MANDAN — Devils Lake had a 2-0 lead against one of the best pitchers in Class A.
But a disastrous first inning sunk the Storm on Friday, handing them their first loss of the Class A state tournament. Wahpeton Post 20, the defending state champion, trounced Devils Lake 10-2 at BNC National Bank Field, fueled by an eight-run bottom of the first. Wahpeton ace Caden Kappes settled in after his shaky first inning, going on to throw 6 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts.
The Storm committed five errors in the loss — hurt by one of the key things that helped them beat Minot 10-0 on Thursday.
“The wheels kind of fell off,” Devils Lake coach Brent Luehring said.
All seemed to be going so well. At least for one half-inning.
Kappes posted a 1.19 ERA this summer. That included an outing against the Storm on June 29, when he limited them to three hits and one run.
And he retired the first two batters of Friday’s game. But Mason Palmer singled, and Jackson Baeth worked out of an 0-2 hole to draw a walk. The runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Trason Beck drove them both in with a double.
All the momentum was on Devils Lake’s side. Fans were cheering. Wahpeton was already growing frustrated with the strike zone. The Storm’s offense had done just what it needed to do, getting to Wahpeton’s ace in the first inning to grab a 2-0 lead.
“I was like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be a really good day for us,’” Luehring said.
But then the bottom of the first happened.
Parker Brodina took the bump for Devils Lake. Brodina hadn’t made a pitching appearance since July 2, a full month ago. But Luehring wanted to throw some heat at Wahpeton, and then complement it with the soft-tossing Taydon Triepke.
The first two batters reached against Brodina on a walk and a single. Then the three-hole hitter singled, and disaster struck. The ball got by Fausten Olson and rolled all the way to the wall. It was a three-run Little League homer.
The Storm had a Little League home run of their own in Thursday’s 10-0 win, but this time, fate was reversed. Luehring had warned them about how deep this ballpark was, and that it might lead to extra bases. They were handed a little bit of their own medicine this time. And three batters into the half-inning, Devils Lake trailed 3-2.
Then shortstop Mason Palmer missed a line drive. Coach Jeff Carpenter made a rare mound visit, trying anything to calm this team down.
But a walk and a single loaded the bases. All six Wahpeton batters had reached.
And with that, Luehring decided he’d seen enough. Brodina, similar to his lone spring postseason performance when he only got one out, was unable to record an out on Friday.
“I feel bad for him,” Luehring said. “His last outing in the sectional tournament kind of started and ended the same way. You feel bad for the kid because he works harder than about anybody I know. It’s just how it works sometimes. Good hitters made him throw it over the plate, and they didn’t miss it.”
With the game still close and potentially salvageable, Luehring brought in Triepke. The southpaw, who usually enters during the game’s final few innings, took the mound with Devils Lake yet to record an out.
Triepke struck out his first batter. But Wahpeton scored a run on a squeeze play, as Triepke made a late flip to the plate. Then second baseman Max Palmer booted a ground ball. Triepke, after issuing a walk, surrendered a single that brought in two more runs.
“I don’t know,” Luehring said of his team’s sudden defensive lapse. “I think one just led to the next, and it kind of snowballed. We played with our heads down rather than keeping our heads up and being tough.”
It was 8-2. Eleven Wahpeton batters had come to the plate, and only one had been retired. Devils Lake committed three errors in the frame, surrendered four hits and walked three batters.
It completely sunk whatever momentum the Storm might have conjured up in the top half.
The first inning finally ended on a double play, with a rundown between third and home. The game was nearly 40 minutes old already.
Devils Lake had multiple baserunners in each of the second and third innings. But rallying out of a six-run hole against the dominant Kappes was a doomed effort.
With the game out of reach, the Storm let Triepke sit after one inning. They brought in Cayden McCarthy, a talented young right-hander who mostly pitched for the B team this summer, but had a strong outing for the A team in Williston near the end of the season.
McCarthy worked around a one-out double in the second inning. In the third inning, Max Palmer’s second error of the game led to a two-out, two-run single, making it a 10-2 Wahpeton lead.
McCarthy mostly settled in from there. He threw a 1-2-3 fourth, then navigated two singles in the fifth. Mason Palmer made a “web gem” type of a play, diving and flipping to second base for the second out of the fifth.
Overall, McCarthy allowed just two unearned runs in five innings of work. He struck out five, walked two and allowed four hits.
“Cayden showed he had some competitiveness, and gave us five innings,” Luehring said. “And gave us an opportunity not to have to throw anybody, and save somebody for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.”
At least one Devils Lake batter reached in every inning against Kappes. But the Wahpeton fan favorite, who won state tournament MVP last summer, struck out Beau Brodina to end the top of the sixth. He got an enormous ovation as he walked off the mound, having just thrown his 101st pitch of the evening.
Kappes retired Max Palmer to start the seventh. His outing, and potentially his Wahpeton pitching career, ended there, as he walked towards the dugout to another standing ovation. He threw 107 pitches.
“I thought we competed a lot better at-bats than we did down in Wahpeton against him,” Luehring said. “I’m actually happy with how we put the ball in play, compared to when we played them down there.”
Devils Lake now heads to the losers’ bracket. It’ll play the No. 1 seed from the West, Bismarck. The teams will commence at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Ben Larson will take the mound after throwing six scoreless innings in the region tournament. If the Storm stay alive, Mason Palmer will pitch the next game.
“I’m gonna go tell the boys right now, ‘We’ve gotta fight and play another day,’” Luehring said. “We believe in the kids we’ve got. And we believe in the arms we have. Just gotta be able to show up tomorrow and turn the page. We did it last week. We’ve gotta do it again this week.”
