North Stars look for more in Great Falls

Believe it or not, the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team has just six games left in the regular season and with the bunched up nature of the Northern A District standings, all of them are going to be important.

Havre will play six games in the next three days, but its closing stretch starts today with a doubleheader in Great Falls against the Chargers. The start time for the first game is set for 3 p.m.

The North Stars (19-19 overall, 13-9 district) come into the week sitting in fifth place in the district. However, they are just a half game behind Lethridge for fourth place, one game behind Medicine Hat for third and two behind Lewistown for second. Great Falls, which is at 8-14, is in sixth. And as long as the North Stars win at least one of the two games against them today, Havre will finish the season no worse than fifth.

"I think you need to win the games you are supposed to win," North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy said. "We took care of business on the road against Fort MacLeod and if we could get a sweep that we would be huge. You want to at least get one win, but getting two would really set us up well."

With so many games so close in proximity to each, one of the challenges for Fuzesy will be managing his pitching staff. Tonight, Fuzesy said he plans to start Tony Antley in the first game, with Calvin White to follow possibly in the second. However, Fuzesy said he will end up using a lot of arms, but watching their pitch counts to make sure he saves enough arms for the weekend.

"We will start with Tony and see what happens from there," Fuzesy said. "If we win that game, we will be probably go with Calvin. But we want to limit guys and hold them up that 45-pitch limit so we can use them against Medicine Hat. So I will probably end up using just about everyone tomorrow, but keeping their pitch count down."

Antley is 2-2 on the year and has a 3.70 ERA. He has also been one of the top hitters for an offense that is averaging six runs a game. Antley is currently third in batting average (.372), but is leading all North Stars in RBI with 27. While Antley has been a key producer at the plate, Jake Sedahl has also been on a tear recently and now leads the North Stars with a .393 batting average. Sedahl is also third on the team in RBIs with 21. He also tied for the team lead with seven doubles and has a team-high six triples.

Danielson has also been a big part of the offense and is second on the team in average (.383) and RBI (23). He also leads the team in runs scored with 34. He is also tied the team lead in walks with 20 and has the only two home runs the North Stars have hit this season.

"I think with all those guys it's kind of a competitive thing," Fuzesy said. "They all care about their stats and they like to try to beat each other there, so I think it's a pride thing, but it's competitive too and that helps them push each other."

Others such as Trey Murphy, Kelden Sullivan, Brendan Garden, Ethan Roberts and Gavin Mosbrucker have been strong contributors on offense this season. Kennedy McKay has been a solid two-way player at short and is another pitcher who could see the mound against Great Falls, while other possible contributors are Caleb Allestad, Cody Rennick, Brady Ophus and Evan Davidson.

The North Stars and the Chargers will play their Northern A Doubleheader today at 3 p.m.