North Stars split with Eastern powers

The Havre American Legion baseball team didn't start its tournament play the way it would have liked, but the North Stars did cap off day one in a much better fashion.

Thursday at the Havre North Star's Memorial Tournament at Legion Field in Havre, the North Stars split day one action. In game one they were defeated 18-8 in five innings by the Glendive Blue Devils. But in game two, the North Stars were able to come away with a 4-2 win over the Wolf Point Yellow Jackets.

"(Game 1) was a terrible game all the way around," Havre head coach Steve Fanning said. "And overall it wasn't the type of game we like to play.

That's not how we wanted to start our tournament and hopefully we can forget about it, but still learn from it." The Blue Devils got off to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the North Stars answered back, tying the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the first.

CJ Evans got on board with a single but later stole home as Brayden Grimson was picked off at first. And Mark Vukasin drove in Havre's second run with an RBI single.

But the North Stars were shut out in the second inning after the Blue Devils put up six more runs. Glendive used five hits and one North Star error to take an 8-2 lead.

In the top of the third the Blue Devils lit up the bats on starting pitcher Justin Jensen.

In the inning Jensen faced sixteen batters and gave up 10 runs on seven hits and three Havre errors. The Blue Devils scored eight runs before Havre could record an out, but Jensen stuck out the inning and earned two strikeouts and a routine fly ball to end the inning.

"I just think it's important for a guy to stick it out and overcome," Fanning said.

After the third inning the Blue Devils didn't score another run with Spencer Morkrid coming on in relief for Havre. And the North Stars were able to put up four more runs over the next two innings.

In the third inning the North Stars put up two runs on one hit. Brandon Smith crushed a triple and later scored on a wild pitch. And Adam Briese drove in Jensen to bring the deficit to 18-4.

Morkrid and Grimson also scored on wild pitches in the fourth inning and Vukasin drove in a run on a sacrifice bunt to cut the lead to 18-7.

Havre also added a run in the fifth, but wasn't able to overcome the deficit.

Smith led the North Star offense going 2-for-3. Evans, Kyle Miller, Vukasin and Justin Denny also had one hit a piece, while Vukasin and Miller both had two RBIs a piece.

In game two, the North Stars were able to come away with the win, but still with minimal offense.

"We need to swing the bats better," Fanning said. "I am looking for consistency, I want to find out what kind of team we are. Are we going to score four runs or are we going to score 10. It's hard to judge right now." The Yellow Jackets led 2-0, but in the bottom of the first inning the North Stars added a run of their own. Miller earned a triple and scored on the same play on a throwing error to third base.

The rest of the North Star runs came in the second and sixth innings, respectively.

In the second inning Havre put up two runs on no hits. Briese walked and was followed by Roman Surber who was hit by a pitch and Kolby Sukut who laid down a sacrifice bunt. Briese later scored on a passed ball while Surber scored on a wild pitch to give Havre a 3-2 lead.

In the sixth inning Havre added another run on a Sukut RBI sacrifice fly ball.

Wolf Point made a run at the North Stars in the top of the seventh inning, but good defense put an end to any hopes of a comeback.

Jess Hanks earned a walk for the Yellow Jackets, but was promptly thrown out by Evans behind the plate while attempting to steal second. Drew Baldry then reached first on an error, but Evans threw another strike down to second and picked off his second consecutive base runners to end the game.

"We need to rely on our defense to help us out and he (Evans) picked us up," Fanning said. "He helped out Brandon (Smith) and it's great to have someone to call on like that, to be there in the clutch. Those were two great plays." The North Stars had three hits, led by Evans, Miller and Sukut who all had one hit each.

On the mound Smith got the complete game win, facing 29 batters. He gave up only two runs on three hits, striking out 11 and walking only four.

Day one was tough for the North Stars, but with plenty of games left in the weekend they are hoping to keep improving.

Today Havre will face Gallatin Valley at 6:30 p.m. And on Saturday the North Stars will face Strathmore at 9

p. m. Sunday Havre will finish up the tournament by facing Calgary at 4

p. m.