Ben Larson (Photo by Noah Clooten)
KINDRED — There was an inkling of dissatisfaction after a blowout became a close game, but all in all it was a good evening at the ballyard for Devils Lake on Wednesday.
The Storm swept a doubleheader over Kindred Post 117. Ben Larson’s dominant outing led them to a 2-0 win in the first game. They drew a drove of walks early in the second game — nine in total — to complete the sweep with a 6-4 victory. Devils Lake improved to 8-6 on the season, having won eight of its last 10. These were also the Storm’s first two conference wins, making them 2-2 in league play.
“I thought we pitched it well today,” Devils Lake coach Brent Luehring said. “Swung it well at times. I don’t know; just a weird, funky day with the weather — I don’t know what it was. Benny threw great the first game… We’re not gonna complain. We’ll take two league games.”
Game 1: Devils Lake 2, Kindred 0
The way this game game was going, it was only natural that the first run would finally be scored without the benefit of a hit.
Larson and Jack McDonald traded zeroes for five innings. It was Devils Lake that struck first, as the Kindred defense let up for two errors in the sixth inning to bring a run across for the Storm. Devils Lake held on for the 2-0 win.
Larson, who’s set a standard of effectiveness this season, had one of his best outings of the year. He threw a complete-game shutout on 68 pitches (45 strikes), allowing just two hits. He struck out two and didn’t issue any walks or hit-by-pitches.
“I heard they were a pretty aggressive team, which they were. They swung early in counts,” Luehring said. “He did his job. Kept them off balance and trusted his D. And that’s just what Ben does.”
Devils Lake’s offense scattered three hits over the first three innings. Mason Palmer singled in the first but was caught trying to steal second. Easton Kraft and Max Palmer recorded two-out hits in the third, but the Storm had nothing to show for it.
Larson got through two perfect innings on 17 pitches. He retired the first eight batters he faced, including three flyouts to center field in the second inning.
Gabriel Iverson, Kindred’s No. 9 hitter, broke the streak with a two-out double in the third. But right fielder Brody Rainsberry made a basket catch to keep the game scoreless.
Larson bounced back with a 1-2-3 fourth. A 5-4-3 double play helped him through the fifth. He ended the sixth by pumping a fastball past Kindred leadoff hitter Brady Baumgarten for his first strikeout of the evening. He had only 57 pitches through six scoreless innings.
Messy fielding allowed Devils Lake to get a run in each of the final two innings. In the sixth, Kraft and Fausten Olson reached on errors by the third baseman and second baseman, respectively, to put runners on the corners. Mason Palmer then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that died in the grass to bring in a run.
Rainsberry led off the seventh with a double. He scored on a ball hit by Trason Beck that clanked off the shortstop’s glove for another error. It was 2-0 Devils Lake, through no fault of McDonald’s.
McDonald managed to strand Rainsberry after he made it to third with one out. The Kindred right-hander was charged with two unearned runs on five hits in seven innings. He struck out two and didn’t issue any walks. He took the tough-luck loss.
Larson added his second strikeout in a perfect seventh inning to shut the door. After retiring the first eight batters of the game, he set down the final eight in order. The game was done in under 90 minutes.
“I challenged him,” Luehring said of Larson. “I said we’d like to bring him back on Monday next week, just because of where we’re at with the starters and healthy arms. And I said, ‘We’ve gotta go out there and attack the zone.’”
Game 2: Devils Lake 6, Kindred 4
The Storm outlasted the Vikings in just an all-around strange baseball game. Devils Lake jumped out to a big early lead despite not recording a hit until the sixth inning. Kindred chipped back and made it a game, but the Storm managed to hold on behind seven gritty innings from Rainsberry. The Devils Lake offense totaled just three hits.
“I don’t care how many hits we have, as long as the win column is in the right column,” Luehring said with a laugh.
Ben Brodina got the chance to catch, with Beck sliding to first base. Luehring previously indicated he would do this more often, given how well Brodina’s played lately and to give Beck’s legs some rest. Remmick got a rest from the starting lineup, while the red-hot Will Heilman moved up to the three-hole.
“We’re just trying to get a spark,” Luehring said. “Just trying to find a combination, trying to challenge guys, trying to say that we can play 12 guys that can all compete. Trying to find somebody that can hit a barrel.”
Kindred starter Kelby Erdmann issued seven walks in the first two innings. Devils Lake scored an astonishing five runs without a hit.
With runners on the corners in the first inning, Olson and Mason Palmer pulled off a double steal to make it 1-0. The first three batters in the second inning all drew walks. Beck and Larson both scored on wild pitches, and the shortstop threw one away for a two-base error to make it 5-0 Storm.
Rainsberry, meanwhile, got his first start since throwing a complete-game shutout in Sioux Falls. He dealt with plenty of traffic of his own: a single and a walk in the first inning, and two free passes in the second. But he induced a double play and struck out two batters in two scoreless innings to open the game.
It caught up to him in the third, with three straight baserunners to get Kindred on the board. A sacrifice fly added another. Devils Lake still led 5-2 through three innings despite being outhit 3-0.
The Vikings continued to chip away. After starting the bottom of the fourth with a single and a walk, they bunted the runners into scoring position, and Baumgarten lined a two-run single into center field.
All of a sudden, Devils Lake’s lead was just 5-4. Kindred even had the go-ahead runs in scoring position with one out after a dropped third strike. Rainsberry, despite not being at his best, made some clutch pitches to keep the Storm ahead by the skin of their teeth.
Erdmann, despite his disastrous second inning, settled in to retire 11 Devils Lake batters in a row. Max Palmer was robbed of a hit in the fourth inning on a diving catch by left fielder Carson Gette. But the Storm hitters largely weren’t squaring it up against Erdmann, who found the strike zone at an ideal time for Kindred.
“I think he kind of took our aggressiveness out of us,” Luehring said. “We kind of got ourselves out a lot.”
Devils Lake’s first hit finally came courtesy of Larson. He poked one up the middle for a one-out single in the sixth. It was, ironically, not even one of the Storm’s more squared-up balls.
Erdmann ended up throwing 107 pitches over 5 2/3 innings — a sentence that would have been shocking to somebody watching this game in the second inning. He threw 54 strikes and 53 balls. He walked seven and struck out just one, allowing three earned runs on one hit.
The reliever, Iverson, came in and immediately added two more walks to load the bases. The Vikings’ coaching staff had no patience for that. They brought in another reliever, Sam Belaskie, after just two batters.
With the wind picking up, Belaskie fell into a 3-0 count on Olson. Devils Lake’s center fielder eventually tapped a dribbler past the mound for an RBI infield hit. It gave the Storm an insurance run, and their first run since that eventful second inning, to make it 6-4.
Rainsberry navigated a hit in each of the final two innings to finish a spotty but successful complete game. He ultimately allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out five in seven innings.
“He struggled with the mound. He couldn’t get any drive off it,” Luehring said. “So he really struggled for those innings to locate his curveball. But once he was able to do that, we were able to get some outs and get some rollovers. And you know what I’m gonna say: Our defense seems like something we can hang our hat on. If you pitch it in the zone, we’ll usually catch it.”
Next up, the Storm travel to Park River for a triangular against Velva and Park River Post 147 starting at 4 p.m.
