North Stars play ball on the road

George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor [email protected] The Havre American Legion baseball team is in the midst of one of its busiest parts of the 2010 schedule.

The North Stars will embark on a three-day Canada road swing on Wednesday, only days after returning from Three Forks with a 3-2 record this past weekend at the Gallatin Valley Tournament.

Havre opened the tournament with a 5-3 win over the Lewistown Redbirds on Friday. The North Stars road a complete-game pitching performance from Roman Surber as well as consistent offense to the victory. Against the Redbirds, Brayden Grimson, Justin Jensen, Brandon Smith, Mark Vukasin and Adam Briese all had key hits and RBIs.

In the second game of the weekend, the North Stars fell to the Gallatin Valley Outlaws for the second time in a week. The Outlaws beat the North Stars 7-2, one week after they beat Havre 7-3 in Havre.

Brandon Smith went the distance for the North Stars on the mound and gave them a chance to stay in the game.

But one bad inning, according to head coach Steve Fanning, hurt the North Stars in the end. Offensively, Grimson went 2-4, Kyle Miller was 1-3, Smith was 1-for3 with a triple, CJ Evans was 2-for- 2 with an RBI and Vukasin was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

The third game saw Havre fall to Class A powerhouse, the Bitteroot Red Sox. The Red Sox beat the North Stars 9-5. Miller went the distance on the mound for Havre and paced the North Stars with a 2-for-3 performance, four RBIs and a triple, while Vukasin went 1-4.

"We played well enough to win," Fanning said. "Again, we had a couple innings that cost us the game. We also lacked the offense to get it done against a quality team like this."

Havre turned things around however in its final two outings in Three Forks.

The North Stars trounced the Butte Muckers 10-0 behind a complete-game, one-hit shutout from Evans. It was his third straight complete-game outing on the mound. While Evans struck out seven Muckers in the short game, Havre hammered Butte pitching. Jensen was 2-for-4, Miller went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a triple, Vukasin was 3-for- 3 with a double, Briese was 2-for-3 and Surber was 2-for-3 with a double.

And the North Stars closed out their weekend with a dramatic 4-3 win over the Glendive Blue Devils on Sunday.

The North Stars trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Miller blasted a two-run walkoff homerun, sending the North Stars home in style.

Miller's day at the plate included a 3-for-4 performance with a double, a homer and three RBIs. Smith was also 2-for-3, while Jensen pitched the complete- game win. It was a bit of redemption for Jensen and the North Stars, who were thumped by the Blue Devils last weekend in Havre.

The three wins in Three Forks improved Havre's overall record to 14-11.

The North Stars are 5-1 in league play.

"Overall we need to have a more productive offensive team," Fanning said. "Also the one inning that kills us is taking its toll. We need to play 7 innings in every phase of the game, when we do that, we will be a tough team to beat."

Havre's six-game Canada road trip starts with a doubleheader on Wednesday in Fort MacLeod, Alberta — the site of the 2010 Northern District Tournament next month. On Thursday, the North Stars will play a pair of league games in Lethbridge, Alberta, before wrapping up the northern swing with two district games Friday in Medicine Hat.

Havre will return home for a pair of league games against the Great Falls Electrics on June 28.