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Northstars prepare for another long weekend

After a second-place finish at the Harold Gjerde Memorial tournament last weekend, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club look to keep their strong play going as they head into the Miles City Tournament this weekend. If the Northstars are going to have another strong weekend, Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger believes his players just need to stick to what led to their recent success.

"Just staying focused and staying consistent in what they're trying to do at the plate and in the field," Wirtzberger said.

The Northstars enter the Miles City Tournament with a 14-10 record. Their performance in last weekend's competition snapped a five-game losing streak so they hope to avoid another skid by continuing their strong play.

The Northstar's greatest strength this season has been their pitching, so they hope their pitchers can carry it into this weekend. Carson Lunak, who leads the team with 39 innings pitched this season, looks to continue his year where he has recorded a 3.231 earned run average and 25 strikeouts to only 19 walks. Brody Nanini is another pitcher who should see some play time this weekend. In his 33.1 innings pitched this season, he has recorded a 2.940 ERA, 29 strikeouts and eight walks. Wirtzberger hopes to get his pitchers ready for the workload this weekend by getting them much-needed rest before then.

"It's just focus and taking care of themselves during the week," Wirtzberger said. "They're getting adequate rest and hopefully they can keep up the consistency that they've had."

Havre will also need their offense to produce at the plate after their performance at the Harold Gjerde Memorial. Eli Cloninger can help get on base or get other runners home as he leads the team with a .409 batting average. He can also make an impact running the bases as he leads the team with 29 runs scored.

Along with pitching for the Northstars, Nanini hopes to continue making an impact at the plate as he leads the team with 20 RBIs. Caden Jenkins looks to continue his strong hitting season as he leads the team with both eight doubles and four triples.

"Just playing games, I think, is the biggest thing about staying sharp offensively," Wirtzberger said. "They were obviously really good last weekend and hopefully we can carry that into this coming week."

The Northstars will start the tournament by playing against the host team Miles City Mavericks Thursday night. Havre played the Mavericks this past Saturday at the Harold Gjerde Memorial and defeated them soundly 19-2. However, the Mavericks were missing several players that played at the East-West Shrine game, so Wirtzberger does not expect another easy outing.

"They'll be excited to play us there in their home field, and we're going to be excited to play them and hopefully bring the focus and some intensity into that one," Wirtzberger said.

Havre will then play a doubleheader Friday against the Billings Halos and Froid Bulls. Unlike most of their opponents this weekend, this will be the first time the Northstars have played either of these teams this season so Wirtzberger is not sure what to expect.

"We're just going to have to stay focused and make sure that we don't take anything for granted," Wirtzberger said.

The Northstars will then finish the tournament with another doubleheader Saturday. They will start out the day with a matchup with the Lewistown Redbirds. Havre has played Lewistown three times this season, including two conference games in their final home stand earlier in the month. The Redbirds lead the season series 2-1 so the Northstars will need to avoid mistakes in order to even out the series.

"Every game that we've played against those guys has been a really close game that comes down to who makes the least mistakes and who gets that one extra hit at the end of the game that makes the difference," Wirtzberger said. "I'm hoping that we can bring our 'A' game and hopefully come away with a win in that one."

Havre will finish up the Miles City Tournament later Saturday with a game against the Glendive Blue Devils. Even though he believes the Devils will be another tough outing, Wirtzberger is confident his team can pull out the win after they defeated Glendive, 6-3, at home at the beginning of the month.

"They're tough. They don't make a whole lot of mistakes defensively and they've got good pitching," Wirtzberger said. "We're just going to have to play a really good game to beat them. I think the way the guys are playing, we should be just fine."

With just little over a month remaining in the regular season, Wirtzberger hopes to have the Northstars playing consistent baseball. He believes the team's process has helped his players improve over the course of the season and if they continue to do that, they will win games more consistently.

"We have to keep getting better every single day and that just comes with your work in pregame, processing what you did good and what you did bad in your postgame and then working on it during the week," Wirtzberger said. "That's something that these guys have been really good at so I would expect us to just keep on getting better every single day."

The Havre Northstars will begin playing in the Miles City Tournament Thursday night with a game against the Miles City Mavericks.

 

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