Mason Palmer
FARGO — Game after game, the Storm keep wreaking havoc on opponents.
It was another all-around dominant day at the ballpark on Wednesday. Devils Lake went down to Starion Bank Field and dismantled conference opponent Fargo Post 400 (4-8, 2-6) in a doubleheader sweep, 12-4 and 9-0. With the wins, the Storm (14-6, 6-2) have now won eight in row and 14 of their last 16.
“We’ve been just focusing on letting the ball travel, and trying to hit the ball to the right side and hit the ball in the gaps,” Storm coach Brent Luehring said. “If we can keep it going, good things happen. We pitched it pretty well today, too.”
While every Devils Lake player contributed on Wednesday, the star was Mason Palmer. He had six hits, reached base seven times and casually struck out 10 in six scoreless innings on the side. Palmer, an incoming senior, recently threw 90 mph across the diamond in his evaluation for Prep Baseball Dakotas. It’s all clicking for him right now.
“I’m just feeling balanced,” Palmer said. “I’m getting lucky right now, and I’m feeling good.”
Game 1: Devils Lake 12, Fargo 4
The offense totaled 12 hits and five walks. It scored in five of the seven innings. Every Devils Lake starter reached base, led by Palmer, who went 4-for-4 with a hit by pitch. The Comets made six errors.
Five of those errors came in the first two innings. Post 400, under the light gray clouds and high-60s temperature, played an oddly sloppy first two innings where Devils Lake totaled five runs.
In the first, the Comets committed three errors and issued a walk and a hit batsman. The third baseman missed a grounder near the line, and the right fielder simply dropped a routine fly ball.
With three runs already in, Devils Lake bailed the Comets out as Hunter Remmick got caught in a rundown between third and home. The Storm ended up stranding a runner on third base. Still, they took a 3-0 lead before starter Brody Rainsberry ever took the mound.
Ben Larson, Rainsberry and Palmer all tacked on hits in the second inning to drive in two runs, with the help of two more errors. Palmer already had two hits in the first two innings.
Despite the early cushion, outs weren’t coming easily for Rainsberry. Post 400 got on the board with a clutch two-out hit in the first inning. After the Comets loaded the bases with no outs in the second, Luehring held a brief mound meeting.
Rainsberry could take a brief breath after getting a called strikeout of Post 400’s nine-hitter. But catcher Trason Beck uncharacteristically dropped a fielder’s choice attempt, and Max Ammerman dunked a two-run single into left-center to cut the Storm lead to 5-4.
Post 400 starter Jack Bjornson finally put a zero on the board in the top of the third, stranding a Beck leadoff single. Rainsberry did the same, bouncing back to throw a 1-2-3 bottom of the third on eight pitches.
Rainsberry then helped his own cause with an RBI double in the top of the fourth. Palmer blooped a single to put runners on the corners. It was the third time on base in as many tries for each of them.
“When [Palmer]’s on, we’re pretty tough to beat in the middle of that lineup,” Luehring said. “It’s just nice to see the kids starting to build off each other.”
The Comets pulled Bjornson after 3 1/3 innings. He’d already given up six runs, and the Storm added another with a double steal.
In the fifth, Fausten Olson joined the party with a two-run triple the other way. He scored on another double steal executed to perfection by the Storm. Remmick added an RBI single. It was a four-run frame — the fourth crooked number in the first five innings for Devils Lake to take an 11-4 lead.
Easton Kraft was the only member of the starting lineup who didn’t record a hit. But he drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, and eventually scored on a passed ball for the Storm’s 12th run.
Rainsberry, who’s shown a knack for pitching around traffic and staying in games, did both of those things yet again. He was far from his sharpest, but he ended up throwing his fourth complete game in as many starts this summer (the first was a six-inning loss). It took him just 50 pitches to pitch the final five innings, after throwing 45 through the first two.
“We’ve just gotta get a better routine with him, to start a game so we can put some zeroes on there early,” Luehring said. “Thank goodness we had a lead… I’m excited for what he can do.”
In total, Rainsberry allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits and three walks while striking out four. He now owns a 3.67 ERA as the No. 3 guy in the rotation.
Game 2: Devils Lake 9, Fargo 0
Devils Lake had a major trick hiding up its sleeve in its “No. 4 starter,” Palmer. He’s only slated that low in the rotation because of the way his pitching schedule has lined up with football camps, rest and trying to keep his defense at shortstop.
Wednesday was just his second start of the summer. The other was a complete-game shutout against the No. 1 seed in the Dakota Classic in Sioux Falls.
Palmer went six innings this time. He struck out 10, walked four and allowed just one hit.
“Just trying to get him a weekly start the rest of the way, and build on to the tournament,” Luehring said. “And we feel good that we can play defense behind him now [with Rainsberry at shortstop], and it just gives us another option.”
Olson, Devils Lake’s hits leader, didn’t play after tightening his calf on his triple in Game 1. The Storm kept him out as a precaution.
The second game started much like the first one did: with a dropped fly ball. Max Palmer eventually came around to score on two passed balls and a double-steal attempt.
Post 400 starter Owen Smith danced all around the strike zone in the first inning. He issued three walks and a hit batsman, with Beck’s RBI walk making it 2-0. Landon Sundeen, getting the start at first base, doubled that lead with a sharp single to left.
Smith dominated the Storm in the second inning, with two strikeouts in a perfect frame. But they tagged him for three runs in the third. Mason Palmer lined a double for his seventh time on base between the two games. Two batters later, Beck smacked an RBI double. An RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly ran the score up to 7-0.
On the mound, meanwhile, Palmer worked through some early command issues to mow down the Comets’ lineup. They loaded the bases against him with one out in the first inning, but he kept them off the board with two strikeouts.
“I felt like I was trying to keep it away from the batters too much,” Palmer said. “I just had to try to let them hit it, put it more in the zone. Give them something to look at.”
He settled in from there as he found the zone — much as he did in Sioux Falls. Palmer retired 13 batters in a row. He struck out five in a seven-batter span, and eight in a 12-batter span. He completely overpowered Post 400.
“You could tell those first couple innings that he had to work the kinks out, but when he gets in a rhythm he’s pretty impressive to watch,” Luehring said. “I’m glad he’s on our team.”
At the plate, Palmer’s first time “not reaching base” still involved him reaching base, oddly enough. He hit a soft roller to third and reached on a low throw that the first baseman couldn’t pick out. So he was physically on base for the eighth consecutive time on Wednesday, despite falling to 2-for-3 in the game.
Rainsberry walked and scored on Palmer’s ground ball.
“We were working the right side, and we were keeping things simple,” Palmer said. “And we just found our hits.”
Max Palmer led off the sixth with a single. He eventually raced home on another double-steal attempt to extend the lead to 9-0.
Mason Palmer worked around a leadoff throwing error by Rainsberry to throw a scoreless sixth. He ended the frame with his 10th strikeout. Devils Lake switched Palmers for the final inning, as Max worked around a leadoff single to finish off the all-Palmer shutout.
The A team now returns home for just its second home set of the summer. The Storm will host the Minot Vistas in a nine-inning game on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
