Jaxon Strong/Photo by Noah Clooten
The Devils Lake B team fell in both games of a doubleheader on Friday to Carrington Post 25, which entered play with a 12-3 record.
The losses followed a strong conference win on Thursday, when the Storm beat Jamestown Post 14 by a score of 7-2. Devils Lake, which is now 7-13 on the summer, only has two more doubleheaders — both at home — before the sectional tournament in Cando.
The closer of Friday’s two games was the seven-inning game that started the evening. Devils Lake lost 5-2.
Ben Brodina, an incoming freshman who’s been one of the B team’s best hitters this summer, got a chance to take the hill. He had an uneven outing plagued mostly by walks. He allowed just two hits in 3 1/3 innings and struck out three, but he walked seven. He threw 95 pitches, 50 of which were strikes.
Carrington got all its offense in a two-run first inning and a three-run fourth. All five runs were charged to Brodina, though only three were earned due to three Storm errors.
Tayven Wiberg entered in relief and had an even more extreme version of Brodina’s outing. He walked five and struck out zero in the final 3 2/3 innings of the game — but he allowed only one hit and didn’t surrender any runs of his own. He threw 24 strikes and 30 balls. Wiberg has often been effective in long relief this summer. Though he obviously didn’t have his best control on Friday, he was able to flummox the Carrington bats nonetheless and keep the game close.
Devils Lake, though, didn’t score any runs after the third inning. It got one in the second and one in the third, and that was it. The Storm collected four hits total — one from each of Wiberg, Jaxon Strong, Alex Hammond and Isaac Woodhull.
A single from Woodhull and a walk from Brodina brought the potential tying run to the plate in the seventh.
The nightcap wasn’t nearly as close after a third inning that saw nine runs cross the plate for Carrington, which ended up winning 11-2. Riley Brenno-Quale, who typically catches for Devils Lake, got a chance to pitch. He threw 97 pitches in four innings.
Strong had another strong showing at the plate with two hits and an RBI out of the three-hole. Brodina also had a hit and a walk. Devils Lake scored one in each of the first two innings, which made it a 2-2 game before the nine-run onslaught.
Neither team scored after that frame.
Now comes the final week of regular season games for the Devils Lake B team. The Storm will host the Harvey Eagles on Tuesday at 5 p.m., then Bottineau Post 42 on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The sectional tournament starts the following Monday in Cando.
