Chris Peterson
Havre Daily News
cpeterson@havredailynews.com
Both the Havre Comets and the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball teams were busy this weekend as they welcomed a trio of Great Falls teams for some early-season baseball action.
The Havre Northstars opened up the weekend with a doubleheader against the Great Falls Electrics in nonconference action Friday night, and it appeared that the early season rust has yet to wear off for the Northstars. They were swept by Electrics by scores of 12-3 and 10-7.
The Electrics capitalized on Northstar mistakes to take an early 5-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Havre finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, when Josh Morse scored on a groundout by Jeremiah Moog. Tanner Donovan followed that with single that scored Josh Lowe and trimmed the lead to 5-2 at the end of the fourth inning.
However, the Electrics answered in a big way in the top of the fifth with a four-run inning that essentially put the game on ice.
Kevin Corwin opened the inning with a base hit. Two batters later, Kody Schwartz knocked Corwin in with an RBI double, extending the Electrics lead back to four runs.
Havre had a golden opportunity to escape the inning relatively unscathed, but an error kept the inning alive and scored Schwartz. Then Jake Meierhoff connected on a two-run double that put the game out of reach at 9-2.
“Our pitching was not as strong as I thought it would be,” Northstar head coach Mickey Williams said. “We had a lot of chances to make some outs, especially when our pitchers got ahead in the count, and we just weren't able to throw good pitches and make the outs we needed to. Our pitching has to be better. We aren't very pleased with how things went and neither are our players. They know they need to get better, but it is really early in the season and we will get a lot better.”
Havre scored in the sixth inning, but it was not nearly enough, as the Electrics added a couple of late runs to make the final score 12-3.
Corwin earned the victory for the Electrics and Austin Small was charged with the loss. He gave up nine runs in five innings of work, though he allowed only four earned runs.
In the second game, the Electrics again got out to an early lead with RBI singles from Shaun Tatarka and Jared Jacobson to make it 2-0 in the top of the first inning. They would add two more runs in the third and increase the lead to 4-0 heading into the bottom of the inning.
Havre cut into the deficit for the first time when Small scored on a base hit by Josh Lowe. The Northstars scored again when Sean Peterson made it home on an error, bringing Havre within two at 4-2.
Once again the Electrics separated themselves from Havre with a four-run fifth inning that gave them a six-run cushion at 8-2 in the fifth. The Northstars tried to rally late in the game with five runs in the final three innings, but it would not be enough, as the Electrics held on for a 10-7 victory.
“We just couldn't get anything going at the plate,” Williams said. “We need to be better at the plate. We have to have better pitch selection and we need to make better contact, but those are all things that will come in time.”
On Saturday, the Havre Comets opened up their season in doubleheader action against the Great Falls Sparkies with both teams grabbing a victory. Havre took Game 1 7-1, and the Sparkies won Game 2 17-12.
Havre got off to a hot start, scoring five runs in the first two innings to take a 5-0 lead. That was all the run support pitcher Andrew Lindquist would need. Lindquist held the Sparkies to one run in five innings of work, putting the Comets in prime position for the win.
“Andrew really pitched well for us,” Comets head coach Steve Fanning said. “He did a great job of hitting his spots, and he had good control all game.”
Jeremy Jensen came in to pitch the final two innings and seal the win for the Comets. However, Jensen ran into some problems in the top of the seventh when the Sparkies loaded the bases with no outs. After Jensen forced Trylan Wassman to pop out, Jensen closed out the game when Taylor Ferradas grounded into a game ending six-four-three double play.
“I thought our team showed a lot of composure,” Fanning said. “They did a nice job in some tough situations. I was really pleased with how they fought hard and played well for a young team.”
The second game of the doubleheader was a slugfest. The Sparkies crushed Comet pitching early on in the game, scoring six runs in the top of the third inning to build up a 10-2 lead entering the bottom of the fifth.
The Comets rallied to scored 10 runs in the final three innings. The hitting of Anthony Wirtzberger, Logan Reichelt and Lindquist, who each had multiple hits on the day for the Comets, led the way. But it wasn't enough as the Sparkies added three runs in the top of the seventh to make the final score 17-12. John Reiley earned the win for the Sparkies, while the Comets' Kyle Surber was pegged with the loss.
“Even though we lost, I was still happy with the way our guys fought back late in the game,” Fanning said. “They were down a lot and they could have easily packed it in, but they kept fighting and they showed a lot of guts.”
On Sunday, both the Northstars and the Comets were in action against the Great Falls Stallions. The Northstars earned a 7-1 victory and the Comets suffered a 7-5 loss. The Comets did have an opportunity to tie the game late. Down 7-5, the Comets had the bases loaded with just one out. A double play, however, snuffed out their hopes for a comeback.
The Northstars will be in action again Sunday against the Great Falls Stallions at Legion Field in Havre.
Friday
First game
Electrics 12, Northstars 3
Great Falls Electrics 021 241 2 - 12 12 3
Havre Northstars 000 201 0 - 3 6 7
Hitting
Electrics - Ryan Egan 3-5, JT King 1-5, Shaun Tatarka 0-5, Kevin Corwin 1-2, Zach Semenza 1-5, Kody Swatz 2-3, Tyer Binka 2-3. Jake Meierhoff 2-3, Cody Dobson 1-1.
Northstars - Sean Peterson 1-4, Josh Morse 1-3, Josh Lowe 1-3, Jess McLain 0-1, Jeremiah Moog 0-2, Tanner Donovan 1-3, Scott Ladenburg 1-3, Scott Jensen 0-3, Scott Vigliotti 0-3, Austin Small 1-2, Marshall Cartwright 0-1.
Second Game
Electrics 10, Northstars 7
Great Falls Electrics 202 040 2 - 10 15 2
Havre Northstars 001 113 1 - 7 7 0
Hitting
Electrics - Ryan Egan 1-4, JT King 1-5, Tyler Fayden 2-3, Kevin Corwin 2-4, Shaun Tatarka 2-4, Jarod Jacobsen 2-4, Kody Swatz 3-4, Curtis Bloomfield 0-3, Cody Dobson 0-3.
Northstars - Austin Small 2-3, Anthony Wirtzberger 1-4, Josh Lowe 1-4, Josh Morse 1-3, Jeremiah Moog 0-1, Tanner Donovan 0-2, Scott Ladenburg 0-3, Sean Peterson 0-2.
Saturday
First game
Comets 7, Sparkies 1
Great Falls Sparkies 010 000 0 - 1 9 0
Havre 410 020 x - 7 8 2
Hitting
Sparkies - Taylor Shanahan 2-4, Sean Doran 2-3, Colin Egan 0-3, Taylor Ferradas 0-4, John Reilly 2-3, Casey Johnson 2-2, Cory Fisher 0-3, Trylan Wassman 1-3, Reid Tramelli 0-2.
Havre - Logan Reichelt 0-3, Marshall Cartwright 1-2, Anthony Wirtzberger 1-3, Seth Jensen 0-1, Brian Heath 2-2, Scott Vigliotti 1-3, Josh Hass 1-2, Nick Nault 1-3, Kyle Surber 1-3.
2B - Heath, Hass, Reilly, Wassman
Second game
Sparkies 17, Comets 12
Great Falls Sparkies 106 214 3 - 17 17 12
Havre 110 053 2 - 12 15 13
Hitting
Sparkies - Colin Egan 3-4, John Reilly 2-5, Taylor Shanahan 2-4, Sean Doran 3-5, Taylor Ferradas 1-5, Ethan Hortick 2-5, Chad Dobson 1-4, Joel Larance 2-5, Cody Shupe 1-5.
Havre - Logan Reichelt 3-4, Andrew Lindquist 2-4, Anthony Wirtzberger 4-5, Seth Jensen 2-5, Brian Heath 1-5, Scott Vigliotti 1-4, Josh Haas 1-4, Robert The Boy 0-4, Jeremy Jensen 1-4.
2B-Wirtzberger, Egan, Reilly, Shanahan, Doran 2.
