Max Palmer
DEVILS LAKE — The Storm were nearly stunned on their own home field.
Once up 3-0, No. 1 seed Devils Lake let the lead slip away in the seventh inning to No. 8 seed Wahpeton Post 20. The Storm were three outs away from being upset in the first round of the Class A East tournament for the second straight year.
“Everybody was pretty mad. Some people were yelling at each other,” Devils Lake catcher Trason Beck said. “But in the end, Coach brought us back together and said, ‘What are we doing, boys? We’ve still gotta win a game here.’”
Beck faced an 0-2 count with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. Devils Lake had already scratched out a run to tie it. He lined one over the right fielder’s head, bringing home Max Palmer with the winning run as Devils Lake emerged victorious on Thursday, 5-4.
Beck’s teammates mobbed him after he rounded first base.
“It felt really good to walk it off,” Beck said. “We do hitting situations all the time, so when I had two strikes, it didn’t really get to me. I just knew what I needed to do. Coach preaches two-strike hitting all the time.”
With the win, Devils Lake (25-9) advanced to Friday’s semifinals. Wahpeton (11-19) fell to the losers’ bracket.
It all started with Storm ace Ben Larson on the mound. The Mayville State-bound senior posted a 1.87 ERA over 43 1/3 innings this summer.
And for much of the game, while neither Larson nor the Devils Lake offense were at their best, it had the makings of a somewhat innocuous win. Wahpeton scored all four of its runs over the final two innings, and Devils Lake built its lead in the middle innings.
The Wahpeton hitters were aggressive against Larson early on. He got two first-pitch flyouts in the first inning, with a three-pitch strikeout in between.
Swinging at the first pitch again in the second, Wahpeton hit a ground ball that shortstop Mason Palmer overthrew for a two-base error. With the runner on third and one out, Larson got a key strikeout to navigate his way out of it.
He surrendered a single up the middle on the first pitch of the third inning. But he struck out Wahpeton’s top two hitters in the lineup back-to-back, giving him four strikeouts through three scoreless innings. It was a typically solid start to the evening for Larson.
Wahpeton starter Carter Hockert set down the first five Storm batters. He hit Hunter Remmick and Will Heilman consecutively in the second inning, but induced a groundout from Easton Kraft to keep it knotted at zeroes.
The Storm struck first in the bottom of the third. The top three hitters in the order — Max Palmer, Fausten Olson and Brody Rainsberry — all singled, with Rainsberry’s knock driving in the first run. Mason Palmer added a sacrifice fly to give the Storm a 2-0 lead.
Leading off the fourth, Larson and Beck miscommunicated on a popup behind home plate. It fell between them. Larson ended up hitting two batters in the inning, but he got through it with three flyouts.
Devils Lake added an extra run on a Heilman RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. It was a big knock from the Storm’s seven-hole hitter to extend the lead to 3-0. Heilman also hit a ball hard two innings later that was caught.
“It would be a good time to get him on a roll here at tournament time,” Storm coach Brent Luehring said. “And just add some depth to our lineup.”
Larson induced a 4-6-3 double play to get through a scoreless fifth. But the sixth inning is when the wheels started to fall off. After two consecutive walks — with some tight calls on the second one — Beck visited the mound to calm down his pitcher.
Larson, though, uncharacteristically walked a third straight hitter. That’s when Luehring paid a visit.
“I just asked him, ‘Do you need a ball? Do you need to change your tempo?’” Luehring said. “‘Now you can go from the full [windup]. Try to break something up here and just try to do something different.’”
Larson kept the damage minimal, with just a run-scoring fielder’s choice. But it was a 3-2 game through six. A baserunning mistake eliminated Devils Lake’s chance of adding a cushion.
With 86 pitches through six innings, Larson went back out there.
“He’s a competitor. He’s a senior, and this might be his last time on this mound until next summer,” Luehring said. “You’ve just gotta be a leader and do what we ask of you.”
Wahpeton played the ultimate small ball to chip away. Larson mishandled the first of three straight bunts to put two runners on. A wild pitch moved them up a base, and the next two bunts did exactly what Wahpeton intended — one to tie the game, and one to put Post 20 in front.
Larson allowed four runs on three hits, three walks and two hit batsmen in seven innings of work.
“He just couldn’t locate today,” Luehring said. “I don’t know. He just basically had to throw it down the middle, and hopefully they hit it at us. And that’s just really not like him. He was good enough to get us through the game… But definitely, his performance, he knows he’s got better in him. And so do we.”
All of the Storm’s worst nightmares were coming to fruition. Not only would a loss be a repeat of last year, but it would have come after getting the opportunity to host the tournament, with all of the local fans in attendance.
But with three outs to go, Devils Lake wasn’t done quite yet.
“We just told those guys that, hey, we’ve just gotta get one runner on,” Luehring said. “Because of the style of baseball we play, we should able to advance guys around and get to our top, and hopefully we can drive them in.”
Taydon Triepke started the rally with some patience by drawing a walk. Wahpeton made an error on a bunt by Max Palmer, setting the table with runners on first and third.
Olson then scratched one out to shallow short. No Wahpeton fielder could get a clean glove on it, and it was an RBI infield single to tie the game.
Back to bunting went the Storm. Rainsberry tapped a bunt single to load the bases with still nobody out. Devils Lake gave Wahpeton a taste of its own medicine.
Mason Palmer popped up on the first pitch he saw. That brought it to Beck with one out. Devils Lake tried to pull off a squeeze play, but Beck popped the bunt foul on a pitch out of the strike zone.
“Coach told me, before I even went up there, I might be possibly squeezing if Mason doesn’t get the job done,” Beck said. “Well, Mason popped up that first pitch there, so Coach gave me the squeeze right away. And I just knew I had to get a bat on it no matter what.”
From there, Beck had the hit sign. He watched one right down the middle for strike two. He played hero on the next pitch, though, swinging the Storm to victory.
“It all started with the guys in front of him,” Luehring said. “I mean, those guys getting their bunts down and executing, and making it tough on them. We felt pretty good once we got the bases loaded that either Mason, Trason or Hunter were gonna do a job.”
After taking a sigh of relief, the Storm will get back to the field Friday for a semifinal matchup with No. 5 seed West Fargo Vets. First pitch will be around 6:30 p.m.
“The confidence is high now,” Beck said. “Got that first win out of the way, so everybody’s feeling good.”
Other scores from the day
#7 Fargo Post 400 Comets 4, #2 Fargo Post 2 Jets 5
- Andrew Perreault: 2-for-2, HR, 2B, HBP, 3 R
- Sam Chase: 2-for-4, 3 RBI
- Jack Joyce: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, BB, 6 K
#6 Kindred Post 117 Vikings 5, #3 West Fargo Aces 3
- Fisher Johnson: 2-for-4, 3B, 2B, 2 R
- Jack McDonald: 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 0 K
#5 West Fargo Vets 3, #4 Casselton Post 15 Haymakers 0
- Toby Retterath: 1-for-3, HR, BB
- Jordan Clemenson: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Schedule for Friday, July 25
11 a.m. Fargo Post 400 Comets vs. West Fargo Aces (loser out)
1:30 p.m. Wahpeton Post 20 vs. Casselton Haymakers (loser out)
4 p.m. Kindred Post 117 Vikings vs. Fargo Post 2 Jets (winner qualifies for state)
6:30 p.m. West Fargo Vets vs. Devils Lake Storm (winner qualifies for state)
