The Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team knows what it’s like to play road games.
Havre hasn’t played on its home diamond since June 2 and won’t for another nine days. And that’s why, despite facing four big Northern District games over the next two days, the North Stars won’t be intimidated.
Today the North Stars are in Medicine Hat for a league doubleheader, and they’ll follow that up with a trip to Vauxhall for two more league games on Thursday. Havre enters this week’s four league games with a 7-3 Northern District rec
ord, which is good enough for second place.
The North Stars got some rest on Monday and Tuesday, after playing nine games in five days last week. But they’ll need to be extra sharp today and Thursday.
Havre swept Medicine Hat in a double dip earlier this month – the last time the North Stars played at home. But the Knights are a solid hitting team, so the North Star pitcher, whoever gets the starts today, will have to be ready to throw to good games.
And things get even more difficult on Thursday. The Vauxhall Spurs are a perennial Class A power and Havre hasn’t seen them yet this season, so the Spurs are somewhat of an unknown to Havre and first-year head coach Dan Wirtzberger.
Still, as good as Vauxhall may be, Havre will need to continue to be consistent this week. The North Stars get solid pitching and hitting from leaders Brandon Smith, Justin Jensen and Mark Vukasin. But young pitchers like Spencer Morkrid and Tyrell Pierce will also likely be called upon over the next two days.
Havre will also look to pick up its hitting this week. In Three Forks over the weekend, the North Stars struggled to score runs in four losses. But traditionally, Havre has been a solid run-scoring team this season. Along with the aforementioned trio, hitters like Chris Vukasin, Gareth Bernard and Thurman Holdsclaw have really come on strong this season, and they, along with Morkrid and others make Havre a dangerous lineup at the plate.
And while the North Stars are confident going into this week’s four road games, they aren’t done yet.
Next week, the North Stars will face off against both the Great Falls Stallions and Great Falls Electrics in Great Falls before finally playing a home doubleheader against Tri-County on June 29. Havre has six of its last eight conference games at Legion Field.
