I block for him. And he runs, gets 60-yard touchdowns behind me. Basketball, I dust them out of the post, I kick it up for a three,” Sundeen said. “I mean, we just work together well. We’ve always worked together. It’s awesome, just to be friends and to be brothers and teammates. … And to experience this together as our last way to go out together is awesome. Couldn’t dream of it better.”
Rainsberry was the starting left fielder for the state-champion Storm, usually hitting seventh in the order. He batted .441 with a 1.071 OPS — almost surely some of the best numbers for a No. 7 hitter in the state. Rainsberry was also the backup shortstop for when Mason Palmer was pitching.
Sundeen’s contributions were less obvious. His playing time waned as the season went on and more players returned from injuries, vacations, etc.
He wasn’t bad — he had a perfectly respectable .243 average, .383 OBP and .734 OPS in 47 plate appearances. He hit a homer and a double. But with a stacked lineup that had even Ben Brodina and Hunter Remmick fighting for playing time, there simply wasn’t enough room to get him regular at-bats.
This reality didn’t seem to faze him.
“You’ve always got to realize, I’ve been one of the better players on a team, and I’ve been the worst player on a team. And every single time, you have a job to do,” Sundeen said. “And that’s everybody, no matter how many guys you have on the roster. Every single one of them has a job to do every single time we come to the ball field. And mine wasn’t to go hit home runs and wasn’t to score. But it was to bring as much energy and to be as good of a teammate as I could have possibly been. If I’m not on the field, I can’t control that. So I’m gonna control what I can do in the dugout and how I can pick the guys up and help form a rally, maybe.”
Rainsberry, who was in the lineup every day, witnessed Sundeen’s contributions firsthand.
“He’s always cheering, always hyping people up,” Rainsberry said. “Someone goes down, he’ll be the first one to pick you up. And you see him out there throwing ground balls to us, getting us ready. So he’s a big impact.”
It was no truer than the final moment, when Sundeen raced out of the dugout exuberantly.
He did so knowing it was the last time he’d ever suit up in baseball threads. The state championship brought an end to Sundeen’s baseball career.
“Baseball’s over for me,” he said, “and I couldn’t imagine a better way to cap it off.”
It was the last in a series of goodbyes Sundeen has had to make over the past calendar year. Football, basketball and track have all faded into the rearview mirror as well.
“Sports are over for me,” Sundeen said. “And it’s been hard. It’s been who I’ve been my whole life, is just ‘I’m a sports guy,’ I guess. But then it’s all come to be over. So we’ve gotta, as the coaches would say, turn the page, and let’s go on to life. It was fun while we had it, and move on.”
Sundeen is going to UND in the fall to study finance.
“I’ll really try to find myself there, and we’ll see,” he said.
Rainsberry, meanwhile, still has a year of Legion eligibility. But he hasn’t decided whether he’s going to utilize it.
“Ending on a win’s nice. But I also think we can make a deep run next year,” Rainsberry said. “So that would be a decision I have to make over the school year.”
Rainsberry is also headed to UND, where he’ll be pursuing the Fisheries and Wildlife Biology major.
The Nelson County boys won’t be too far from each other.
“I think there’ll be plenty of poker nights in my apartment,” Sundeen said.