Improving North Stars head to Deer Lodge

It’s official, the dog days of summer are here and that means that the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team is nearing the midway point of its 2015 season.

The North Stars, who just won three of four games against conference opponents at Legion Field this past weekend, are getting ready for their tradition of playing in the Mike Walsh Memorial Wood Bat tournament in Deer Lodge.

“It’s kind of a fun tournament for us to play,” North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy said. “It changes things up a little bit. And it gives us some more non-conference games to play. But we will get some good games against some good competition down there.”

Havre, which is currently 8-11-1 on the season, has been playing better of late, and because of their sweep of Fort Macleod last Saturday and their split with Medicine Hat last Sunday, the North Stars have a 5-3 record in the Northern A district. And as they sit two games above .500, they are right in the thick of things to grab a top seed for the postseason tournament.

“I like how we are playing right now,” Fuzesy said. “I still think that our pitching and our defense are our strong suits. If we can keep those things going and get consistent hitting, I think we can keep winning games.”

As far as the pitching staff goes, the North Stars are likely going to use a variety of arms down in Deer Lodge, but the three hurlers that are sure to start games are Dylan Carpenter, Tyrell Pierce and Jeff Miller.

Carpenter lost against Medicine Hat in his last start, but before that game, he was pitching as well as any North Star had all season. And despite a poor outing, Carpenter still has a 2-2 record and an ERA of 4.07. Carpenter has been an inning-eater for Fuzesy, pitching a team-high 42 innings and leading the team with 30 total strikeouts.

After Carpenter, the next pitcher in line will likely be Pierce, who earned a victory over Medicine Hat in his last start. Although he has struggled at times, mostly due to a few big-run innings, he only gave up one run over the final three innings during his last start and for the season has an ERA of 5.04.

Miller, on the other hand, doesn’t have the greatest ERA (8.4), but he’s been reliable and the North Stars have found ways to win with him on the hill, as he boasts a 3-0 record in four starts. Others that could see time on the mound include Jerod Boles, Branden Danielson and Ryne Antley.

“Carpenter has pitched really well for us lately,” Fuzesy said. “He didn’t have his best stuff against Medicine Hat, but he is our horse. Tyrell is also a key for us. He has been trying to throw a curve ball and it wasn’t working and finally we started just calling fastballs for him. He just needs to stick to the basics and throw hard.”

While a strong effort from the pitching staff will be a big key for the North Stars in Deer Lodge, they will also need their offense to keep clicking like it has in recent weeks. The Havre offense has a few key cogs that make it go, but none have been more important than Jake Sedahl and Antley.

Antley is leading the team with a .500 batting average to go along with 15 RBIs and six extra-base hits. While Antley has been good, Sedahl has been just as effective batting .478 and leading the team with 17 RBIs. He also has six doubles and a triple.

However, the North Stars have also been getting great contributions at the plate from Carpenter (.400), Travis Roth (.378), Gavin Gunderson (.393), Boles (.340) and TJ Lovenguth (.340). As a team the North Stars are currently hitting .340 and have an on-base percentage of .407. Others contributors for the North Stars include Trey Murphy, Tanner Henstchel, Nic Tanner, Cole Keller and Kyle Gooch.

Before the North Stars make the trip to Deer Lodge, they took on the Tri-County Cardinals in a non-conference game between Northern A squads Tuesday night in Conrad. It ended up being a high-scoring affair, but when it was all said and done, the North Stars lost 12-10.

The tournament in Deer Lodge begins Friday and runs through Sunday.