North Stars tame Stallions yet again

Havre's Chance Pitkanen makes contact during an American Legion baseball game against the Great Falls Stallions Wedneday night at Legion Field. The North Stars beat the Stallions 17-6 in seven innings.

The Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team has handled the Great Falls Stallions with ease in every meeting so far this season. That pattern of dominance continued against the Stallions in the teams fourth meeting thus far.

Wednesday night the North Stars hosted the Stallions at the American Legion field in Havre. One nine-inning conference game was scheduled for Wednesday night, but the North Stars took care of business in just seven innings, defeating Great Falls 17-6. Havre is now 4-0 against the Stallions this season and is now 5-3 in the conference and 5-5 overall.

The North Stars took control of the game in the first inning and never looked back.

Havre led 4-0 after the first inning. The Stallions crept within two runs, trailing 5-3 after the top of the third, but the Ponies never panicked. And in the bottom of the third inning, the North Stars continued to roll and ended the game in just seven innings. The North Stars scored five runs in the third, three in the fourth, and four in the fifth. The North Stars used 12 hits to rack up the runs, but also utilized seven errors by the Great Falls defense.

And leading the way for the North Star offense was Thurman Holdsclaw. Holdsclaw went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, while also scoring three runs of his own. David Denny also went 2-for-2 with one RBI, while Justin Jensen, Garreth Bernard, Brandon Smith, Mark Vukasin, Dane Linquist, Spencer Morkrid and Ned Malone all had one hit. Bernard and Linquist also had two RBIs to help lead the North Stars to victory.

The North Star offense got off to a hot start, scoring four runs in the first inning, and gave the Great Falls pitching staff fits all game long.

Dallas Farren got the start on the mound for the Stallions, and survived just 3.2 innings. Farren faced 28 batters and threw racked up 90 pitches, while giving up 13 runs. Reliever Jake Lowery didn't do much better, pitching 2.1 innings and giving up another four runs after facing 13 batters.

Tyrell Pierce took the mound for the North Stars and had a decent outing.

Pierce pitched the complete seven innings and faced 35 batters. Pierce totaled 117 pitches, but struck out five batters, while also throwing 21 first pitch strikes. Pierce also walked just five batters while giving up the six runs. Pierce also had some trouble with his location, as a handful of runs scored on his three wild pitches, but he also received a lot of help from the defense as well, as Havre committed just two errors in the ballgame.

It was a solid win by the North Stars, as they maintain their stay near the top of the conference, but the schedule only gets tougher from here.

The North Stars host the Medicine Hat Knights in a Northern District doubleheader Saturday afternoon at 1 at Legion Field. Havre then heads out on the road for most of June, not playing at home again until June 29.

North Stars 17, Stallions 6 (7 innings)

GF Stallions 003 021 0 – 6 7 7

Havre 415 340 – 17 12 2

WP – Tyrell Pierce; LP – Dallas Farren

Batting:

Havre – Justin Jensen 1-4, Garreth Bernard 1-4 (2 RBI), Brandon Smith 1-4 (RBI), Mark Vukasin 1-5, Chris Vukasin 0-1 (RBI), Thurman Holdsclaw 3-4 (2 RBI), David Denny 2-2 (RBI), Dane Linquist 1-2 (2RBI), Spencer Morkrid 1-2, Chris Pitkanan 0-2, Ned Malone 1-1, Kody Hickman 0-1, Jase Kato 0-1, Matt Hanley 0-1.

Great Falls – Marc Judice 0-2, Bridger Logan 0-2, Joe Maney 3-4 (RBI), Kyle Warner 1-2 (RBI), Zach Conway 0-2 (RBI), Devin Brown 0-4, Dawson Reiman 0-3, Jake Lowery 3-4, Patrick Brennan 0-2, Powell Tyler 0-1.

North Star Dane Linquist gets a hit during Wednesday night's American Legion baseball game at Legion Field in Havre.