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Northstars take out frustrations on Comets in conference opener

It wasn't the best timing for the Havre Comets on Wednesday night. The Comets ran into a cranky Havre Northstars team fresh off a tough loss to the Great Falls Stallions 'AA' squad on Tuesday night. And the Northstars took out a little frustration on their younger cohorts.

The Northstars pounded out 15 runs on 12 hits to pick up a 15-2 victory and its first conference win of the season.

After the loss to the Stallions, Northstars head coach Mickey Williams figured his team would come out strong.

"We actually didn't play that badly against the Stallions," Williams said. "But we made a couple of mistakes, we didn't do that against the Comets."

The Northstars set the tone early in the game as Daine Solomon blasted a two-run homerun in the first inning to grab a 2-0 lead. The Northstars blew open the game an inning later, collecting six runs on four hits. Corey Junck drove in a pair of runs while Tyler Thompson also had a pair of RBIs in the big inning.

"Daine's starting to come around a little," Williams said. "He hasn't had a lot of at-bats and isn't back into to form yet, but he's getting close."

Northstar pitcher Chazz Hurlburt limited the Comets to just three hits in the first four innings. In the fifth inning, the Comets picked up their only two runs of the contest as Jordon Patterson and Bret Magellsen scored on a Patch Wirtzberger single to cut the lead to 9-2.

The Northstars answered in the following inning with six more runs, highlighted by a two-run double from Thompson.

Hurlburt shut out the Comets in the sixth and seventh innings to end the game early. It was Hurlburt's best performance of the season, going seven innings allowing just one earned run on seven hits while striking out six and walking just two Comet batters to pick up the win. Tony Christian took the loss for the Comets.

"Chazz threw a lot of strikes," Williams said. "That was the difference. He got ahead of batters early."

Havre was led offensively by Thompson, who finished 2-5 with four RBIs. Junck also had a pair of hits and three RBIs.

Along with Wirtzberger, Tyson Anderson added a pair of hits for the Comets.

The Northstars improved their record to 4-5 on the season and will host Lewistown on Saturday in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.

The Comets dropped a pair of games on Sunday to the Redbirds. Lewistown blanked the Comets 10-0 in the opening game, and 8-6 in the nightcap.

Wirtzberger was 2-3 with a pair of runs scored while Anderson added a pair of hits and pair of RBIs.

The Comets will also be in action on Sunday as they travel to Glasgow for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.

Comets 000 020 0 - 2 7 2

Northstars 260 160 X - 15 12 1

Batterys

Chazz Hurlburt (WP) and Adam Jensen; Tony Christian (LP), Chase Castloo (2), Jeff Tibbals (2) and Patch Wirtzberger.

Hitting

NORTHSTARS - Adam Jensen 0-5, Bobby Bergren 1-3 (3 runs, 1RBI), Corey Junck 2-5 (3 RBI), Daine Solomon 2-3 (3 runs, 2 RBI); Tyler Thompson 2-5 (3 runs, 4 RBI), Levi Briese 2-3 (1 RBI), Ian Spencer 2-3, Tyson Roe 0-4, Brandon Morse 1-2, Mark Benjamin 1-1.

COMETS - Jeff Tibbals 1-2, Tony Christian, 0-2, Chase Castloo 0-1, Eric Fanning 0-1, Patch Wirtzberger 1-4 (2 RBI), Trent Normandy 0-3, Tyson Anderson 1-4, Kaare Engebretson 0-2, Mike Olsen 0-1, Ben Erickson 0-3, Jordon Patterson 1-2 (1 run) Coda Tchida 1-1, Bret Magelssen 1-2 (1 run), Bryden Vukasin 0-1.

2B - Thompson, Briese

HR - Solomon

 

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