Photo by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — The Storm B team is setting the foundation of baseball in Devils Lake.
While the A team — comprised mostly of Devils Lake’s varsity players — got its summer season started over in Minot on Tuesday, the B team jumped right back into action at DLYA Field.
Most of their players come from Devils Lake’s JV team. Some of them just finished eighth grade, while others are freshmen or sophomores in high school. But the Storm know they can compete. Last summer, they went neck-and-neck with Cando’s robust group of seniors, falling one game short of the state tournament. They’ve put the future of Devils Lake baseball in good hands.
This year, the B team is coached by a familiar face to Devils Lake sports fans: Dustin Brodina, the championship-winning boys’ basketball coach. Brodina was an assistant coach on the B squad last year, but with the previous head coach, Eric Nygaard, moving over to the A team, Brodina stepped in to lead another group. He’ll also be coaching the Lions A/B all-star basketball team this summer.
“I had a lot of these guys growing up, from eight years old all the way to 14 years old,” Brodina said. “So I know a lot of these guys really well. They know me really well. And I think there’s that confidence level, and maybe a little bit of relaxation level, with a lot of them — I know what to expect out of them, and they know what to expect out of me.”
Devils Lake is also welcoming three players from neighboring Nelson County this summer. Brody Rainsberry is part of the A team, while Landon Sundeen and Lakin Ronningen were both in the B team’s starting lineup on Tuesday.
Sundeen made his presence known with his first ever home run.
“The Nelson County kids are positive. They’re fitting in really well with the rest of the guys here,” Brodina said. “They’re working hard, which I appreciate. And they’re very respectful. They’re gonna have fun. This is gonna be a fun summer.”
In the squad’s first game action, the Storm handled business with two dominant wins over Mayville/Portland Posts #8 & #93 — 9-1 and 12-2 — to start the summer 2-0.
“I’m excited for the guys,” Brodina said. “The first three days of practice, we’ve spent a lot of time hitting on the field, trying to get some of that confidence put into the guys. And they swung the bat really well. They approached the plate with a lot of confidence. Relaxed. And it showed tonight. It was fun. They ran the bases well, we stole bases and we hit the ball.”
Brodina has already had two sons come through the Devils Lake baseball program: Beau and Parker. His youngest son, Ben, who just finished his freshman year, was one of the B squad’s best players last summer and is set to be a key part of the team once again.
It was Ben who got the Storm started on Tuesday in a five-run first inning. Playing shortstop and leading off, Brodina hit a single and advanced two bases on an errant pickoff throw. He came home on a wild pitch to get the scoring started.
“He’s a smart baseball player. He’s played a lot of games under his belt,” Brodina said of his son. “And shortstop is something that he hasn’t always played; he’s kind of been a catcher, but he’s really taken that shortstop role under his arm a little bit.”
Henley Driessen had the big blow, lining a three-run triple to the right-center gap after a pair of walks. Another run came in on a couple defensive blunders by the Patriots — their shortstop dropped a line drive, and their pitcher was indecisive on a comebacker. Devils Lake jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead.
Two more walks and some aggressive baserunning got the Storm two more runs in the second inning. Talan Gregory knocked an RBI single, and he stole home to make it 7-0. Devils Lake went 3-for-4 in stolen-base chances in the frame alone.
Devils Lake starting pitcher Isaac Woodhull was effectively wild. He issued five free passes over three innings, with four walks and a hit batsman. But Brodina started a nice 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the first, and Woodhull worked his way around trouble in the second and third.
Only 29 of Woodhull’s 57 pitches were strikes. But he surrendered just one hit in three scoreless innings.
Gregory relieved Woodhull and threw two perfect innings with two strikeouts. His command let up in his third inning of work, with a walk and a run-scoring double to get M/P on the board. But a shallow flyout and a caught-stealing helped limit the damage.
Patriots pitcher Walker McGillis settled in drastically, retiring seven straight Storm batters. It was quite a turnaround from his ugly start to the game. He ended up going five innings on 82 pitches.
Easton Hanson took over for McGillis in the sixth. Brodina collected his third hit of the game with a double, and Tayven Wiberg lined a two-run single to extend the Storm lead to 9-1.
Gregory finished the game out with a 1-2-3 seventh. He allowed one run on two hits over four strong innings of work.
“We’re pretty strong in the pitching,” Brodina said. “We threw strikes today… Didn’t let them get going.”
The Storm kept swirling in the second game with a 12-2 run-rule victory in six innings.
Riley Brenno-Quale, the team’s typical catcher, threw four innings with only one unearned run allowed. He collected seven strikeouts and allowed just two hits.
“Riley’s another one of them great leaders on this team,” Brodina said. “He caught the whole first game. His arm felt good, and he wanted to get some innings for us. And he did a great job. We just throw strikes, play defense.”
Brodina drew a leadoff walk that ignited another big first inning, this time a four-spot. Isaac Kraft hit a single and got all the way to third on a two-base error, with three runs scoring on the play.
Andrew Hammond added an RBI fielder’s choice in the third.
In the fourth, Sundeen — who’d been quiet thus far — slammed one over the left-field fence for Devils Lake’s first home run of the season.
“We’re gonna hit the ball hard,” Brodina said. “I’m a big guy on hitting the ball hard. I like seeing the ball go over the fence. Landon — that’s his first home run that he’s ever hit — and I told these guys, it’s gonna be the first of many.”
Kraft added his third RBI on his second hit of the game, extending Devils Lake’s lead to 7-1 in the fourth.
Ronningen pitched two innings, allowing a run on a couple free passes despite surrendering no hits. Alex Hammond got one back for Devils Lake in the fifth, though the Storm stranded the bases loaded with the score at 8-2.
They put an end to the night with a four-run sixth. After an infield hit by Jasper Leiphon put runners on the corners, a run scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Woodhull hit a bloop single, and the final two runs came home on an error.
The Storm totaled 21 runs on 21 hits between the two games.
Before long, these kids will be replacing the talented senior class currently going at it for the A team.
“We’ve lost a lot of good baseball players that are gonna be graduating out,” Brodina said. “But this is a pretty confident crew here… I think they’ve got a good chance to do some things in the future.”
The B team continues its season Friday at DLYA Field against Cando Post 79 at 5 p.m.
