Simon Beach/Photo by Noah Clooten
FARGO — The wind breezed through a warm, slightly cloudy day for playoff baseball at Jack Williams Stadium.
But Devils Lake, despite entering the Class A East Division Tournament as the No. 1 seed, was edged out by the No. 9 seed, Valley City Post 60, 3-2 on Thursday. Valley City’s Carver Pederson out-dueled Devils Lake’s Simon Beach, throwing a complete game with four hits, four strikeouts and no walks. The Storm didn’t score after the second inning.
“Four hits ain’t gonna get it done, man,” Devils Lake coach Brent Luehring said. “The kid did a good job. Kept us off balance.”
Devils Lake came into the game seeming to carry itself with the cool, calm demeanor of a No. 1 seed.
And everything was going so well. Beach started the inning doing what he does best: retiring the side on six pitches. Then in the bottom half, both Palmers reached on errors (though Mason’s was a hard line drive that arguably could have been ruled a hit).
In any case, Trason Beck came up clutch. Beck’s production was a huge boost to this offense all summer, and he got the postseason started with an RBI single to give Devils Lake a 1-0 lead.
But the Royals didn’t roll over. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning after a single, a hit by pitch and a bunt hit. Devils Lake argued that the bunt was a foul ball, but to no avail.
Beach induced a chopper over his head that he couldn’t quite reach, allowing the tying run to come home. Second baseman Max Palmer got the only out he could at first base, but it became a 1-1 game.
Beach, with literal jets flying mere feet above the stadium while he worked through a jam, bore down to make some critical pitches. He induced a fly ball that wasn’t deep enough to get a run in, and stranded two runners in scoring position with the game still tied.
Devils Lake caught another fortunate break to go back ahead in the bottom half. Parker Brodina was hit by a pitch, then advanced two bases on a wild pitch due to a mental lapse by the Royals. Fausten Olson got the job done with an RBI groundout, and the Storm led 2-1.
Beach bounced back on his end with a 1-2-3 third inning. He bellowed a “Let’s go!” while Olson navigated a routine fly ball that became adventurous because of the wind.
But he couldn’t hold the Royals at bay in the fourth. Beach recorded his first strikeout of the day for the second out, but Valley City singled and stole second, and a two-out single tied the game at two apiece.
The Devils Lake offense, meanwhile, left a runner in scoring position in the third and fourth inning against Pederson.
Pederson led off the fifth inning and laid down a bunt hit. Third baseman Jackson Baeth got too ambitious with his attempted throw. He sailed it into foul territory, and the runner got two extra bases out of it. Just a batter later, Valley City went ahead 3-2 on a single.
“They kind of got us at our own game,” Luehring said.
Beach calmed the damage from there. But Devils Lake’s 2-3-4 hitters went down just as quickly in the bottom half. They did the same in the sixth, going down 1-2-3 with strikeouts of Hunter Remmick and P. Brodina.
“He got in a groove and just kind of rolled through,” Luehring said. “And we were hitting his pitches rather than hitting our pitches. You tip your hat to him.”
Beach matched Pederson with a 1-2-3 seventh. Despite a few hiccups, he gave Devils Lake a typically noble effort, throwing a complete game on 80 pitches. He allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits, while striking out two and not walking anybody.
“He did what he does all year long,” Luehring said. “Pitches around jams. Gets in and out. Competes his tail off. Yeah, he did his job today.”
But Pederson was just a little better. He set the first two down in the seventh, as the Storm batters continued to swing early in the count and make weak contact. B. Brodina made things interesting with a two-out triple, but Max Palmer popped out to end the game.
Pederson allowed just two runs (one earned) while throwing 77 pitches.
Now the Storm find themselves in a stickier situation. They need to win their next two games to keep their season alive and make it to the state tournament. They can no longer win the East Division Tournament, but they can still make it to state as the No. 3 or 4 seed from the East.
There’s no room for error now, though. They’ll play at 2:30 p.m. on Friday against the loser of Thursday night’s game between the No. 4 Fargo Post 2 Bombers and No. 5 Kindred Post 117. The loser goes home. The winner advances to play on Saturday with a chance to go to state.
