The Vauxhall Spurs go into districts this weekend not knowing if it is Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde who is going to show up.
Spurs concluded its last week of American Legion “A” regular season play last week and showed the same up-and-down play the squad has displayed all season, to finish with a 12-16 record in northern division play and 17-20 overall.
Spurs swept the lowly Great Falls Stallions last Tuesday before the team got swept by Havre North Stars last Wednesday on the road.
Colyn Cleland finished the Stallions’ doubleheader 8-for-10 at the plate with a home run and three doubles. Ty Odland pitched a complete game in one of the Havre games and took the tough-luck loss.
“We didn’t show up and we got swept,” said Ken Fuglerud, head coach of the Spurs on the team’s first two contests against Havre during the week.
Traveling to Conrad on Friday to battle the Tri-County Cardinals, the Spurs split before returning home to Jets Stadium on Saturday to get swept once again by Havre.
Justin Hochstein pitched five solid innings for the win against Tri-County and helped his own cause in the doubleheader, as he knocked in four runs.
The losses were littered with missed opportunities for the Spurs, who could have put more Ws up.
“When Havre was in Vauxhall, we were tied 3-3 going into the seventh inning and we made three errors on one play to let in three runs. We scored two in the bottom half and still lost 6-5,” said Fuglerud. “Tri-County we were up 11-6 going into the bottom of the sixth and we gave up nine runs and so there we gave up that game too. We had a chance earlier in the game to really drive the nail into the coffin and we didn’t do it.”
The Great Falls Electrics had the best overall record for the Montana American Legion Baseball Northern Division at 21-5, but the rest of the division for the most part hovers a little above or below .500, to make for a district tournament that can be there for the taking for the Spurs to secure one of the two places up for grabs to qualify for State, if the Spurs can rise to the occasion.
“If we have a little bit of consistency and energy, I think we have proven all year that we have the skills and the talent to go out and qualify as the number-one or the number-two team in this district,” said Fuglerud. “It is whether or not we want it. If we want the win and play a solid and consistent game, we are a very, very hard team to beat, and I think teams in this conference know that.”
Fuglerud estimated his team is hitting around a .330 clip, but that inconsistency comes on the defensive side of the ball where he estimated the team’s fielding percentage to be around .750.
“In reality, a good fielding percentage is between the low and mid .900s,” said Fuglerud. “We are 17-20 and I would say about seven of those are legitimate loses. Thirteen of those we just gave away or we beat ourselves.”
The team did have a home doubleheader scheduled for Sunday against the Great Falls Electrics, but having to make up so many games previously due to poor weather took its toll.
“Having eight games in five days was simply too much, we needed to rest our arms. We tried rescheduling the games earlier in the year, but the scheduling between both teams didn’t work out,” said Fuglerud of Sunday’s doubleheader cancellation. “When it came down to it, there was no point.”
Vauxhall Spurs start its northern district tournament run in Fort Macleod today, as the championship game goes Sunday.