Photo by Noah Clooten
The Devils Lake A team seemed like it had hit a low point on June 4.
The Storm, trying to defend last summer’s No. 1 seed and state tournament appearance, were 0-4. They’d just come off a tough exit in the spring season and were riding sluggishly into the summer campaign.
But it all changed in a hurry. The team that seemed like it couldn’t buy a run now is now putting them up in droves. Devils Lake, after sweeping Fargo teams on Monday and Wednesday, has won eight games in a row and 14 of its last 16 to completely flip the summer on its head.
“Our mentality all year long has been ‘Trust the process. Don’t worry about the results.’ Same thing with at the plate,” Storm coach Brent Luehring said. “And that’s kind of like the season. It’s a long season. Just stick with it, and keep buying into what we’re talking about, and good things will happen.”
So what’s been the difference from that miserable start to pure domination?
Offense production has skyrocketed
The biggest and most obvious factor has been the increased output of runs.
Devils Lake scored just three runs over its first two games of the summer, and 10 over its first four. Since then, the Storm are averaging 6.5 runs per game, and 7.5 during the eight-game winning streak.
“We had to just keep things simple,” said Mason Palmer, who leads the team with a .381 average and .500 OBP. “I think we were trying to do too much with the ball. And we were just not playing our game.”
In a 19-hit onslaught in Wednesday’s doubleheader, the team emphasized its ability to poke hits to right field. Palmer had six of those hits. In the first game, eight of the nine starters had a hit and all nine reached base.
Devils Lake’s team batting average — tracked unofficially by Mojo Hill — is now .277, with a blistering .395 team OBP. And those numbers include the early-season struggles.
One issue that the spring team had, compared to last year, was that its strikeout rate rose and its walk rate dropped. The summer team has drastically improved on that ratio. The Storm are walking 12.97% of the time as a team, and striking out only 10.2% of the time. They’ve struck out 62 times and walked 79 times, not to mention 23 hit-by-pitches.
Palmer, with his mantra of keeping things simple, has been the most improved hitter. The talented shortstop hit only .220 this spring, doomed by an early-season slump. But this summer, he already has three more hits than he had in the spring’s regular season. He owns a 1.000 OPS — up well over .400 points compared to the spring. Just as impressively, Palmer has struck out just twice in 54 plate appearances.
Hitters like Hunter Remmick and Trason Beck have kept up their steady production from the spring. Fausten Olson, who had the third-best batting average on the spring team at .304, leads the summer team with 21 hits. Max Palmer, after a spring where he hit .339 out of the leadoff spot, has cooled down this summer but still leads the team in walks with 13, giving him a .387 OBP.
Devils Lake, overall, has gotten back to stringing hits together, with the hitters building off each other’s energy. They’re taking good at-bats and hitting line drives, and it’s paying off.
New guys have stepped up, making the lineup deeper
Another major factor in the lineup has been the addition of Brody Rainsberry. He, Landon Sundeen and Lakin Ronningen joined Devils Lake from nearby Nelson County this summer. They’ve fit in seamlessly, having already known some of Devils Lake’s players from playing youth ball with them.
Rainsberry has slotted right into the three-hole with his performance this summer. His .908 OPS is the second-best in the starting lineup, behind only Mason Palmer. He’s hitting .348 with a .474 OBP. He’s also an agile fielder, giving Devils Lake a solid outfield option and a good backup shortstop behind Palmer.
Sundeen hit two home runs in the first week of the B team’s season, earning him a full-time promotion to the A team. And this is where things have gotten competitive, with the bottom of the lineup shaking up in different ways. Ben Brodina also played his way from the B team onto the A team. The Storm have mixed him in the outfield and occasionally at catcher.
For Sundeen, Brodina, Taydon Triepke and Easton Kraft, it’s been a bit of a revolving door of who plays and who sits. Kraft is another fairly fresh face; he got some A playing time last year but still spent most of this spring on the JV team. Now, it’s either him or Max Palmer at third base every day.
Kraft has held his own this summer with a .265 average and .432 OBP. Sundeen and Brodina both have low averages but high OBPs in relatively limited samples. Triepke has come up with clutch hits and plays good defense.
The point is that it’s gotten crowded down there. The Storm might only have 12 rostered players, but Luehring has emphasized that all 12 can contribute in some way. It means it’s gotten competitive for those guys at the bottom of the lineup. Even Ben Larson, usually batting in the lower third of the order, has an extremely productive .396 OBP.
The top and middle of the lineup also look extra deep now. Devils Lake has routinely had lineups with quality hitters like Remmick and Beck hitting around the five or six hole. It’s gotten to the point where the Storm’s lineup essentially has no weak spot, and they can mix and match people as they see fit.
The pitching rotation has rounded into form
While the offense has ignited its firepower over the past few weeks, the pitchers have held the fort in remarkably reliable fashion.
The Storm have a fierce, experienced quartet in the 1-4 slots. At the top is Larson. The right-hander, now graduated from Devils Lake High School, has been effective for some time, but he’s become a beacon of consistency this summer. He’s second on the team with 26 1/3 innings, and his 2.39 ERA is the best on the team. It’s the same thing every time from him: He won’t necessarily overpower hitters, but he’ll pitch to contact and get out of jams, often giving the Storm a full seven innings.
Remmick, right behind Larson, is a similar type of pitcher. He’s another graduated senior, so he carries that experience with him, too. He owns a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings this summer.
Rainsberry, the new addition, has also helped a ton on the pitching side as the No. 3 starter. He leads the team with 27 innings, a hair ahead of Larson. His 3.67 ERA in that role is more than respectable. His outings have usually gotten off to shaky starts, but he’s found ways to power through and settle in.
Luehring noted this trend on Wednesday and said they’ll have to make some tweaks to his routine to help him be more effective early on. Even still, he’s been an extremely valuable arm for the Storm.
Then, as the No. 4 starter — as displayed in emphatic fashion on Wednesday — is Mason Palmer, Devils Lake’s hardest thrower. While most of the Storm’s other pitchers are experts in craftiness and inducing soft contact, Palmer has the ability to overpower hitters.
He’s been a welcome readdition to the rotation after his innings were limited for most of this year, for a variety of reasons. The multi-sport star, an incoming senior, has attended football camps and showcases this summer as he furthers his athletic career. Devils Lake also highly values his defense at shortstop.
But Palmer has made two starts recently, and they’ve both gone exceptionally well. He’s thrown 13 scoreless innings, with 17 strikeouts and just five hits allowed. He’s walked seven — a consequence of not having thrown as much. But during both of his outings, he’s settled in and dominated. With Palmer pitching fourth in the rotation, approximately once a week, he’s a major weapon Devils Lake has hiding up its sleeve.
While those four make up the majority of the Storm’s innings, they do have some depth as a complement. Will Heilman quietly had a 1.35 ERA in 20 innings this spring, and he provides another starting option during some of the busier weeks. He threw eight innings of two-run ball last week against Park River, one of the best Class B teams in the state. Max Palmer is also good for the occasional relief outing.
And an unsung hero of this pitching staff is Triepke, a crafty southpaw who usually comes out of the bullpen and doesn’t throw more than a few innings at a time. But he’s pieced together 8 1/3 innings this summer with three earned runs allowed. He’s issued zero walks and has thrown two-thirds of his pitches for strikes.
Pitching, for most part, hasn’t been the problem for Devils Lake even when it’s struggled. But as the offense has come alive, the pitchers have kept doing their thing, and the depth has been bolstered by Rainsberry and Mason Palmer.
Overall, the Storm have a deep and impressive corps that has found its groove as the summer’s gone on. The squad still has a full July ahead of it, which will culminate with the region tournament in Devils Lake and, ideally, the state tournament in Casselton.
