Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
When the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball team welcomed Northern A district rival Vauxhall to Legion Field for a late-season conference doubleheader, they knew it was a chance to make a big statement to the rest of the district. Unfortunately, after the Spurs overwhelmed the Northstars in a two-game sweep by the scores of 11-2 and 4-2, respectively on Wednesday afternoon, it was the Spurs, not the Northstars that put the rest of the Northern A district on notice. The Spurs pitching staff was so good, that it left the talented Northstar lineup looking foolish, holding them to a combined four runs on just seven hits in the two games. Cole Stober took the ball for Vauxhall in the opening game of the doubleheader and it soon became apparent that the Northstar batters were just no match for the standout starting pitcher. Stober earned a complete-game victory after allowing just two runs, one of them earned on just two hits, while notching seven strikeouts to go along with four walks. Stober was in fact so dominating, that he held Havre without a single extra-base hit. Offensively, Stober got all the run support he needed in the top of the first inning, when the Spurs torched Havre starting pitcher Austin Small for five runs on six hits, giving them a quick 5-0 lead, they never relinquished. After back-to-back singles to lead off the game by Ryan Hutchinson and Ty Sparrow each scored on a double by Zach Rhodes. Two batters later Brendan Miller added to the onslaught with an RBI single that scored Rhodes, which was followed with an RBI by Mike Brown and a run-scoring double by Coltan LaBoucane that capped off the high-octane inning. Havre showed some signs of life in the bottom of the second inning, as Scott Vigliotti singled and later scored on an error to get the Northstars on the board. Then after reaching on an error, Scott Ladenburg scored on a single by Sean Peterson, trimming the lead to 5-2. In the top of the fifth, the Spurs put the game out of reach by way of a second five-run inning with the help an error and two wild pitches from the Northstars. Small was hit with the loss for Havre, as the Spurs knocked him around for 11 runs on 12 hits, while he walked three and struck out just two. Hutchinson, Sparrow, Rhodes and Miller all finished with two hits apiece to spark the Spurs offense. Yet their production didn’t match that of teammate Jaden Oldland, who was 3-for-4 with three singles. After being humiliated in game one, the Northstars were out for revenge and early on it appeared they just might get it. They took their first lead against Vauxhall, following a run produced solely by Sean Petersen in the top of the first inning. Petersen led off the inning with a base hit, then stole second and took advantage of two wild pitches to cross home plate and give the Northstars the 1-0 lead. But it was gone after two Havre errors and two wild pitches from pitcher Jeremiah Moog gave the Spurs the 2-1 edge in the top of the second. Unfazed, John Christian singled leadoff the bottom half of the inning, then scored off a sacrifice fly by Ladenburg tying the game up at 2-2. The tie was broken in the top of the fifth inning after Miller singled and scored three batters later off a single by Ty Oldland to give Vauxhall a 3-2 advantage. The Spurs added a key insurance run in the top of the seventh inning, as Mitch Schaafsma singled and scored on another costly Havre error, extending the lead to 4-2. Then Schaafsma went to the mound and retired the final three straight Havre batters to seal the win for the Spurs. Brock Leavins got the win for Vauxhall after surrendering just two runs on four hits in strong innings of work. The Spurs took advantage of Moog to the tune of three runs on eight hits, leading to a loss for the Havre starting pitcher. Christian provided one of the few bright spots for Havre, after going 3-for- 3 at the plate in defeat with all three of the hits singles. Sparrow also added three hits in the second game for the Spurs, giving him a two-game total of five. The Havre Comets were also in action earlier in the week, paying a visit to Glasgow on Tuesday for a non-conference doubleheader. Not unlike their older counterparts the Comets struggled mightily in a twogame sweep, dropping the games by the scores of 8-7 and 10-0.
