Northstars swept by the Redbirds

The Havre Northstars American Legion baseball team was back at the friendly confines of Legion Field Sunday against the Lewistown Redbirds.

Unfortunately, for Havre, the results were no different from when the two teams met in Lewistown recently for a Northern A doubleheader, as the Redbirds won both games 12-2 and 5-2, clinching a 4-0 season sweep of the Northstars. The losses dropped Havre's record in district play to 12-12. The Northstars have now lost eight of their last 12 games after starting the district season 8-4.

"I didn't think that we beat ourselves," Northstars manager Mickey Williams said. "(Lewistown) is just a very good team. They don't make mistakes and they play very good defense. They just have that consistency and they are the team to beat right now."

In the first game of the back-to-back, the Northstars sent Bridger Staples to the mound as the starting pitcher but he only lasted a short time as the Rebirds grabbed an 8-0 lead by the third inning.

Tyrel Kjersem came in to relieve Staples and did a nice job in in three innings of work, yet still allowed four runs to the Redbirds. Havre, on the other hand, struggled offensively. Jake Sedahl did register an RBI triple, which made the score 10-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Yet, Lewistown added two runs in the fifth, then held Havre scoreless in the bottom half of the inning to wrap up the win via the 10-run rule.

In the second game, Kennedy

McKay was on the mound for the Northstars, and despite giving up three runs early on, he lasted until the top of the seventh, when he was removed with two outs for Brendan Garden. When McKay left the game, Havre found itself trailing 5-1.

The Northstars were hoping for a comeback in the bottom of the seventh, and threatened one after hits by Eli Cloninger and Brenden Danielson put runners on the corners. Cloninger scored on a wild pitch, which also put Danielson in scoring position. But Lewistown was able to retire Ethan Roberts and Sedahl, leaving Danielson stranded at third, putting an end to a 5-2 victory.

Trey Murphy and Sedahl both had solid days at the plate, notching multiple hits against Lewistown. However, in the loss, Northstars managed just three hits in the first game and five runs total, compared to 17 for the Redbirds.

"I thought that Trey played well," Williams said. "He got some nice hits. Jake also hit the ball well. We just didn't get enough hits. I think we only had three the first game and it's hard to win when you do that. We also walked too many guys. But they are a really good team too."

The Northstars will be off for the week until Sunday, when they will host Vauxhall in an important Northern A doubleheader. First pitch is at 2 p.m.