Northstars look to keep jamming at home

With no baseball for the past two weeks, the Havre Northstars American Legion club will make it up to their fans when they return for the Havre Jamboree this weekend at Legion Field.

With four games this weekend, Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger hopes that their work during their hiatus will pay off.

"We've been doing a lot of work on the defensive side of the ball: infield, outfield, catching, pitching, just trying to stay sharp," Wirtzberger said.

The Northstars enter the Havre Jamboree with a record of 7-2, with all their games this season being played at home. The Northstars' first chance to improve their record will be Friday night at 7:30 p.m. when they face the Glendive Blue Devils. Glendive is a familiar opponent for Havre as they played each other three times last season. The Devils also did not have many seniors last year, so they will be returning the bulk of their players who will now be more experienced.

"They'll be a tough team," Wirtzberger said. "They'll hit the ball and they'll have pitchers that can throw strikes so we're just going to have to play our game."

Havre will then play the Billings Expos B team Saturday at 4:30 p.m. This Expos team will have Billings' younger players as well as members from their A team. The Northstars defeated the Billings A team three times to open the season and they outscored them 22-3 over that weekend. Since their opponent will be made up of members of a team they have already defeated as well as many inexperienced players, Wirtzberger feels good heading into the matchup.

"Our guys are gaining a lot of experience and I feel like we should have the upper hand in that if we play up to our ability," Wirtzberger said.

The Northstars will then play the Gallatin Valley Outlaws later Saturday at 7 p.m. The Outlaws are an experienced team that returns many players from last year. They have also shown how good they are with their consistent postseason success, so Wirtzberger believes they can be a litmus test for where his team is at.

"Gallatin Valley's a tough team. They seem to always still be in the state tournament on the last day" Wirtzberger said. "I would expect it to be a measuring stick to see where we are and what we need to work on to get where we need to go."

Havre will then finish the jamboree with a game against the Glasgow Reds Sunday at 4:30 p.m. The Northstars defeated Glasgow, 12-3, back in May, so Wirtzberger believes all they need to do to pull out another win is to stay consistent and avoid mistakes.

"Solid pitching, hitting the ball and we just need to be sharper on defense," Wirtzberger said. "I think we're our own worst enemy at times. If we go out there and do the right things, we should be able to win."

If Havre is going to keep up their winning ways, they will need their pitchers such as Carson Lunak to pitch well. Lunak leads the Northstars with 19 innings pitched this season. He has started four games and has a 1-1 record. He has a 2.947 earned run average this season and has 14 strikeouts and 12 walks this season. The Northstars also have Brody Nanini, who has a 2-0 record in his two starts. In his 17 innings pitched this year, he has a 1.647 ERA and has struck out 21 batters compared to only two walks given up.

Nanini will look to make an impact on the offensive end, as well, He leads the team with 11 RBIs this season and has a .387 batting average. Another batter who could make an impact for the Northstars is Drake Berreth, who has seven RBIs, seven runs scored and a .417 batting average.

During their break, Wirtzberger made his team play intrasquad scrimmages in order to keep their pitching and bats fresh. He also uses the scrimmages to practice different scenarios such as when runners are on base and different kinds of counts. With recent inclement weather in Havre, the Northstars have used their indoor facility to continue to practice hitting the ball.

Glendive, Billings, Gallatin Valley, Glasgow and the Great Falls Chargers will play against each other over the weekend as well. The tournament is called the Havre Jamboree because no winner is crowned at the end of it. Something new for this year's jamboree is that the game will be played with wood bats instead of metal bats.

With the conference season finally starting for the Northstars Tuesday, Wirtzberger hopes that playing the jamboree will help prepare his team for the rest of the season as they will return to the field and play some strong competition.

"It'll be good to get back on the field and we get to see some different competition and see where we stack up there," Wirtzberger said. "I know the boys are excited to play in front of their home crowd in their home tournament and hopefully we can carry some momentum into those conference games."

The Havre Jamboree will begin at Legion Field Friday at 2:30 p.m. with a game between Glasgow and Billings. The Havre Northstars will then begin their weekend competition with a game against Glendive Friday at 7:30 p.m.