FARGO — Devils Lake took a 6-4 loss to Fargo North in its regular-season finale Wednesday.
The Firebirds (11-9, 12-10) were assured the No. 6 seed in the EDC with the loss. The Spartans (12-10, 8-12) entered the day as the No. 8 seed and moved into a momentary tie for No. 7. A win could have given Devils Lake a chance at the No. 4 or 5 seed.
The Firebirds took an early lead and were in the game most of the way, but they ultimately didn’t have enough juice offensively. It came a day after only barely beating last-place Grand Forks Central 1-0.
“I don’t know what’s going on, man,” Devils Lake head coach Brent Luehring said. “We’re just not playing with much energy these last couple games. And yeah, it’s showing.”
Parker Brodina, after recovering from a blister on his finger, gave Devils Lake five decent innings. He allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and four walks while striking out five.
“I thought he battled. I thought the plate was a little tough for him,” Luehring said. “We thought there were some pitches that could have gone our way, but they didn’t… I didn’t think he was his best, but he did enough.”
Pitching for the Spartans was right-hander Ben Sheets, a sophomore with long, flowing hair and a solid 12-6 curve. Devils Lake scratched out run against him in each of the first two innings.
Right away, Max Palmer hit a hard grounder on a curve that Sheets left over the middle. It bounced past North shortstop Elijah Enger for a leadoff error. Sheets then induced three straight ground balls — but the third was mishandled by Enger on a fielder’s choice attempt, allowing Mason Palmer to score all the way from second.
Reaching on the play was Easton Kraft, a talented sophomore with limited varsity experience. Luehring had the confidence to bat him fifth. Kraft, who entered the day 2-for-7 on the season, went 0-for-3.
“We’re just looking for a spark,” Luehring said. “We’re just looking for some people that can barrel some balls with guys on. And it seems like every time we put him in, whether it’s been a JV game or varsity game, it seems like he barrels a baseball. Today, he didn’t, but I’m not gonna lose confidence in him.”
Trason Beck kept the inning alive with a single, but Will Heilman struck out looking with the bases loaded. Devils Lake was still gifted a run in the opening frame to go up 1-0.
Devils Lake leadoff hitter Max Palmer, who entered the game with a .345 batting average, came up clutch in the second inning with an RBI single to score Brodina, who had walked.
Palmer completed a very strong regular season on Wednesday, one that included vast improvements from last year.
“Him and I put a lot of time in together on his swing,” Luehring said. “He’s the kid that just — he’s tough. And you won’t find a kid that wants to do better than him… He critiques himself constantly, and he’s really hard on himself. He holds himself to a high standard. I’m happy that he’s put it together this year, because him and Fausten [Olson] at the top of the lineup have really done their jobs.”
Devils Lake led 2-0 through two innings, but it left more on the board. Palmer was thrown out trying to advance to second on the throw, and Olson followed with a double that went for naught.
North already had three errors through the first two innings.
For the Firebirds on the mound, Brodina entered with a 1.29 ERA in 21 innings this season.
He issued a leadoff walk in each of the first two innings, and it came back to bite him in an ugly second inning. The Spartans had three straight hard-hit balls against Brodina. The first was caught by Olson in center, but the next two were doubles to knot the game up at two apiece. With two outs, Brodina induced a high popup above home plate, and he called off Beck, but it dropped right out of his glove. Fortunately for Brodina, it landed in foul territory, but it still prolonged the inning.
With runners on the corners, the North runner distracted Devils Lake in between first and second, and the runner on third broke for home. North got two extra bases from a wild throw home by Mason Palmer. A rough inning became disastrous as the Spartans took a 3-2 lead.
Brodina got a groundout to short to strand a runner on third, finally bringing an end to the frame. The game was flipped on its head with Devils Lake now down by one.
The Firebirds’ offense went down in order after the bad inning. Sheets settled in after the early traffic, throwing a scoreless third and fourth.
Brodina worked around a first-and-third, two-out situation in the third, but the Firebirds gifted the Spartans a run in the fourth. After a one-out double, shortstop Mason Palmer made his second error of the game to make it 4-2.
Devils Lake caught a break in the fifth, as a fly ball by Hunter Remmick landed barely fair for an RBI triple. It brought in Mason Palmer, who had legged out an infield single. Devils Lake, despite some sluggish middle innings, trailed by only one.
Mason Palmer, who hasn’t pitched much lately, entered in the sixth after pitching an inning the day prior. He was greeted with a homer to right-center field by eight-hitter Harper Schultz. It was the first long ball in a Devils Lake game this entire season — either for or against.
Palmer didn’t have his best stuff. Two more hits and and a walk brought in another run for the Spartans, who led 6-3 after the insurance.
“We’re just trying to find innings for him,” Luehring said. “And we figured maybe we can keep it at 4-3 with him in there, and maybe go win it or get it tied in the seventh. They put two barrels on the ball, and I think the wind blew that curveball out that [Schultz] hit out. And yeah, that kind of killed the momentum.”
The two extra runs proved costly in the end. The Firebirds got nothing in the sixth after a Heilman double play, but they showed some final life in the seventh. Mason Palmer hit an RBI single with the Firebirds down to their final out to score Larson. It was too little, too late as Devils Lake took a frustrating 6-4 defeat.
The Firebirds now await their Tuesday travel destination for the first round of the EDC tournament. The way the standings shape up as of Wednesday, they’ll play the No. 3 seed, which will either be West Fargo Horace or Fargo South.
“I know we can compete with the top of the EDC,” Luehring said. “But if it’s anything like last year, where the 5, 6, 7 and 8 seeds won in the first round and the 1, 2, 3, 4 didn’t, I think that’s kind of how you look at the season and the scores. I think anybody can beat anybody on any given day… That’s the beauty about baseball… I’m a big believer in if you play the game hard and the right way, that usually, good things happen. So hopefully we can get turn the page and get back to that style of baseball before next week.”
