North Stars looking to win in Williston

After getting their feet wet in summer baseball at the North Star Jamboree last weekend, the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball club is hitting the road to Williston, North Dakota, for a four-day tournament against some high-quality competition.

Havre (3-5 overall, 2-2 conference), got a chance to get some of its young talent on the field a week ago, but this weekend, in an actual tournament, the North Stars aren’t looking to gain experience, they are looking to win. And they will start their quest in group play, which will consist of four games, starting today at 1 p.m. against Regina, Alberta. Later today, Havre will continue group play against Wahpeton, North Dakota. The North Stars will then close out group play Friday against Williston at 11 a.m., and Saturday against Moose Jaw, another Canadian team, which will be at 3 p.m.

“With it being an actual tournament we are looking to get some results,” North Star head coach Dick Fuzesy said. “Last weekend, we got a chance to play a lot of kids and get some experience. And we will get all those kids some playing time again this weekend, but we are wanting to win. We don’t really know these teams but I have heard they are good. So, it will give us a chance to play some good competition. If we win, that is great, but at the very least we can play some teams that will help us get better.”

If the North Stars, who went winless in three games at their jamboree, are going to end their winless streak, they will need to improve both their pitching and their defense. Dylan Carpenter, who threw a complete game and held Strathmore to just three runs in seven innings in his last start, will get the nod today against Regina.

The rest of the starting pitchers will be Tyrell Pierce, Gavin Gundeson, Jeff Miller and then possibly Jerod Boles, Branden Danielson or Ryne Antley. Carpenter may also get a chance to start more than one game, especially if Havre is one of the four teams to advance to the semifinal round Sunday.

Yet, better pitching is not the only remedy for Havre playing better baseball. The defense needs to improve, too. In the final game of the jamboree against Medicine Hat, the North Stars committed six errors, which is something that no pitcher can overcome.

“I didn’t think our pitching was that bad,” Fuzesy said. “We just didn’t make a lot of plays behind our pitchers. We had one game where we made a lot of errors and that’s not something you can do, especially against good teams because they will take advantage of it.”

Offensively, the North Stars will be led again by the hitting of catcher Jake Sedahl, and Antley, who plays in centerfield, as well as shortstop Travis Roth.

Antley is currently leading the team with an impressive .571 batting average. He is also third on the team in runs batted in with five and doubles with two. Sedahl, who is hitting .467, may not have the highest average on the team but has still been Havre’s best weapon at the plate. Sedahl leads the North Stars in doubles with five and RBIs with eight. Roth has also been solid, hitting .357 and driving in seven runs.

“We have been doing a good job of getting hits and getting on base, but we need to do a better job of advancing our runners,” Fuzesy said. “We need to have more of a purpose with our bats and know the situation we are in, but we focused a lot on that in practice and that is something we will be working on this weekend.”

Others who will contribute for the North Stars this weekend include Trey Murphy, T.J. Lovenguth, Kyle Gooch, Nic Tanner, Tanner Hentschel and Cole Keller.

Havre will play at least four games and can advance to the semifinal round of the tournament by finishing first or second in group play. The semifinals and championship game will take place Sunday.