Fausten Olson/Photo by Noah Clooten
WAHPETON — Maybe the Firebirds needed that.
Maybe they needed to get rocked by West Fargo on Friday, ruining what had been a dominant 12-game stretch. Maybe they needed a reminder of what it takes to win.
“Last night kind of brought us back down to ‘Hey, we’re not invincible,’” Devils Lake head coach Brent Luehring said. “‘We gotta work hard, do things right all the time.’”
If one were to watch the Devils Lake baseball team (15-7) on Saturday, they wouldn’t know this was the same club that struggled to get the bats going a day prior. Two big first innings — five runs in Game 1 and 10 runs in Game 2 — helped them sweep a doubleheader over Wahpeton (2-8) to get back in the win column.
“It feels good just to get back to how we play,” center fielder Fausten Olson said. “Just playing our game, mainly.”
The Firebirds won 9-5 in a game where they built a big lead early on, then blew out the Huskies 11-0 in Game 2. They drew 14 walks on the day, and were hit by a pitch five times in Game 2 (plus a sixth that was bizarrely reversed).
Although there really wasn’t a single Firebird who left the biggest impact — it was a team effort, up and down the lineup — Olson had perhaps the most productive day at the plate. He reached base five times, not counting a reached-on-error. After a slow start to the season where his average was in the .100 range, he’s boosted it all the way up to .276.
“Shortening up my swing,” Olson said of his adjustments. “Me and Coach have been talking a lot about toe-heel. Just staying through the baseball and not trying to do too much with it. Everything opposite field. And it’s really been paying off.”
Olson has really found his footing in the two-hole of the lineup, after initially struggling in the leadoff spot. Instead, senior Beau Brodina has been leading off after he spent time in that spot last year. Luehring said his focus with Olson has been not lunging so much, and game by game, progress continues to be made.
Brodina and Olson were both key parts in the five-run explosion that Devils Lake began the day with. The first six batters reached, and Mason Palmer drove in Brodina with an RBI single. Olson singled and scored on a passed ball. Then an error gifted Devils Lake three more runs.
Ben Larson held the fort on the mound, putting up a zero in each of the first five innings. He issued three walks between the second and third inning, but otherwise kept things pretty clean.
The Firebirds followed up their five-spot with a run in each of the next four innings. Brodina led off for the second straight inning and hit a double, eventually scoring on a passed ball. Max Palmer added an RBI single in the third, then drew a bases-loaded walk to complete a two-out rally in the fourth. Olson recorded his second hit of the game in the fifth, and came around to score on a groundout.
All told, it was a 9-0 Devils Lake lead, with the offense suddenly gelling the way it had during the winning streak.
“We got those runs in from third that we needed to,” Olson said.
The Huskies tried to claw their way back. They got on the board with a two-run single in the sixth, then dashed into the lead with a three-run homer in the seventh. They even got the next two runners on. But Larson hung in there, completing seven innings with Devils Lake still comfortably in the W column.
“He couldn’t really locate his fastball,” Luehring said of Larson. “Usually he can live on an edge and live on the corners, and today he just kind of worked his way through it. I’ll give him credit: I mean, he was definitely not his best, but he was good enough today for us, and that’s all we can ask.”
Freshman Will Heilman got the start in Game 2, though he had a 10-0 lead to work with before he ever stepped on the mound. The first inning featured five hits, three walks and three hit batsmen. Jackson Baeth smacked a two-run triple, while Olson legged out another hit and Trason Beck lined a two-run single into left field. Two of the three outs happened to be made by Max Palmer; he was one of six Firebirds who batted twice in the frame.
Heilman wound up cruising through four innings. He struck out six and only allowed three hits, two of which came in the third inning. He didn’t walk anyone until two outs in the fourth, when he issued back-to-back free passes — but he still managed to keep Wahpeton off the board.
“I was happy with him,” Luehring said. “He’s only thrown two games; he threw a JV game for us last Monday against Central, and then we brought him back today. He’s got potential. Our whole freshman group, we’re really high on, and he’s kind of the leader of them. He’s getting confidence.”
Devils Lake received contributions down in the lineup, too. Freshman Cayden McCarthy recorded a couple hits, and senior Garrison Elfman hit the ball hard a couple times, including a two-run single in that marathon first inning.
“Cayden’s got all the ability. He’s a freshman; he’s long. He really drives the baseball,” Luehring said. “Garrison is just a senior, a leader as part of the team. He got his opportunity, and he made the most of it.”
Max Palmer got the final three outs on the hill. The Firebirds got to go home happy, after playing four games over the last two days between Fargo and Wahpeton.
“It’s a step in the right direction; I didn’t think we played our best baseball in the first game, but it was good enough,” Luehring said. “It’s just getting back on the right page and getting in the win column, and getting confidence and moving on.”
