Hunter Remmick/Photo by Noah Clooten
RENNER — Two and a half hours north of the College World Series’ bright lights, and a short trek from Sioux Falls into the backroads of South Dakota, the Devils Lake American Legion team found a baseball field amidst the green, grassy Midwest farmland.
It was the Dakota Classic, Renner-style.
The Storm A team played the first of four guaranteed games on Friday. They faced a team from a state that’s not one, but two down from North Dakota. No longer were they playing a squad from Fargo, or a group from one of the myriad of small towns scattered around the Peace Garden State. The kids from Devils Lake took on the Gretna East Griffs, a team from Nebraska.
And Devils Lake (7-1) took a tough loss, as Gretna (12-3) won 10-2. It wasn’t nearly as lopsided as the score would indicate; the Storm recovered well after a rough first inning, and the Griffs took until the sixth inning to put the game away.
Gretna greeted Devils Lake starter Hunter Remmick quite rudely, as the first five batters all reached. With Gretna quickly up 2-0 and the bases still loaded, the evening could have spiraled on Remmick quickly. But he limited the additional damage to just an RBI fielder’s choice, getting out of the frame with the Storm trailing 3-0.
“You get off a six-hour car ride, you don’t wake up right away,” head coach Brent Luehring said.
Gretna sent a freshman right-hander to the mound, Chase Neneman, who had some quick zip on his fastball and a solid breaker to complement it. There was no speed gun on hand, but his velocity was certainly harder than most of what Devils Lake usually sees. Luehring said he was surprised to see a young kid throwing so hard, especially for a Gretna team that’s in the first year of its program.
“I was pretty shocked,” Luehring said. “He moves the ball around. He threw his curveball with some velocity. His fastball, it took us awhile to adjust.”
Neneman struck out four through the first two scoreless innings. Jackson Baeth worked a quality walk, but that was the only Storm baserunner through the opening two frames.
The players in the dugout seemed anything but discouraged. There was a nearly nonstop chorus of support and encouragement, perhaps most vocally led by the team’s most veteran player — and an umpire in Thursday’s B game — Simon Beach. He audibly shouted, “Play loose! Have fun! Nothing to lose!” as the Devils Lake fielders retook the field.
“That’s gotta be something we do the rest of the year, is be invested in the team, be invested in the game,” Luehring said. “Cheer on your teammates. Support them. If we can bring this energy the rest of the year, I think we’ll have a really nice summer.”
It was then that Remmick started to really settle in. He struck out four in a five-batter span, and also got a runner caught in a rundown between first and second. After a deflating start, he kept his composure and commanded his pitches a lot better. He spotted multiple curveballs to punch out the Griffs looking.
“I’m proud of him,” Luehring said, “because the game went on, the better he got.”
The energy didn’t stop in the third. Taydon Triepke and Max Palmer drew walks, and Mason Palmer knocked an RBI single to trim Gretna’s lead to 3-1.
Trason Beck lined a double in the fourth, and Cayden McCarthy singled the courtesy runner over to third. But with a chance to cut into the deficit some more, Triepke was robbed of an infield hit. The first baseman made a diving play, and he got it to first base in just enough time.
It was a similar story in the fifth. The Storm got another double, this time from Max Palmer. Fausten Olson executed the sacrifice bunt to get Palmer to third. But Mason Palmer couldn’t get it out of the infield, and Baeth narrowly missed an infield hit to shortstop.
When Baeth was called out, the Storm dugout couldn’t believe it. As Luehring walked back in, he motioned with his fingers how far off the bag he saw the first baseman reach.
“I thought he was off two or three inches, but I don’t know if it was the angle or not,” Luehring said. “I’m right there. I know what I saw. But it is what it is.”
Gretna got back in the run column in the bottom of the fifth, after a two-base error in the infield and a sacrifice fly. Remmick still ended the inning with his fifth strikeout, his team trailing 4-1.
The Storm didn’t wither away without a forceful effort. Beck stayed hot, smacking his second double of the game in the sixth inning. He advanced to third on a single from Ben Larson, then scored on a wild pitch to make it a two-run game.
But, despite how hard this Devils Lake team fought, the wheels unscrewed themselves in the bottom of the sixth.
Remmick left with two on and one out, walking off the field to a round of applause. Garrison Elfman replaced him, making his first pitching appearance of the spring or summer.
The first runner against Elfman was just unfortunate luck. Gretna laid down a bunt in a perfect spot, and the runner beat the throw to first, loading the bases.
A two-run single to the outfield from Neneman made it 6-2. Then Beck threw one into left field from behind the plate, and two more hits ended the game automatically with a 10-2 score.
It finally handed Devils Lake something it hadn’t experienced this summer: a loss. But the Storm still gained something from playing a tough, unfamiliar team, and that’s what this South Dakota trip is all about.
“We’re just out here to play,” Luehring said. “It’s experience, and it’s good to be a part of this atmosphere and play new teams. There’s nothing to lose here.”
Devils Lake is scheduled to play two games on Saturday: Norfolk at 3:30 p.m. and Post 307 Renner at approximately 6 p.m.
