Comets finish fourth at Belgrade tournament

Ryan Divish

Havre Daily News Sports Editor

[email protected]

The Havre Comets shook off a rough start at the Howard Rein Memorial Tournament in Belgrade to come back and finish fourth, falling to the Bozeman Spikes 13-0 in the consolation game.

Havre opened the tournament with a disappointing 3-2 loss to the Missoula Mavericks A squad on Thursday afternoon.

Missoula grabbed a 2-0 lead off of Comet starter Tanner Donovan in the third inning as a balk and two errors led to the runs.

The Comets rallied with a run in the fourth as Ryan Callahan led off with a single and later scored on Tanner Abdallah's bases-loaded walk. Havre tied the game in the fifth when Anthony Wirtzberger reached on an error and later scored on a booted ball off the bat of Bryan Heath.

Havre had a chance to win the game in its final at-bat. Scott Vigliotti singled to start off the inning and was lifted for pinch runner Marshall Cartwright. Cartwright stole second and reached third on an error. However, he was thrown out at the plate trying to score after a Logan Reichelt fly-ball.

Missoula won the game in the bottom half of the inning as Matt Kujula led off the inning with a walk and later scored on Mike Pontoon's double.

Donovan took the loss, allowing nine hits and one earned run. Offensively, Vigliotti had two of Havre's five hits in the game.

On Friday morning, Havre came out sluggish, losing to the Kennewick Phantoms 14-4 in five innings.

Kennewick jumped all over Comet starter Logan Reichelt, scoring nine runs in the first three innings. The Phantoms got two in the second inning on a pair of fielder's choices. However, they broke the game open with seven runs in the third. Kennewick wasn't much kinder to reliever Jess McLain, scoring five runs in the final two innings.

The Comets got three runs in the fourth as Michael Erickson ripped a two-run double, while Ryan Callahan added a sacrifice fly.

Havre's other run came in the fifth as Cartwright singled to start the inning and eventually scored on Wirtzberger's fielder's choice.

The Comets finished with five hits in the game as Wirtzberger, Erickson, Donovan, Cartwright and Jeremiah Moog had singles.

Havre bounced back later that evening with an 8-7 win over the Helena Reps. The Comets jumped out early, scoring three runs in the first inning as Richard Jarvis tripled and scored on an error to get things going. Moog capped off the inning with a two-run triple scoring Donovan and McLain.

Helena answered with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning off of Wirtzberger. The Reps took a 4-3 lead in the second and extended it to 5-3, tacking on another run in the fifth.

The Comets rallied for four runs in the top of the fifth to retake a 7-5 lead all with two outs. Helena pitcher Joe Andriolo got a pair of groundouts to start the inning. However, Jarvis drew a walk and later scored on Donovan's triple. Heath singled home Donovan, and McLain doubled scoring Cartwright, who was pinch running for Heath. Moog capped off the inning with an RBI single.

Helena cut the lead to 7-6 with a run in the bottom half of the inning on a Chris Wheat RBI single. But the Comets got a crucial insurance run in the sixth. Abdallah led off the inning with a single, stole second and scored on Reichelt's RBI single.

The Reps got another run in the sixth, but Wirtzberger held them scoreless in the seventh to secure the win. Wirtzberger went the distance, allowing 10 hits and just four earned runs, while striking out four batters.

The Comets were paced offensively by Moog, had two hits and drove in three runs. Bryan Heath added a pair of hits and an RBI.

On Saturday, Havre continued its strong play with a come-from-behind 6-5 win over the Bozeman Spikes.

The Comets trailed 5-2 going into their final at-bat and rallied with four runs in the top of the seventh to get the win.

Jarvis started the rally with an RBI triple. He later scored on Heath's RBI single. Donovan scored Heath with a single to tie the game. He scored the winning run moments later on a Bozeman error.

Moog completed a solid game on the mound, holding the Spikes scoreless in the bottom of the seventh to get the win. He pitched all seven innings, allowing six hits and five earned runs.

Havre grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Jarvis reached on an error and scored on a passed ball. Bozeman took a 5-1 lead with three runs in the third and two in the fourth. The Comets cut the lead to 5-2 with a run in the sixth as Seth Jensen doubled and scored Abdallah.

Offensively, Havre was paced by Reichelt, Jensen and Heath, who had two hits each.

The Comets' 2-2 record in pool play, rematched them with Bozeman in the consolation game on Sunday. However, the results were quite different this time.

Bozeman roughed up Erickson early, rolling to a 13-0 win in five innings. Bozeman got two runs in the first inning, but broke the game open with five runs in the second as Skyler Bugger and Jeff Squire each had two-run doubles.

Havre managed just three hits in the game with Wirtzberger notching two of them.

The Comets are in action today against the Great Falls Sparkies. The game will start at 3 p.m.

Mavericks 3 , Comets 2

Havre Comets 000 110 0 - 2 5 1

Missoula Mavericks A 002 000 1 - 3 9 2

Cody Burgmaier and Sean Dwyer; Tanner Donovan and Bryan Heath.

WP - Burgmaier; LP - Donovan.

COMETS HITTING - Logan Reichelt 0-4; Anthony Wirtzberger 0-4; Ryan Callahan 1-3; Tanner Donovan 0-1; Bryan Heath 1-3; Jeremiah Moog 0-2; Jess McLain 1-3; Richard Jarvis 0-2; Tanner Abdallah 0-2 (RBI); Scott Vigliotti 2-3.

MAVERICKS HITTING - Taylor King 2-2; Taylor Nordby 0-3; Matt Kujula 1-3 (RBI); Mike Pontoon 2-4 (RBI); Sean Dwyer 0-3; Dan Orr 0-1; Merritt Clifford 0-1; Bryce Johnson 0-1; Brian Nickerson 1-3; Max Smith 1-2; Drew Lytle 0-1; Dan Redman 2-3.

2B - Pontoon

3B - none

HR - none

Phantoms 14, Comets 4

Havre Comets 000 31 - 4 5 2

Kennewick Phantoms 027 23 - 14 16 1

Logan Reichelt (3), Jess McLain (2) and Ryan Callahan; Ean Arnold and Dusty Long

WP - Arnold; LP - Reichelt.

COMETS HITTING - Anthony Wirtzberger 1-3 (RBI); Jeremiah Moog 1-2; Richard Jarvis 0-1; Tanner Donovan 1-2; Bryan Heath 0-1; Ryan Callahan 0-1 (RBI); Michael Erickson 1-2 (2 RBI); Seth Jensen 0-2; Marshall Cartwright 1-2; Spencer Ivers 0-2.

PHANTOMS HITTING - Kevin Valerio 1-3 (2 RBI); Manny Malito 1-1; Jarrod Mendenhall 2-2 (RBI); Keith Woelber 3-4 (RBI); Landon Westermeyer 2-3 (3 RBI); Ross Thoelke 2-3 (RBI); Joe Driver 2-3 (3 RBI); Dusty Long 2-3; Joe Faurholt 1-2 (2 RBI).

2B - Westermeyer, Mendenhall, Driver, Thoelke, Erickson

3B - Faurholt, Woelber

HR - none

Comets 8, Reps 7

Havre Comets 300 041 0 - 8 11 4

Helena Reps 310 111 0 - 7 10 1

Anthony Wirtzberger and Bryan Heath; Joe Andriolo and Kyle Blessinger.

WP - Wirtzberger; LP - Andriolo.

COMETS HITTING - Logan Reichelt 1-4 (RBI); Richard Jarvis 1-3; Tanner Donovan 1-4 (RBI); Bryan Heath 2-4 (RBI); Jess McLain 1-2 (RBI); Anthony Wirtzberger 1-1l Jeremiah Moog 2-3 (3 RBI); Michael Erickson 0-3; Tanner Abdallah 1-4; Scott Vigliotti 1-3.

REPS HITTING - Chris Wheat 2-4 (RBI); Derek Miller 2-5 (RBI); Mike Bartlett 0-3 (RBI); Travis Capps 0-3; Matt Williams 1-3 (RBI); Dillon Johnson 2-4 (RBI); Kyle Blessinger 1-4 (RBI); Austin Rue 0-3; Derek Carley 0-1; Nick Retz 2-3.

2B - McLain, Williams

3B - Donovan, Moog, Jarvis, Miller

HR - none

Comets 6, Spikes 5

Havre Comets 100 001 4 - 6 10 0

Bozeman Spikes 003 200 0 - 5 6 7

Jeremiah Moog and Ryan Callahan; Ryan Minkhoff and Jeff Squire.

WP - Moog; LP - Minkhoff.

COMETS HITTING - Logan Reichelt 2-4; Anthony Wirtzberger 0-3; Richard Jarvis 1-4 (RBI); Bryan Heath 2-4 (RBI); Ryan Callahan 0-4; Michael Erickson 1-3; Tanner Donovan 1-1 (RBI); Marshall Cartwright 1-4; Seth Jensen 2-2 (RBI); Spencer Ivers 0-3.

SPIKES HITTING - Luke Perin 0-1 (RBI); Trevor Peck 1-4 (RBI); Tanner Newman 1-2; Skyler Bugger 1-4 (2 RBI); Mat Comer 0-3; Chris Schmidt 0-2; Kal Tucker 1-2; Jeff Squire 1-2 (RBI); Ryan Minkoff 0-1; Caleb Schlender 0-1.

2B - Erickson, Jensen, Squire

3B - Jarvis, Bugger

HR - none

Spikes 13, Comets 0

Bozeman Spikes 252 40 - 13 18 0

Havre Comets 000 00 - 0 3 2

Andrew Abate and Jeff Squire; Michael Erickson (3), Seth Jensen and Bryan Heath, Ryan Callahan.

WP - Abate; LP - Erickson.

SPIKES HITTING - Trevor Peck 2-5 (2 RBI); Matt Comer 3-4 (RBI); Tanner Newman 2-4 (RBI); Skyler Bugger 3-4 (3 RBI); Matt English 3-4 (2 RBI); Dan LaDue 0-4; Jeff Squire 1-2 (2 RBI); Nolan Barbisan 0-3 (RBI); Andrew Abate 4-4 (RBI).

COMETS HITTING - Logan Reichelt 1-3; Anthony Wirtzberger 2-2; Tanner Donovan 0-1; Bryan Heath 0-1; Ryan Callahan 0-1; Jeremiah Moog 0-2; Richard Jarvis 0-2; Jess McLain 0-1; Tanner Abdallah 0-2.

2B - Abate 2, Bugger, Squire

3B - none

HR - none