It’s been almost a week since the Havre Northstars baseball team took the field. The squad is still getting used to the early parts of the schedule, especially considering the later start date for 2024. New Media Broadcasters talked with head coach Patch Wirtzberger and he got candid about his team’s lack of offense during last Sunday’s season opener as they were shut out by Great Falls twice.
“The Chargers experience showed up. They didn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Wirtzberger said. “We had to earn everything we got at the plate, which obviously wasn’t much.”
“The guys did good getting runners on base. We just couldn’t score for a multitude of different reasons,” Wirtzberger continued. “The boys kept battling.”
“As far as improvement in the second game, we did make some mistakes in the field, but we were able to pick ourselves up and recover from those,” Wirtzberger said. “We’ll keep getting better.”
Havre will turn its attention now to more meaningful competition as the team faces off against a conference rival. The Lewistown Redbirds will be in town for a doubleheader to cap off the weekend. Coach Wirtzberger called out his team and emphasized the need to make strides, especially if the team wants to get the first victories of the campaign.
“Lewistown is obviously our rival (and) presents a good challenge. They’ve played a lot of games this year,” Wirtzberger said. “We get to play them quite a few times during the summer.”
“They’ve got some good pitching and we’re just looking for improvement,” Wirtzberger continued. “We have been sharpening our tools this week and really try and get after it.”
Stay tuned to New Media Broadcasters early next week for results and reaction from the Havre Northstars doubleheader with Lewistown, which is scheduled for 1pm on Mother’s Day from American Legion Park.
