WEST FARGO — Devils Lake had at least one baserunner in all 14 innings of its stay in the EDC tournament.
The Firebirds didn’t score a single run.
Friday’s 2-0 loss to West Fargo Horace, which ended Devils Lake’s season, was a similar story as Thursday’s 1-0 defeat to Fargo South. The Firebirds were never sent down 1-2-3 in an inning in either game, but they could never find the timely hit they needed.
“We hit a lot of balls hard today. I was pretty happy with our approach,” Devils Lake head coach Brent Luehring said. “Just hit it right at guys.”
They had a collective .298 OBP over the two games — which is an underwhelming but not terrible number, one that would typically have at least a couple runs accompany it. They totaled five hits and four walks on Friday.
“Just trying to be positive,” Luehring said of the vibe in the dugout. “The pressure was on them guys. Those are the 2 seed. We were just here competing, trying to extend our season and keep our guys up. I thought the guys who weren’t playing did a good job of keeping our guys up, and just trying to tell them that something’s gonna break through.”
A combination of Hunter Remmick, Taydon Triepke and Will Heilman kept Devils Lake in the game on the mound. But the No. 2-seeded Hawks (23-8) ultimately prevailed over the No. 6-seeded Firebirds (11-11), sending Horace to a state qualifier game and ending Devils Lake’s season.
Lefty Austin Ohleen threw a complete-game shutout on 102 pitches. Despite the final result, his day got off to a shaky start, when he was all around in the zone in the first inning. The Firebirds made him throw 23 pitches in the opening frame, just 10 of which were strikes. Mason Palmer and Remmick drew back-to-back walks, but Trason Beck struck out to end the threat.
Ben Larson hit a hard two-out single in the second. But he was stranded at first, following a bunt groundout by Taydon Triepke.
For Devils Lake, Remmick was given a lot of help by his defense over the first few innings. In the first, Parker Brodina snared a hard liner and doubled a runner off second base. In the second inning, a walk was erased on a runner thrown out by Beck from behind the plate.
Then in the third, a leadoff single was taken away on a 6-3 double play turned by Mason Palmer. The Hawks ended up stranding the bases loaded, leaving the double play looming even larger.
Remmick survived four walks and two hits through the first three innings. The game was still knotted at zeroes.
Olson singled with one out in the third, getting Devils Lake yet another baserunner. Mason Palmer and Remmick each hit one well to right-center, nearly reaching the gap but merely flying out to end another scoreless inning.
Brodina drew a one-out walk in the fourth. Heilman nearly got a hit to shallow right field, but the right fielder made a sliding catch and doubled Brodina off first base. The baserunning lapse only sunk Devils Lake into a deeper hole.
Remmick, despite navigating traffic early on, never found his usual groove. He surrendered two singles in the fourth, the latter of which was nearly caught by a hustling Heilman.
“He didn’t get ahead of guys today,” Luehring said of Remmick. “It kind of worked maybe in our favor; they were probably sitting dead-red and we were able to throw offspeed.”
Triepke, a crafty southpaw, inherited a sticky one-out situation. He gave up a hit to Cooper Fuchs that finally brought home the first run of the game for either team. But he settled down after that, holding Devils Lake’s deficit at 1-0 after a strikeout and a popout.
Remmick ended up getting charged with one run in 3 1/3 innings.
Another two-out rally went for naught in the top of the fifth. Max Palmer walked, and Olson collected his second hit of the day. But Mason Palmer hit into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.
Heilman, who’s had success as a starting pitcher despite being low on the depth chart, took over for Triepke in the fifth. Horace added an insurance run a double by Cason Borchardt. Heilman bounced back with a 1-2-3 sixth to keep the game close.
“Our pitching staff did exactly what we asked of them,” Luehring said. “Just scatter hits, and get in the dugout and give us an opportunity. I’m really proud of the way we threw the ball all year long.”
Beck hit a one-out single in the sixth, and pinch-hitter Easton Kraft lined a one-out single in the seventh. Neither advanced past first base as the same old story repeated itself until Devils Lake was out of outs.
Thus ended the spring season. It was a campaign full of quality pitching that offset some of the Firebirds’ offensive struggles at times.
“We don’t have a lot of guys that are gonna overwhelm anybody. There’s probably close to 20 guys in this league that throw the ball upper 80s. And we don’t have that,” Luehring said. “I’m happy with the way we pitched and played D all year long. We just couldn’t get timely hits off and on all year — and in the EDC tournament, that’s what showed. Our flaw is not getting that third hit. When you didn’t score a run in the EDC tournament, it’s hard to win a game.”
The good news for the Firebirds is their spring Legion season starts on June 3. They’ll be playing some competitive teams and adding a few kids from Nelson County to their roster.
The Devils Lake Storm will look to defend last year’s state tournament appearance.
“I’m excited,” Luehring said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with these guys, so to have a couple more months with them, and hopefully we can build off of what we had here, competing with the best teams… Hopefully our older kids can set the tone, and we can have a good summer.”
