Havre splits with Lethbridge

With plenty of room to move up the league ranks, the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team went into the Friday's doubleheader looking for a sweep. But after some key letdowns and costly mistakes, the North Stars ended up with a split with Lethbridge.

Friday the North Stars hosted the Lethbridge Spitz Miners for two league games at Legion field in Havre. And while it looked like the North Stars were going to come away with two wins, they ended up with a split. The Miners took game one 21-12 after overcoming an early nine-run deficit, and the North Stars took game two with a score of 8-5.

Havre shortstop Brandon Smith tags out a Lethbridge base runner during an American Legion baseball game Friday evening at Legion Field in Havre. Smith and the North Stars split their two games with the Miners.

But the win didn't come easily, as the North Stars and Miners went run-for-run for nearly five innings. The game was tied at 2-2 after the first inning, and the North Stars took a 3-2 lead after two. The Miners then tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth before Havre grabbled the lead again at 5-3 in the bottom of the frame. But the trend continued, and in the top of the fifth the Miners tied the ball game one more time at 5-5.

Through the fifth and sixth innings, the North Stars were finally able to gain some ground and keep it, scoring three more runs and earning the win.

In the fifth inning the North Stars scored one run with Kolby Sukut and Mark Vukasin getting on board with base hits, and Justin Denny earning the RBI. And, in the sixth inning, the North Stars added two more runs with three hits. Spencer Morkrid, Thurman Holdsclaw and Sukut all had a single, but the runs scored when Garreth Bernard got on board with a fielders choice, and when Brandon Smith scored on a wild pitch.

The North Stars shut down the Miners in the seventh inning for the win. And Havre's offense was led by Bernard and Sukut, who both went 2-of-4 from the plate and combined for three RBIs. Vukasin, Morkrid, Justin Jensen and Holdsclaw also had one hit each, while Jensen also had one RBI. Havre totaled eight hits and four RBIs.

Jensen also had a good game on the mound, pitching seven innings while facing 33 batters, striking out 10, allowing 12 hits and walking zero Lethbridge batters.

The loss the North Stars suffered in game one is a game Havre would like to soon forget.

The North Stars took an early 10-1 lead in third inning and looked to be completely in control. Up to that point the North Stars took advantage of six hits and three Miners' errors to take the nine run lead.

But after a fourth inning with four North Stars errors, and 10 Lethbridge hits, the Miners took over and never looked back. The Miners took a 12-10 lead in the fourth and stretched the lead to 13-10 in the fifth. And in another big inning, the Miners added eight more runs in the sixth on five hits and three more North Star errors.

Havre did score two more runs in the game, but suffered the 21-12 loss after giving up the nine run lead. Havre finished with seven errors.

Sukut was the losing pitcher in this contest and gave up 13 runs after facing 32 batters in four innings on the mound. Denny gave up two runs in relief, while Vukasin gave up six in relief.

Offensively, the North Stars were led by Smith who went 3-of-3 with one RBI. Sukut was 2-of-5 with three RBIs, while Chance Pitkanen was 2-of-5 with an RBI as well. Vukasin, Bernard, Holdsclaw and Jensen all had one hit each, while Vukasin had two RBIs. Morkrid also had one RBI.