The Devils Lake A team went down to Wahpeton on Saturday and split a doubleheader with the first-place team in the Class A East.
The Storm still find themselves in second place, with an 11-5 overall record and 8-2 in conference play. They won a tight one in the first game, beating Wahpeton Post 20 by a score of 5-4 in an eight-inning affair. Beau Brodina, Trason Beck and Hunter Remmick all stayed hot at the plate. They handed Wahpeton just its first conference loss and just second overall loss this summer.
But the bats were quiet in a 4-1 loss in the nightcap. Wahpeton is now 17-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play.
The first inning of the evening featured an oddity: a triple play. Brodina and Max Palmer led off the game with back-to-back walks, but Mason Palmer popped out to second, and there was a moment of confusion as both runners got doubled off. The Devils Lake coaches very much disagreed with the call and debated with the umpires for some time as the fielders, who weren’t perfectly sure of the situation themselves, made their way to the dugout.
In any case, that’s how Saturday’s action got started. Then Wahpeton took a 1-0 lead on a passed ball in the bottom of the first, with Ben Larson getting the start on the mound for Devils Lake.
The Storm rallied to take the lead in the second inning. Jackson Baeth doubled, and Beck and Will Heilman each singled to tie the game. Larson recorded a bunt hit, and Remmick made it 2-1 with a sacrifice fly.
Devils Lake added another run in the third on a Beck RBI single. It was a three-hit game for the catcher, who’s having himself a strong summer at the plate.
Larson settled in and gave the Storm a solid outing, holding the 3-1 lead through five innings. But an error and a double led to a run in the sixth. After a walk and a hit by pitch, Larson came out having pitched 5 1/3 innings.
Taydon Triepke took over; the small left-hander has been able to lock down some valuable innings lately. Wahpeton tied the game on a sacrifice fly. It was all knotted up at threes after six innings. All three runs charged to Larson were unearned.
And neither team scored in the seventh, despite a Beck two-out triple and two baserunners for Wahpeton. So it went on to extras: free baseball at John Randall Field.
Larson led off the eighth by getting hit by a pitch, and then Remmick sent one out for his first home run of the summer. With the weather getting warmer, the Storm have gotten a lot more homer-happy. Remmick has quietly been tearing it up at the plate, too, despite often batting low in the order or coming off the bench.
Brodina stayed magma hot as well, going 2-for-4 with a walk to follow up his recent two-homer performance.
Triepke, still in the game on the mound, allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth but did enough to hold on and secure the 5-4 win.
But after that thrilling finish, the Storm couldn’t maintain momentum. They recorded just three hits in the nightcap.
Devils Lake scored its lone run in the third inning. Fausten Olson, who’s been batting out of the nine-hole lately, hit a leadoff triple and scored on a Max Palmer sacrifice fly. But Devils Lake still trailed 2-1 at the time, then allowed a run in the bottom of the third and another in the sixth.
Heilman gave the Storm a fine outing on the mound, with three runs (two earned) in five innings while striking out four. There was a walk and a hit by pitch with the bases loaded that gave Wahpeton its runs in the second. There was also a “Little League home run” in the third, with errors by Triepke in right field and Palmer at second base on the play.
Palmer also pitched an inning. Wahpeton scored an insurance run on a steal of home in the sixth, resulting in the final 4-1 score. Devils Lake got a leadoff single from Baeth in the seventh, but nothing more.
The Storm now return home for doubleheaders on both Sunday and Monday. Sunday’s games against Fargo Post 2 are a make-up of Friday’s previously scheduled contests.
