Hawks upset North Stars at Legion Field

There are plenty of good baseball players to go around in Great Falls, and the Havre North Stars saw that first hand, with the addition of a Senior Babe Ruth squad to the schedule.

The Great Falls Hawks may be a Babe Ruth program, but they proved to be a worthy opponent with solid pitching, and lively bats. The Hawks defeated the North Stars 12-7 Tuesday night at Legion field. A doubleheader was scheduled for tonight, but the matchup was moved to Tuesday, and one nine-inning game was played instead.

It was a tight game early, but it soon turned into a lopsided lead for the Hawks. And while the North Stars attempted some late heroics, the Havre bats just couldn’t get over the hump.

Heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Hawks led 12-5, but the North Stars had an opportunity to make things interesting. After a Kyle Gooch strikeout, Dan Miller got on base with an error. And after the second Havre out, Gavin Gunderson was hit by a pitch, followed by a Travis Roth RBI single to bring the gap to 12-6. Thurman Holdsclaw also got on base, and drove in a run with on a Great Falls error, and Spencer Ross followed with a base on balls.

With two outs, and the bases loaded, The North Stars had a chance to really close the gap. But with the bats never really heating up all game long, the game came to a close with a Chris Vukasin fly out.

Havre held a 2-1 lead after one inning, Great Falls took over 4-2 through three. The Hawks added two more runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth, and two more in the seventh. Havre also scored one in the sixth and two in the seventh, but couldn’t keep pace.

Holdsclaw finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Roth finished 3-for-5 with one RBI, while Vukasin and Jase Kato both finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Tyrell Pierce also had two hits, while Dane Warp, Miller and Gunderson each had one hit a piece.

Ross suffered the loss for the North Stars. Ross pitched five innings, allowing nine runs, off of eight hits and seven walks. Roth walked three and gave up three runs on four hits in relief.

The North Stars will be back in action Saturday, when they host two conference games against Fort MacLeod at Legion field. The first game is slated for 5 p.m. Havre will also face Vauxhall on the road in another conference doubleheader Sunday.

Great Falls 12, Havre 7

9 Innings

WP – Croft; LP – Spencer Ross

Great Falls 103 220 201 – 12 12 2

Havre 200 001 202 – 7 14 0

Great Falls – Vargas 3-5 3RBIs, Croft 0-4, Cruze 3-5 3RBIs, Sanchez 1-3 RBI, Kangas 0-5, Blackbird 1-4, Obrien 1-4 2RBIs, Rose 2-3 2RBIs, Shaw 1-4.

Havre – Thurman Holdsclaw 2-4 2RBIs, Travis Roth 3-5 RBI, Spencer Ross 0-3, Tyrell Pierce 2-5, Chris Vukasin 2-5 2RBis, David Denny 0-2, Kyle Gooch 0-2, Dane Warp 1-1, Dan Miller 1-2, Gavin Gunderson 1-2, Jase Kato 2-5 2RBIs, Ryne Antley 0-3.