North Stars tame Great Falls Stallions

It has been an inconsistent last week for the Havre American Legion baseball team.

But on Wednesday in Great Falls, the North Stars were anything but.

Havre was 2-6 in its last eight Northern District games heading into Wednesday's doubleheader with the Great Falls Stallions. But after a commanding sweep at Don Olson Field, the North Stars enter today's double dip with the Tri-County Cardinals on a high note.

Havre beat the Stallions by scores of 18-6 in seven innings and 21-3 in five innings, giving them some confidence as they face the defending district champion Cardinals (8-8) today at 3 at Legion Field.

In the first game on Wednesday, the North Stars rode starter Justin Jensen and a hot offense to an easy win over the Stallions.

Jensen earned a complete-game victory striking out six Stallions in seven innings of work.

O f f e n s i ve l y, Havre produced against a strong Great Falls pitcher, something head coach Steve Fanning was more than happy to see.

"Offensively, I liked how we had production 1-9.

This pitcher was no different than ones who have been shutting us down all year. We need to have the confidence that we can do this game after game," Fanning said.

The North Stars scored early and often against the Stallions in game one and almost every starter in the lineup got into the act. Brayden Grimson was 1-for-3 with two RBIs, Jensen helped his own cause by going 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Kyle Miller went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Brandon Smith and Shane Kemmer also had huge games for the North Stars. Smith went 3-for-6 with a homerun and three RBIs and Kemmer was 3-for-4 with a triple, a double and an RBI. Roman Surber, Adam Briese and Kolby Sukut each added two hits a piece in the route. Spencer Morkrid and CJ Evans also picked up hits for the North Stars.

And the North Stars kept pouring it on in a five-inning win in the nightcap against the Stallions.

Havre scored eight runs in the first inning, including a grand slam homer by Miller. The North Stars also got a completegame victory from CJ Evans. Evans, who has been one of Havre's best pitchers the last month, scattered just two hits and struck out five in the win.

"CJ Evans got the complete game victory.

Once he settled in he was solid, he probably only threw 50 pitches in the entire game," Fanning said. "Offensively, we got on them early. We had a lot of confidence up at the plate and were playing very relaxed — we need to see more of this."

Miller paced the North Stars at the plate, going 2-for-4 with 5 RBIs and his team-leading fourth homer of the season.

But, Havre got production up and down its lineup yet again.

Kemmer was 2-for-2 with a triple, a double and an RBI, Jensen was 2-for- 4 with an RBI, Smith was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, Evans went 2-for-4 with a double, Grimson was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Mark Vukasin was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Surber was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Briese had a productive game, going 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.

With the dominating performance on Wednesday, the North Stars improved to 9-7 in league play and 18-17 overall. More importantly, it appears its offense is back on track heading in to today's games against the Cardinals, who are 8-8 in league play and coming off a split with the Great Falls Electrics Wednesday in Conrad.

Today's games against Tri-County also mark the end of a 10-game stretch of league games for the North Stars.

After today, they'll be off until July 6 and won't play another league game until July 13.

Today's doubleheader with Tri- County gets underway at 3 at Legion Field.