By Damion Martindale
The Havre Northstars played two conference games against the Cut Bank Cardinals Tuesday afternoon at Legion Field.
In game one it was a pitchers dual as the Cardinals' Bart Benjamin and the Northstars' Kyle Sheppard battled it out. Both pitchers pitched five complete scoreless innings until the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Northstars broke the scoreless tie thanks impart to two Cardinal errors that resulted in Jordan Anderson and Jared Boyce both coming in to score for the Northstars.
That was more than enough for Sheppard who gave up no runs on five hits and struck out two for the seven-inning complete game shutout. His counter-part Benjamin gave up two runs on one Northstar hit in a losing effort.
In game two, the Northstars got off to a slow start as pitcher David Knight walked the first four batters he faced to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.
Knight was then replaced by Dan Danielson and, with the bases loaded, Cardinal Levi Newman sacrificed in a run, followed by Ryan Leishman who hit a two-run scoring single to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.
The Northstars responded in the first inning when, with the bases loaded, Jay Rucinsky hit a single scoring Nate Baltrusch and Jared Boyce. After one complete inning the Northstars trailed, 4-2.
In the second inning, the Northstars' Ricky Brown got into the action with a two-run double, bringing in Sheppard and Baltrusch.
Boyce then singled in Brown to tie the score at 4-4. C. J. Reichelt then doubled in Boyce for the Northstars' first lead.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the third inning, Baltrusch hit a triple off the right-center field fence bringing in David Heberly, Sheppard, and Garrett Hanson. Brown then rewarded Baltrusch by driving him home to give the Northstars a 10-4 lead after three complete innings.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Northstars put the game away for good. With the bases full of Northstars, the Cardinals pitcher walked Sheppard for one run and Baltrusch hit a double scoring three more runs. Baltrusch tallied six RBIs in the game. At the end of the fourth inning the Northstars opened up a 17-4 lead.
Danielson then got the first three Cardinal batters he faced out in the top of the fifth inning to 10-run Cut Bank, 17-4.
Game one
Cut Bank
000 000 0
5 0 1
Havre
000 002 x
1 2 3
WP - Sheppard
LP - Benjamin
Cut Bank - Peres 1-4, Aikens 1-2, Loasch 1-2, Alford 1-3, Russo 1-2
Havre - Heberly 1-2
Game two
Cut Bank
400 00x x
03 04 0
Havre
244 7xx x
10 17 1
WP - Danielson
LP - Newman
Cut Bank - Aikens 1-2, Leishman 1-2, Russo 1-2
Havre - Baltrusch 2-2, Anderson 1-4, Brown 1-3, Boyce 1-3, Reichelt 1-2, Rucinsky 2-3, Sheppard 2-3
