DEVILS LAKE — West Fargo Sheyenne has won the state championship three years in a row.
The Devils Lake baseball team didn’t seem to care too much about that.
The Firebirds (8-4) swept a doubleheader over the Mustangs (8-5) on Tuesday, extending their winning streak to six. They persevered in a 9-5 battle in Game 1, then won a low-scoring 3-2 contest in Game 2.
“We know we can be in every game now,” third baseman Jackson Baeth said. “Just stick around. Even if we get down, we seem to find a way to claw back.”
Game 1
Parker Brodina got the start on the mound. He was fresh off a complete game in his last outing, when he struck out nine and held Fargo North to two earned runs.
His control was a bit spotty in the first inning. But his curveball improved as the frame went on, and he struck out the last two batters to strand a pair in scoring position. He went on to retire five in a row, four via the strikeout.
Sheyenne sent Caleb Duerr to the hill, a tall, fluid right-hander with a hard fastball. He’s committed to play baseball for San Diego State University, a Division I school.
He pumped it in the zone from the offset, living on the outer half of the plate. The Firebirds looked overmatched in the first inning, going down in quick fashion with two strikeouts.
They adjusted to the heat, though, and found a way to grind out at-bats in the second inning— just as they have all season. The approach was to sit on Duerr’s fastball.
“If you sit curveball against that guy, you’re gonna be late on the fastball, and then you’re screwed,” Baeth said. “We were just sitting fastballs, and anything close to the zone, we were attacking.”
Baeth got things started with a long double on a fastball that Duerr left middle-middle. He scored on a hard liner from Trason Beck that the shortstop couldn’t handle. Then, an errant throw from the Mustangs’ catcher loaded the bases. Back-to-back errors from the three-time defending champs prompted a mound visit from their coach.
The Firebirds went back to some small ball action, a style that helped them beat Fargo North last week. Max Palmer laid down a perfect bunt, bringing home the second run of the inning.
Devils Lake had a 2-0 lead against one of the tougher pitchers in the region.
“No matter if we like it or not, we always take five minutes at the end of practice to bunt,” Baeth said. “It’s been paying off, because we’ve been winning with bunts.”
But Brodina couldn’t sustain the Mustangs’ offense in the third inning. Back-to-back walks put him in an immediate hole. Three of the next four batters singled, and seven of the inning’s first eight batters reached overall.
A nifty 6-2 double play finally stopped the bleeding. But when the frame was said and done, Sheyenne had put up a five-spot, jumping ahead 5-2.
“He wasn’t his best today,” head coach Brent Luehring said of Brodina. “He didn’t really have feel for his breaking ball, and fastball he was missing a little up… But at least he was competing. And that’s the one thing about him. You know he’s gonna compete. Doesn’t ever want to come out of the game.”
After Brodina fired a bounceback fourth inning, the Firebirds’ offense went back to work in the bottom half. The first five Devils Lake baserunners reached, including a perfect bunt from Taydon Triepke and RBI singles by Palmer and Beau Brodina. Fausten Olson made it a tie game with an RBI groundout.
Baeth was intentionally walked to load the bases, and P. Brodina struck out. In any case, it was a brand new ballgame at 5-5.
P. Brodina put up a zero in an adventurous fifth inning. B. Brodina made a two-base error, dropping a fly ball in left field. On a ground ball to short, Mason Palmer made a smart play by throwing it to third, but Baeth couldn’t hold onto it, and everybody was safe.
With runners in scoring position, the Mustangs bailed Devils Lake out. A groundout to short turned into a double play, as the runner strayed too far off of second base. So it was still tied after Sheyenne blew a massive opportunity.
The Firebirds were in business once again in the sixth, as Beck doubled to put two of their own in scoring position. The next two batters made outs.
But B. Brodina wasn’t going to let them come up empty-handed.
He lined a two-out, two-run double, putting Devils Lake ahead 7-5. It was his second straight at-bat with a hit after he struck out in his first two trips to the plate.
“I tried telling myself, ‘Keep the confidence up,’” Brodina said. “‘This game’s not over yet, and my team needs me.’”
The hits kept coming. Baeth hit his second double of the game in the sixth, and P. Brodina singled him home. Beck followed with his second double, and the Firebirds built their lead to 9-5.
“We’ve been talking about simplifying our swings when we see velo,” Luehring said. “The kids saw that his fastball was pretty straight. We were just attacking flat fastballs.”
Baeth entered the day with a team-high .930 OPS, and he added three hits to his tally in Game 1. He’s been consistently hitting the ball hard.
“I’ve been working on keeping my hands back so that I can actually drive the ball, and not just hit lazy fly balls like I have earlier,” Baeth said. “Keeping my weight back and keeping my hands back, and then going straight to the ball.”
Mason Palmer got the final three outs on the mound. B. Brodina made a nice sliding catch to end the game, providing a fitting exclamation point to an upset victory.
It was a 12-hit attack overall for the Firebirds, with eight of the nine starters recording at least one. The bottom of the order really helped lengthen the lineup.
“Those kids aren’t very big down there,” Luehring said. “They might weigh about 130 pounds, but they’re gonna do everything right. They’re gonna compete their tails off. And that’s all you can ask for.”
Game 2
The Mustangs’ loss carried into a messy start in the nightcap. B. Brodina reached on an error, stole second, then advanced to third on the second error of the inning. He scored on a sacrifice fly from Baeth, giving Devils Lake an early 1-0 lead.
Both teams sat some of their regulars. Even with that in mind, the Mustangs looked sluggish at the plate. Hunter Remmick retired the first 13 batters he faced, consistently inducing soft contact. The first eight batters put the ball in play before Remmick recorded his first strikeout.
“You know what you’re gonna get out of him. He’s gonna throw the ball over the plate. He’s never gonna strike a ton of guys out,” Luehring said. “It’s good, because that team’s trying to get back on it after losing to us, and we can throw a guy that’s gonna fill the zone up and make them hit it again.”
The Firebirds tacked on another run in the fourth on an RBI single by Cayden McCarthy. It was the first hit of the season for the freshman, who has impressed on the mound this year. He drove in Will Heilman, who reached second on a single and an error.
Remmick’s perfect game ended on a single with one out in the fifth. Then a double brought in a run, and a two-out single tied the game at two apiece.
But Devils Lake scored a run in the bottom half to win the five-inning game automatically. B. Brodina singled, then scored on a ball hit by Baeth, which was misplayed by the third baseman. The game ended with a 3-2 score.
This is a Firebirds team that has state tournament aspirations. And by beating a team like Sheyenne, they’ve taken just one more step towards proving they can compete among the best squads in North Dakota.
“We can’t go the wrong direction. We’ve gotta keep building on it,” Luehring said. “It should be fun. We’ve got a lot of baseball ahead of us the next week and a half here.”
Devils Lake will travel to play West Fargo Horace on Thursday, then Grand Forks Central on Monday and Fargo South on Tuesday.
