Will Heilman/Photo by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — After a long spring and summer, Devils Lake played its last games at DLYA Field this year on Friday.
The Storm brought the American Legion regular season to a close with a doubleheader sweep over Thompson Post 181 (19-9). They grinded out a win in the seven-inning game, 4-3, then cruised to victory in the five-inning nightcap, 8-2. Their winning streak, which is now at 10 games, brought their final regular season record to 24-7 ahead of the playoffs, where they’ll enter next week’s regional tournament as the No. 1 seed.
“That’s a really good team. I think they’ve won the last three high school state championships and the last three Class B state championships,” Devils Lake coach Brent Luehring said of Thompson. “So I was proud.”
Game 1: Devils Lake 4, Thompson 3
Devils Lake fended off a late comeback by Thompson with a walk-off victory in the first game. Pitcher Hunter Remmick turned in a strong outing, but he couldn’t get the final out. Max Palmer and Beau Brodina used their bats to bail him out in the bottom half. The Storm also benefitted from Thompson’s nine-hitter accidentally missing the plate on a home run.
Taydon Triepke’s single led Devils Lake to strike first, as a wild pickoff throw allowed a run to score in the second inning. Then Brodina singled in another, giving the Storm a 2-0 lead.
On the mound, Remmick didn’t have his best command at the beginning. But he worked through it, fighting through deep counts to keep Thompson off the board. He survived two free passes in the first inning. He started the second inning with back-to-back strikeouts, but then two walks and an error loaded the bases.
Luehring paid him a visit.
“He just wasn’t locating right away,” Luehring said. “Fifty pitches through two innings; I don’t know. He just wasn’t himself.”
Remmick stayed composed, recording his third strikeout of the inning to strand three.
Devils Lake worked two free passes of its own in the bottom of the third. Will Heilman cashed in with a two-out single up the middle, extending the lead to 3-0.
A leadoff error in the top of the fourth kept the frame alive for the nine-hitter, Jeremy Tyce — who was batting right after Braden Tyce. Jeremy smashed one over the left-center field fence for Thompson’s first hit, appearing to cut the advantage to 3-2.
But Jeremy missed the plate on the way home. Nearly everybody noticed it. A whole chorus of parents was chanting “He didn’t touch home! He didn’t touch home!” So Remmick appealed, tossing it to catcher Trason Beck, and the umpire confirmed that Jeremy didn’t touch the plate. He was ruled out, so the inning ended on what went down in the books as an RBI triple. The second run was negated, and Devils Lake still had a 3-1 lead.
“I didn’t catch it,” Luehring said. “Thank goodness the crowd did.”
The homer-turned-triple was Thompson’s first base hit of the game thus far.
“I heard that that’s that kid’s first,” Luehring said. “Well, it was his first.”
The Storm committed their third error in the sixth inning, but Remmick retired the next three. He finished the frame with his third strikeout of the tall Drew Odenbach, and his fifth punchout overall.
“I’m glad he worked through it,” Luehring said. “And we played defense behind him to keep us in it. He did everything we asked of him.”
Remmick was one out away from finishing a complete game having allowed just one hit. But Thompson lined back-to-back singles, which knocked Remmick out of the game with 108 pitches to his name.
Devils Lake still had a game to win, suddenly dealing with the tying runs on base and the go-ahead run at the plate. The Storm brought in their closer, Jackson Baeth, who surrendered a line-drive single up the middle to the first batter he faced.
That loaded the bases for cleanup hitter William Welke, who snuck a soft grounder through the left side. It got by the diving infielders, allowing two runs to score.
It was tied. Just like that. Thompson knocked four consecutive hits after only tallying one during the previous 6 2/3 innings.
But all was not lost. Baeth stranded the bases loaded to keep things tied, and Brodina led off the bottom half with a deep triple to left-center. Palmer wasted little time walking the game off with a sacrifice fly to center field.
So it was a tally in the W column in any case, despite the Storm briefly coughing up a seemingly comfortable lead.
“I told the kids, ‘We’re gonna be in that type of game next week,’” Luehring said. “We’ve gotta be able to forget about it and pick each other up, and we did.”
Game 2: Devils Lake 8, Thompson 2
The five-inning game was a little less stressful.
Devils Lake loaded the bases in the bottom of the first, and Simon Beach, getting a rare start at second base, drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in the game’s first run. Cayden McCarthy made it 2-0 with an RBI fielder’s choice. The Storm collected three walks in the inning and left the bases loaded.
Heilman, coming off a one-out shutout last weekend in Williston, permitted a run in the second inning after a double, along with an error on a soft grounder to third. He still struck out two in his first two innings of work.
Leading 2-1, the Storm had a chance to add on with the bases loaded in the bottom half. Garrison Elfman worked a walk, and Palmer and Remmick singled. But Beach popped out this time.
Thompson threatened with a pair of free passes to start the third, and a sacrifice bunt put the go-ahead runners in scoring position. Heilman bore down, getting the next two hitters to go fishing. His third and fourth strikeouts of the evening kept Devils Lake up 2-1.
The Storm rallied for three in the bottom half to give themselves some breathing room. Easton Kraft smacked an RBI double, while Fausten Olson and Palmer added RBI singles, making it 5-1.
Palmer replaced Heilman for the final two innings. Heilman limited Thompson to one unearned run on two hits in his three innings of work. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
“He’s one of those kids where when things are going good, things are really going good,” Luehring said. “He’s a young kid. He’s gotta get used to the up and down of the season roller coaster. Hopefully he’s starting to peak at the right time here.”
Olson made a running catch in center to help Palmer throw a scoreless fourth.
Devils Lake got three more insurance runs in the bottom half — the first on a double from Triepke, who reached base three times in the nightcap. Beach was thrown out trying to score after a collective moment of confusion on the bases. Olson tapped an infield single into the hole at shortstop, and finally, Palmer worked a bases-loaded walk to make it 8-1. It was Palmer’s fourth time reaching base in the second game.
Palmer allowed a run on three hits in the fifth, but otherwise finished out the game.
Six days from now, on Thursday, the Storm will play their first-round matchup in Fargo.
“We’re playing pretty well,” Luehring said. “You always worry about a little bit of a layover here until the tournament, but I’m glad we played today. And we’ve got six days to rest up and prep next week for whoever we play.”
