Tiger nine sweeps Vallivue

The losing skid ended last Thursday at Tiger Field, when the Mountain Home Tigers downed the Vallivue Falcons 6-2 in SIC 4A conference baseball.

The Tigers made it two straight Friday, coming from behind at Vallivue to down the Falcons, 5-4.

Mountain Home 6

Vallivue Falcons 2

Going into Thursday's game, the Tigers had dropped seven straight, and had not won since a come-from- behind 5-4 win over Emmett at home on April 8, but the Tigers struck for three runs in the first inning to take a 3-1 lead, which were all the runs Tiger pitcher Michael Hobgood would need.

The Tigers, who had hit an anemic .169 in their previous four games, hit .400 against the Falcons, pounding out 10 hits, and added three runs in the third to ice the win.

Michael Hobgood gave up 10 hits, but none of them were for extra bases. He struck out nine and walked just one, with only one of the two runs being earned, as he improved to 5-2 on the season.

"I was very impressed with our approach, especially early on at the plate," said Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore after the game. "We had extra long hitting sessions all week, and you could really tell the guys were focused. That's by far our best hitting game of the year, which is encouraging since we're getting close to the end.

"We still made some base running mistakes that hurt us, as certainly we had the opportunity to put more runs on the board, but Hobgood's (pitching) performance and guys like Chris Rau, Brett Grodi and Michael DesPres and others stepping up tonight definitely made it a good game for us."

Chris Rau had three hits including a double, and drove in two runs. Brett Grodi and Michael DesPres both had two hits and doubles, Grodi knocked in two, DesPres, one. Brian Fields also had a double, and Aaron Swartz also had a hit.

Mountain Home 5

Vallivue Falcons 4

Mountain Home started out well, getting two runs in the top of the first. Vallivue got one of them back in the bottom half to make it 2-1.

Vallivue got two of their four hits off Michael DesPres in the second inning and scored two to take a 3-2 lead. They took advantage of throwing errors in the third to up their lead to 4-2.

From there, DesPres limited the Falcons to just one hit, and the Tigers managed a run in the fourth to make it 4-3, Falcons.

In the Tiger sixth, Mountain Home put together hits by Brett Grodi, Chris Rau and Joe Poseley and managed to get the tying run home. T.J. Miller, who the previous inning had made a great defensive play on a ground ball on the second base side of the infield, came through with a single that scored the go-ahead run, and the Tigers led, 5-4.

Michael DesPres retired the Falcons in the sixth, and struck out the side in the seventh to preserve the 5-4 win.

"We missed some signs and did some things to try and beat ourselves today, but certainly (Michael) DesPres finished strong, striking out the side -- you couldn't ask for a stronger finish than that," said Coach DeVore. "It was an all around kind of ugly game on both sides, but I thought our kids put their nose to the ground around the fourth inning and I think that really made the difference for us.

"What a difference a week makes. You win a couple games, and all of a sudden you feel like maybe the work's not such a horrible place, but the kids really stepped up. T.J. Miller, after starting a little rough in the game, makes that diving play -- and that's one of the finest plays in the year so far -- then also steps up and gets the game-winning RBI, and that's a kid that starts just every other game, he's not an every day starter, which is huge in terms of fighting for a permanent job in the lineup."

Michael DesPres went the distance for the win, giving up just four hits, while striking out 10, walking four and hitting one batter. He improved to 3-5 on the season.

Chris Rau had two hits for the Tigers. T.J. Miller had the game-winning RBI single, and Brett Young, Brett Grodi and Joe Poseley also had hits.

The Tigers improved to 6-6 in SIC 4A play, tying Vallivue for third place. They are 8-14 on the season.

The Tigers hosted Kuna yesterday (Tuesday), and close out their regular season schedule this (Wednesday) afternoon at Kuna.

DeVore went into this week's games believing his Tigers controlled their own destiny.

"We actually do control our destiny with a chance for second place, because even if Kuna wins today against Caldwell, they'd be 8-4, and we have a chance to take two from them, and be 8-6, and we'd have the tie-breaker at that point.

"My ultimate goal was second or third, as I want to be on the other side of the (district tourney) bracket from Bishop Kelly, not because I'm concerned about beating them or anything like that. I think at some point we're going to have to play them anyway, but that's the path of least resistance to get a state berth, and that's our goal right now."

The District III 4A Baseball Tournament starts Saturday at Mountain Home and Nampa, with games at 1 and 4 p.m. Mountain Home will play all of their games at home. The tourney resumes May 9, with games at 4 and 7 p.m.