Brody Rainsberry (Photos by Noah Clooten)
CASSELTON — In the first game of the Class A Legion baseball state tournament, the Devils Lake Storm just kept doing what got them here.
Their offense wasn’t necessarily gelling the way they would have liked in the region tournament. But they won the tournament and grabbed the No. 1 seed in the East anyway — in large part due to the high quality of at-bats they’ve maintained all season. Even when they’re not hitting, they find ways to walk, steal bases and make things happen.
That’s exactly what they did in the second inning on Thursday at Central Cass High School.
In one of the wackiest and most relentless innings you’ll see in Legion baseball, Devils Lake scored eight runs on just one hit. Bismarck made five errors. The Storm drew four walks, plus a hit batsman. They stole seven bases in the frame en route to a sudden 8-0 lead.
“I think we had a lot of energy. That helped,” Devils Lake left fielder Brody Rainsberry said. “We weren’t crushing the ball all over the place. But a walk is as good as a hit in most cases.”
Safe to say, Devils Lake (28-9) took care of business against the Bismarck Senators (16-15-2) in the first round. The Storm won 12-0 in five innings to advance to the second round. Bismarck made seven errors.
“It’s just getting the pressure off,” Devils Lake coach Brent Luehring said. “Getting on the field, getting a lot of guys in.”
The Devils Lake offense actually went down 1-2-3 in the first inning against Senators starter Brett Puliafico. But they exploded in the second.
Trason Beck and Rainsberry both drew walks to start the inning. Cayden McCarthy and Ben Brodina courtesy-ran, and each of them promptly stole second and eventually scored.
After Taydon Triepke was hit by a pitch to load the bases, a miffed ground ball at second base brought in two more to make it 4-0. And the Storm just kept running. They pulled off another double steal to make it 6-0.
“I would say we haven’t been a team that runs a ton, but we’re definitely one that if we can take an opportunity to force the issue, we’re gonna force the issue,” Luehring said. “So it was good for us to get out and move the guys around, force those guys to make some plays.”
Puliafico appeared to be out of the inning after getting Beck to ground one to third, but a low throw scored another run and kept the frame alive. Then, it finally happened: Devils Lake recorded a hit in this inning. The first actual base knock of the frame was an RBI single by Rainsberry to make it 8-0.
He said he didn’t realize it was the team’s first hit.
“Just looking at the scoreboard, and we were winning,” Rainsberry said. “Wasn’t really looking at the hits. But it felt good to get that first one out of the way.”
Rainsberry walked, singled and stole two bases in the inning alone.
“The scouting report, we knew that [the Senators] gave up a lot of stolen bases this year,” Rainsberry said. “So our plan was to come in here and run, and just try to control the game from the start.”
Puliafico threw a whopping 55 pitches before getting out of it. Only one of the eight runs was earned.
On the mound, Devils Lake sent Will Heilman out there to hold the fort. Heilman threw 45 pitches in the region championship on Friday, so he was on four days’ rest. He was an important part of the rotation in the regular season, with a 2.81 ERA in 32 innings.
It was business as usual for Heilman. He worked around a baserunner in each of his three innings, but he never allowed the Senators to rally. He struck out three and walked one.
“He just needed to be good enough to throw the ball over the plate and let us get a lead,” Luehring said. “He’s a competitor. He wanted the ball.”
Heilman threw 52 pitches. He’ll be available to use again later in the tournament if need be.
RBI singles from Triepke and Max Palmer got Devils Lake to the run-rule threshold in the bottom of the third. Fausten Olson added an RBI groundout, and Beck lined an RBI double for the 12th run.
Devils Lake used two pitchers who spent most of their summers with the B team for the final two innings. McCarthy pitched a 1-2-3 fourth, capped by a sparkling barehanded play by shortstop Mason Palmer. Tayven Wiberg then finished it off, striking out one in a perfect fifth.
Palmer made another slick play in the final frame. He was kept busy with seven putouts in the abbreviated five-inning game.
“You know what I think of him and what a lot of other people do, too,” Luehring said with a smile. “Even when you bring those other guys that haven’t thrown a lot at the A level, you’ve got that type of defense behind you. So make them hit it, and usually we’re gonna field it behind them.”
With the win, Devils Lake gets more than 24 hours before it has to play again. Its next game is set for Friday at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Thursday matchup between the Bismarck Reps and the Fargo Post 2 Jets.
“We’ve got so much talent on this team,” Rainsberry said. “Arms. Hitting-wise. I think we can go all the way this year.”
