North Stars blanked by the Medicine Hat Knights

It was a rocky start to the postseason for Havre North Stars, but the window is still open for a run at a trip to the state tournament.

Thursday morning the American Legion North Stars lost in the opening round of the 2013 Northern District baseball tournament in Vauxhall, Alberta. But being a double elimination tournament, the North Stars’ weekend is not over. Medicine Hat defeated the North Stars 10-0 in the opening round, but Havre will try and keep their weekend alive, as they face Tri-County today in a loser-out contest.

And a 10-0 loss never looks good, but the North Stars were competitive through most of the game.

The Knights and North Stars were locked in a 0-0 tie through innings. And it wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth when the Knights managed to take a 3-0 lead. Havre’s Chris Vukasin started the game on the mound, but eventually the Knights’ bats caught up with him. Vukasin gave up the three runs in the fourth, and was charged with six runs in his five innings of work. But Gavin Gunderson didn’t have much luck shutting down the Knights either. Medicine Hat added three more runs in the sixth, three more in the seventh, and one final run in the eighth inning.

Vukasin did have two strikeouts, but struggled to stay in the strike zone, as he walked seven. Gunderson had one strikeout, but walked another five.

Offensively, the North Stars couldn’t find ways to score runs.

Havre had just four hits in the outing. Thurman Holdsclaw returned to action after missing the last four games, but didn’t miss a beat, finishing the game 2-for-4. Travis Roth was 1-for-4 and Ryane Antley was 1-for-3.

If the No. 6 North Stars could have pulled off a win over the No. 3 Knights, they would have faced Lethbridge. But instead, Havre faced the loser of that same matchup, Tri-County, this morning at 10 a.m. The Northern District tourney runs through Sunday, with the top two teams advancing to next week’s Class A state tournament in Helena.

Medicine Hat 10, Havre 0

North Stars 000 000 00 – 0 4 3

Medicine Hat 000 303 31 – 10 10 0

WP – Fauth; LP – Chris Vukasin

North Stars – Travis Roth 1-4, Thurman Holdsclaw 2-4, Gavin Gunderson 0-3, Ryne Antley 1-3, David Denny 0-3, Jase Kato 0-2, Tyrell Pierce 0-3, Deion Hammet 0-3, Spencer Ross 0-3.

Knights – Welford 3-3, Fauth 1-3, Kunkel 2-4 2RBI, Close 1-5 RBI, Hung 0-3 2RBI, Clarke 1-5, Geiger 1-2 RBI, Mcdonnell 0-4, McCurdy 1-5 2RBI.