Northstars split with the Redbirds in Lewistown

After a lengthy series of games at Legion Field, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club have been on a long road-game stretch recently. That stretch continued Tuesday evening, as Havre was in for another difficult doubleheader versus a team that has proved to be a tough club amongst Class A.

At Ryan Sparks Field in Lewistown, the Northstars battled against an always rough-and-tumble rival in the Lewistown Redbirds. This time around, Havre split the series, falling to the Redbirds in game one 16-7, but then coming back to shutout their opponent 5-0 in game two, making the Northstars’ overall record 8-15 for the season.

Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger saw the ups and downs of the doubleheader against a scrappy Lewistown squad.

“I thought the kids rebounded pretty well after a tough first game,” Wirtzberger said. “Lewistown came out swinging some pretty hot bats and we made some mistakes. But, we hit the ball pretty well all day long, so it was good to see them respond and go out to get a win there in game two.”

In the first game against Lewistown, the Northstars saw the lead run away from them early on, as the Redbirds scored on several occasions in the first inning, with a single by Isaiah Marquart, a single by Kyle Lee, an error by Havre, a walk by Travis McAlpin, a triple by Jake Clinton and a passed ball with Nolan Fry at bat, followed by a single by Taylor Smith in the second inning to lead 9-3.

From there, Lewistown put up seven more runs to extend its lead, including on another error by Havre and a Xander Flick walk, while the Northstars tacked on four more for the rest of the game. In the end, it was not enough to catch up to the Redbirds, who opened the doubleheader strong at their home field.

But luck found its way to Havre on the road in the second game of the doubleheader.

The Northstars put on a show in the second game, with Julian Benson pitching well, not allowing a single run and only allowing three hits.

The score in the first inning came from a single by Tyrel Kjersem on an 0-1 count, putting up the first run of the game. There would be a stalemate in the scoring for quite some time, but Havre added four more runs, two each in the fifth and sixth innings to cap off a shut-out performance in a tough doubleheader game on the road.

Wirtzberger was proud of Benson’s performance on the mound.

“He was everything he wanted to be up on the mound,” Wirtzberger said. “He got the strike zone early, got ahead in counts and when he didn’t, he battled back. He used his pitches in the right situations and he kept his fielders involved, so everything you wanted him to do; he did. He just had a great day.”

At the end of the day, the Northstars had some great performances in game two. Quinn Reno had three hits at three at-bats to lead Havre, while Theron Peterson followed with two hits at three at-bats. In game one, Ethan Carlson led the offense with three hits at four at-bats.

Next up, Havre takes on the Tri-County Cardinals today on the road at 3 p.m. in Conrad for a doubleheader showdown, which Wirtzberger is looking forward to.

“Tri-County swept us at home,” Wirtzberger said. “We know they’re going to be ready to roll. We just got to play well, pitchers have to throw strikes, we got to make plays and keep hitting the ball. They’re going to be solid and they are not going to beat themselves, so we’re going to have to go out there and have a solid game.”

Havre 5, Lewistown 0

Lewistown 0000000 – 0 3 2

Havre 1 000 2 2 0 – 5 8 3

WP – Julian Benson

LP – Will Hendricks

Havre batting – Eli Cloninger 1-2, Quinn Reno 3-3, Tyrel Kjersem 2-4, Trenton Maloughney 0-4, Caden Jenkins 0-2, Ethan Carlson 0-4, Brody Nanini 0-3, Tavish Mclean 0-3, Theron Peterson 2-3.

Lewistown 16, Havre 7

Lewistown 8 1 2 0 4 1 X – 16 11 4

Havre 3 0 2 0 2 00 – 7 8 7

WP – Kyle Lee

LP – Eli Cloninger

Havre batting – Theron Peterson 0-3, Quinn Reno 0-3, Tyrel Kjersem 2-4, Trenton Maloughney 1-3, Caden Jenkins 1-3, Ethan Carlson 3-4, Carson Lunak 0-4, Jeremiah Benson 0-3, Tavish Mclean 1-3.