Photo by Noah Clooten
FARGO — Devils Lake is heading to the Class A state tournament.
Despite losing to the No. 9 seed and combining for three runs in their first two games of the playoffs, the No. 1 Storm found a way to sneak into a state bid. They eked out a 4-2 victory over No. 3 West Fargo on Saturday at Jack Williams Stadium, fueled by an inning that featured four consecutive bunts and a massive clutch hit by Jackson Baeth.
“It feels amazing,” Baeth said. “I haven’t had this feeling since like 15U when you get an automatic bid in. So it feels great to finally get over the hump. And we’ve been close the last few years; we’ve had great teams, and we finally pieced it together. We had a little adversity at the start of the tournament, but this team fights.”
On the mound, Devils Lake opted to go with Hunter Remmick instead of Mason Palmer, who threw 16 pitches in the seventh inning of Friday’s game. Remmick pitched the first four innings for the Storm, allowing two runs on five hits.
“Everybody in the world probably thought we were gonna go to Mason,” Devils Lake coach Brent Luehring said. “But we had a pretty good scouting report. They’re pretty overaggressive. We tried to change speeds with Hunter.”
Remmick threw an easy 1-2-3 first inning on 11 pitches, inducing soft contact from all three hitters.
Max Palmer hit a one-out single for Devils Lake, but the Storm otherwise went down quietly in the first as well.
With one out in the second inning, Remmick allowed a single, and then a long double off the wall that sent the Aces ahead 1-0. A strikeout and a lineout to center limited the damage.
But the Storm went to work in the bottom half, almost entirely with a small ball approach — which included four bunts in a row. Catcher Trason Beck got them started with a leadoff single, and then Parker Brodina hustled for a bunt hit. The runners advanced into scoring position on a passed ball.
Ben Larson, getting the start at DH with Remmick pitching, laid down a bunt, and nobody covered first base. Courtesy runner Cayden McCarthy sprinted home with the tying run.
Will Heilman sacrifice bunted Larson over to second, and then Fausten Olson tapped the team’s fourth straight bunt. He was thrown out at first, but he got the job done. Brodina scored to give Devils Lake the lead.
“We’ve worked on it every day since March,” Luehring said. “They believe in it. It wins us games, and it showed today. If we can execute our game, and play our way, we’re hard to beat.”
Beau Brodina, the Storm’s star leadoff hitter, drew one of his signature walks to keep the inning alive. He stole second, and Larson scored on an errant throw by the catcher. It capped an impressive three-run inning that the Storm really had to grind for.
But the Aces fought right back. Three hits, including a two-out RBI single, cut Devils Lake’s lead to 3-2. Right fielder Heilman’s throw sailed over Beck’s head, which advanced the runners and almost brought home the tying run.
Remmick got an absolutely massive out to strand the potential go-ahead runs in scoring position. It was a soft groundout to Max Palmer, keeping Devils Lake ahead by the skin of its teeth.
Remmick’s day on the mound ended after four innings and 60 pitches. He got hit around a bit in the middle of his outing, but he found a way to limit the Aces’ offense with soft contact.
“I told Hunter he’s gotta give us three to four today,” Luehring said. “He’s pitched in some big games for us. Back in 15U, two years ago, he qualified us for the Midwest regionals and state championship. It’s never gonna be too big for him. He knows who he is. He wiggled around it, threw the ball over the plate.”
Left-hander Taydon Triepke took over, as he often does near the end of games. He threw a six-pitch fifth inning, inducing three flyouts of various speeds and angles to left fielder B. Brodina.
With hits still not exactly coming in droves for Devils Lake, it tacked on an enormous insurance run in the fifth. Max Palmer got the Storm started with a single, and Mason Palmer bunted him over for the cleanup hitter, Baeth.
Devils Lake’s third baseman came through with a single to left.
“I finally felt like I was seeing the ball well today after the last few games,” Baeth said. “And I was just looking for a fastball. I knew he was gonna try to shoot knees on me. That’s where he was the first at-bat.”
The hit was initially too shallow to score Max Palmer. Baeth took a wide turn around first, though, and almost got hung up between first and second. He dove back into first base, and the play might have been close had the catcher not sailed it into right field.
So Palmer scored easily, and Baeth got to second.
“At first, it was ‘Oh crap’ running through my head,” Baeth said. “But then I saw the catcher wasn’t really aggressive. He was gonna throw me out at first. So I just wanted to get back. And then I saw the ball in right field, and Luehring’s telling me to get the heck up and run.”
The Storm still weren’t swinging their best bats, but they got what they needed. Their lead was at 4-2 — which proved to be enough in the end.
“We’re just being loose, and not thinking so much,” Baeth said. “Coach gave us a demonstration on his board: We’re .400 hitters with our bodies. We’re all talented. We’re .300 hitters with our eyes because we all see the ball well. But we’re .200 hitters with our mindsets. So if we just get our mind right, we’ll be able to hit well. Today, we had better approaches.”
Triepke had gotten the first five outs for Devils Lake, but he surrendered back-to-back hits in the sixth. The latter hit was a rocket into the left field corner, which was only a single because the lead runner was not particularly fleet of foot.
With the tying runs on base, Luehring paid Triepke a visit.
And on the next pitch, he induced a popout to Baeth in foul territory. It was the second one of the inning, running up close against the West Fargo dugout.
Devils Lake threatened for more insurance in the sixth, getting singles from Heilman and Olson. West Fargo intentionally walked Max Palmer to load the bases for Mason Palmer, who popped out, thus ending the threat.
But Triepke stayed in and got the final three outs. He gave up a leadoff single, then retired the next three batters.
Overall, Triepke pitched three scoreless innings with three hits allowed. He struck out one and walked zero.
“Taydon’s done that all summer for us,” Luehring said. “We’re not afraid to go to him. Just that left side; not that he has a lot of run or anything, it’s just something different. He pounds the zone.”
The Storm will be competing in the state tournament in Mandan from Aug. 1-5. It wasn’t easy, but they got it done, and now they can celebrate.
“We have probably one of the better teams in this league,” Luehring said. “They played like it. It didn’t go our way the first game, but the boys, they rebounded. They could have hung their heads, and went out yesterday in a 1-0 game. They did everything right. They played our type of baseball today.”
The Storm play another game Saturday at 5 p.m. to decide their seeding. Either way, they’re in.
“It’s gonna be good to keep getting reps, keep building on what we just got to in this game,” Baeth said. “And get us ready to go to state.”
