Northstars return to Havre for doubleheader on senior day

With just a week left before the beginning of postseason competition, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club hopes to use this weekend to further prepare themselves for their quest for district and state championships. The Northstars will start the weekend with a doubleheader on the road against the Lewistown Redbirds Saturday before returning to Havre for their senior day for a Sunday doubleheader against the Great Falls Chargers starting at 3 p.m. With four more games left before the postseason, Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger hopes his team uses these last few games as an opportunity to get better for a postseason run.

"Improvement in all facets of the game," Wirtzberger said. "One of the things that this team has been really good at is improvement throughout the year and if we can just keep on getting better, we'll be in a good position to win games."

Havre has a record of 29-11 and has a conference record of 7-1. Over the past month, the Northstars have been playing their best baseball as they are 17-1 in their last 18 games including a stretch of 15 straight wins. However, Havre will head on the road to face off against the Redbirds, the lone team to hand Havre a loss during this stretch when the Northstars lost to Lewistown, 5-2, this past Sunday in the Bitterroot Bucs Invite championship game. Not only will the Northstars need to get their offense going to defeat Lewistown this time, but they will also need to play better defense.

"We must play cleaner defensively if we are to stay in ball games," Wirtzberger said. "Lewistown hits the ball really well. They don't strike out a lot. They're going to put balls in play, they're going to give our defense chances to make plays and we just got to do it."

The Northstars will then return to Havre for their senior day where they will play a doubleheader against the Great Falls Chargers at Legion Field Sunday starting at 3 p.m. Havre is 4-0 against the Chargers this year but Wirtzberger believes that the emotions of senior day might trip his team up if they are not careful.

"Senior Day is always kind of an emotional day for the boys, so hopefully they can get through the initial impact of that and play a couple of good ball games," Wirtzberger said. "Great Falls is a good young team, but I feel like if our guys go out there and play up to their ability, they should be able to win a couple of games."

Before they begin their doubleheader against the Chargers, Havre will honor its three seniors Ethan Carlson, Eli Cloninger and Carson Lunak. In his final season as a Northstars, Carlson is second on the team with 31 runs batted in on the year. He also has a .372 batting average, .489 on-base percentage and 26 runs scored on the year. In addition to his contributions on offense, Wirtzberger believes Carlson has made an impact as a team leader.

"He's just stepped into a huge leadership role this year and that was something that at the beginning of the year was a huge question mark for our team and our program and he's just done a great job at that," Wirtzberger said. "He put in a ton of work in the offseason and it's obviously showing because he's hitting the ball and he's making plays in the field so when we look back on his time as a Northstar, we're going to say this kid did fantastic things."

Even though Cloninger and Lunak are seniors, they are eligible to come back to play for the Northstars next year if they choose to. However, they are still undecided and will take part in the senior day ceremony just in case they decide not to come back.

If this is his final year as a Northstar, Cloninger made sure that it was a good one. He is third on the team with a .410 batting average and he is second on the team with a .507 batting average. He also leads the team with 54 runs scored on the year and he has 23 RBIs. Throughout his career, he has also played all over the field to give his team the best chance to win.

"We've asked Eli to do a whole lot of different things throughout his career and switch positions multiple times and every time we ask him to do something, he just goes out there and does it and he does it well," Wirtzberger said. "He's a huge contributor to our success this season and in the past and if he does decide not to come back, we're sure going to miss him."

Once this season is over, Lunak will get ready to attend Dickinson State University in North Dakota to play collegiate football as an offensive lineman. Just like Cloninger, he has not made a final decision but if this is it for him as a Northstar, he also had a strong final year. As the team's leading pitcher, he has a record of 7-1 in his 11 starts throughout the season where he has a 2.641 earned run average and 35 strikeouts. He has also made an impact on offense with a .337 batting average, 24 RBIs and 14 runs scored.

"He's just a kid that does anything that his coaches ask him to do and he does his absolute best every time he's out there," Wirtzberger said. "He's a great teammate and he's obviously been a huge contributor up there on the mound and at the plate so he's just a special kid."

The senior class should be special for Wirtzberger because they came into the program when he began coaching the team. He has gotten the chance to see them grow over the years and lead the program to success. Regardless of how this year ends for these seniors, Wirtzberger wants them to know they made their mark on the program.

"I've got to coach these kids for four years and they've just gotten better every single year," Wirtzberger said. "The leadership that they've shown this year is just a huge reason why this program has had the success that its had in the past couple years and they'll leave a legacy that guys can remember and look fondly upon."

The Havre Northstars will begin the weekend with a doubleheader on the road against the Lewistown Redbirds Saturday. They will then return home for their senior day where they will play a doubleheader against the Great Falls Chargers Sunday starting at 3 p.m.