Photo by Noah Clooten
MANDAN — Devils Lake established its dominance Thursday evening.
After having to grind through the region tournament to even get to the state tournament, the Storm did just about everything right in their state tournament opener. Playing at Mandan Veterans Memorial Ballpark as the No. 3 seed from the East, they matched up against Minot, the No. 2 seed from the West.
They run-ruled the Metros 10-0 in five innings. Jackson Baeth hit an over-the-wall-homer, Max Palmer hit a Little League homer and Simon Beach threw five no-hit innings. Minot committed eight errors in a defensive disaster, helping Devils Lake soar to victory.
“It feels great to get over that hump and come out here and bust one open like that,” Beach said. “That’s what we’ve been going for all year, and it just feels so good.”
Devils Lake’s first inning with the bats didn’t go great. Max Palmer reached on an error, but Mason Palmer grounded into an inning-ending double play. The Storm hitters still weren’t working the count like they did in the regular season, a problem that plagued them in the region tournament.
“That first inning, we kinda hit balls at guys,” Storm coach Brent Luehring said. “I was like, ‘Oh crap, we’re gonna be in for a long day.’”
But Baeth completely flipped the narrative around. He came to the plate in the second inning and rocketed one far beyond the left field fence. He turned towards the Devils Lake dugout, pumping his chest as he ran around the bases.
“Honestly, I thought it was a double. I thought it was gonna go off the wall,” Baeth said. “And then it went out when I touched first base. And I just was like, ‘Holy crap.’ And then I screamed at our dugout and ran home.”
The slugging third baseman led Devils Lake’s spring team with three home runs. But Thursday’s blast was only his second of the summer, and his first since June 11.
“Now I can stop letting them give me crap for leading the team in home runs in spring, and being second on the team in home runs now,” Baeth said. “So I’m glad I caught up with them tonight. They can’t give me crap anymore.”
Then some shoddy defense helped the Storm build upon their lead. Trason Beck singled, and Parker Brodina and Ben Larson laid down back-to-back sacrifice bunts. The catcher threw away Brodina’s bunt, so the runners made it to second and third with one out.
Will Heilman hit a ground ball that the shortstop then threw away. Both runners scored, and Devils Lake led 3-0.
“They must have had some sort of scouting report, because that guy tried to fill us up with a bunch of curveballs,” Luehring said. “I’m pretty proud. We were pretty disciplined with it. We didn’t get ourselves out today; that’s a big deal for me.”
Beach, meanwhile, took the mound as the Storm’s frontline starter and beacon of consistency. He fell behind on the first two batters, but still induced weak contact from all three hitters in a 1-2-3 first inning.
And after his offense gave him a lead to work with, Beach shut the Metros down in the second inning. He collected his first strikeout in the process.
“I’ve been harping on the guys all week,” Beach said. “I’m not trying to be mean, but I was telling them, ‘You guys gotta give me run support.’ And we’re gonna come out here and win a lot of games if we can get run support and get everything clicking.”
Mason Palmer tapped a sacrifice bunt in the third inning, and the pitcher threw it all the way into deep right field. It was a three-base throwing error that scored Max Palmer, who led off the frame with a line-drive single.
Baeth brought home the second Palmer of the inning with an RBI groundout, making it a 5-0 Storm advantage.
“We’re executing,” Baeth said. “We made some great adjustments. The kid was throwing a lot of curveballs. Had a lot of singles up the middle off of him, and it was very intriguing to see all our guys and adjust and hit the ball.”
Minot’s first baserunner came on an error with two outs in the bottom of the third. It was a fly ball that right fielder Heilman completely lost in the sun. Beach still got through the third inning without allowing hits or walks.
Max Palmer swatted his second single of the game in the fourth inning, and came around to score on a classic Little League home run. It got by the center fielder for a two-base error, and he scored on a throwing error from the shortstop.
“He’s actually got a hip flexor issue, so he was kind of waddling around the bases as fast as he could,” Luehring said. “So it wasn’t the prettiest thing. But that’s awesome to see. I mean, it’s a big ballpark. We’ve been talking to our outfielders: If the ball goes to the fence, people are gonna get extra bases.”
Devils Lake now led 6-0. Minot already had six errors through four innings of play.
Beach, unusually, walked two of the first three hitters in the bottom of the fourth. But he retired the next two, the latter on a sliding catch by shortstop Mason Palmer. He still hadn’t allowed a hit and was at 65 pitches through four innings, which is a lot by his pristine standards.
“I don’t know where those two walks came out of,” Beach said. “Those are uncharacteristic by all means. I don’t know if I just didn’t have a feel for my fastball, and was getting my footing and stepping right on the mound. I just gotta tell myself, ‘You gotta put it over the plate and make ‘em hit it.’”
Two more Minot errors helped Devils Lake load the bases in the fifth. Then Larson lined a single, and Heilman added a two-run double. The Storm were really piling it on now, and Fausten Olson made it 10-0 with a sacrifice fly.
Larson went 2-for-2 with a sacrifice, his second multi-hit game since replacing Hunter Remmick in the lineup.
“We’ve got a lot of guys we can play,” Luehring said. “We’re just gonna go with the hot hand, and he kind of proved it the last two games down in Fargo. So we’re just gonna keep riding it. He’s got a really good swing; he’s just gotta be disciplined with it and know who he is.”
Beach got the job done in the bottom half, finishing off the run-rule victory and the no-hitter. Mason Palmer made the final two plays, including a strong throw from deep in the hole.
Overall, Beach’s five-inning no-hitter came with two strikeouts, two walks and 76 pitches.
“I thought right away I started off hot,” Beach said. “And then a couple innings, I don’t know what happened, if it was just a little bit of trouble on the mound, maybe a little fatigue. It’s pretty hot out. But I felt like I lost it a little bit, and I had all these guys, great teammates on and off the field, just picking me up and keeping me locked in.”
Devils Lake now advances to a 7:30 p.m. game on Friday. The Storm will play the winner of Thursday night’s game between Mandan (West No. 4 seed) and Wahpeton (East No. 1 seed).
“I’m excited,” Baeth said, “because I’ve never been here like this before, in this situation where we’re — I don’t want to jinx it — but we’re kind of one of the favorites to win it. We’re a good team. And it’s just exciting to be a part of it, and hanging out with the guys one last weekend, and win it all, hopefully.”
