Royals win five of seven games

The Mountain Home Royals played seven games in six days last week, and came up winners in five of them in American Legion baseball games.

Centennial Cannons 6

Mountain Home 4

Execution: It wins ball games. The Centennial Cannons put on a clinic in execution in their come-from-behind 6-4 win over the Mountain Home Royals on June 13 at Mountain Home.

Back-to-back doubles by Michael DesPres and Chris Rau scored two runs for the Royals in the first inning, as they took a 2-0 lead on Centennial.

DesPres was on his game on the mound early, striking out the side in the second inning, and through four, with the Royals up 4-1, had seven strikeouts and had given up just two hits.

Centennial got two hits and scored those base runners on sacrifice flies in the fifth inning to cut the gap to 4-3, and tied it at 4-4, in the sixth, scoring a run without the benefit of a hit.

They added two more in the top of the seventh to take a 6-4 lead, and shut down Mountain Home in the seventh to take the win.

"Actually, that was the best ball game of the year so far," said Royals head coach and manager Travis DeVore after the game. "You forget what those feel like. Centennial did an awesome job executing and that was the difference. We did at times, too, when we got some RBIs, but the difference in the game was a couple sac-flies for them, getting ground balls to move runners over, seriously, this was the best game of the year, despite the fact that we lost.

"It's the first real baseball game we've played. Obviously, I'm disappointed -- I hate losing -- but I've got to give a lot of credit to Centennial, they did a heck of a job."

Michael DesPres had a double and a triple and two RBIs to lead the Royals at the plate. He fell to 0-2 on the mound, finishing with nine strikeouts, four walks and one hit batter. Chris Rau had an RBI double, David Zito had a triple, Dillon Barresi had a hit and RBI and scored two runs, and Bret Young and Joe Poseley also had hits.

Mountain Home 10

Vallivue Titans 3

The Royals overcame a slow start to down the Titans 10-3 last Tuesday at Vallivue. Mountain Home pounded out 15 hits in the ball game, three by Brian Fields, including a triple.

Bret Young had a double and a triple and an RBI. Michael DesPres had two hits and two RBIs. Joe Poseley and Mike Anderson both had two hits and an RBI, Tim Whitmarsh had a double and drove in two runs, Daniel Rau had a hit and RBI, Sam Cisners and Aaron Swartz had hits, and Chris Rau had an RBI.

Swartz got the win, pitching into the fifth inning, giving up just one hit, while striking out five, but he walked three and hit six batters. David Zito pitched the fifth inning, and Chris Rau pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game.

"I thought we started a little bit slow," said Coach DeVore in radio comments after the game.

"We seemed like we were a little lethargic, but then the kids really picked it up, and it was nice to end the game with a nice double play by Mike Anderson and Brian Fields over to Daniel Rau.

"Aaron Swartz, despite hitting a few batters, threw well. By my calculations he had a no-hitter going into the fifth, and Bret Young swung the bat extremely well, like he's been doing lately, so there were a lot of positives," DeVore said.

Mountain Home 16

Meridian Rangers 9

The Royals scored in every inning on their way to a 16-9 win over the Meridian Rangers last Wednesday night at Meridian. Bret Young was a home run away from hitting for the cycle, as he had a triple, double, and two singles, driving in four runs. Michael DesPres had three RBIs, Brian Fields and Sam Cisners both had two hits and two RBIs. Jake Hiler, David Zito and Dillon Barresi each had a double, Hiler added an RBI. Chris Rau had a hit and Aaron Swartz had an RBI.

Brian Fields picked up the win, giving up just two hits in his three innings of work. He had three strikeouts, three walks, and hit a batter. Tim Whitmarsh and Joe Poseley each pitched two innings in relief.

"I think our kids did a nice job, especially in the early innings with their approach at the plate." said Coach DeVore after the game. "Overall, I thought we did a good job hitting, and our pitchers did an excellent job. We gave them a few runs later in the game, but we were also giving some guys some innings. This is our ninth game, and we have 14 guys on our roster, and with Joe Poseley coming in tonight, that's our 12th kid that's pitched out of the 14 that we're carrying. We're giving everyone a look and I think everyone's shown so far that they're capable of getting some innings for us, so there were many positive things that definitely came out of this game besides just the win."

Mountain Home 2, 13

Kuna Diamondbacks 4, 9

The Royals committed 15 errors in their doubleheader with Kuna last Thursday at home, but still managed a split with the Diamondbacks from Kuna.

Bret Young pitched well enough to win the first game, giving up just four hits. The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Kuna tied it in the second. Mike Anderson's double gave Mountain Home a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning, but the Diamondbacks, helped out by Mountain Home errors, tied the game in the sixth, and scored two in the top of the seventh to take the lead.

Devin Thorton, the third Diamondback pitcher, retired the Royals in order in the seventh to record the save of a 4-2 Kuna win.

In the second game, Mountain Home built up a 7-1 lead before complacency and more errors -- they had eight in the second game -- let Kuna back in the game, cutting the margin to 7-6 in the fifth.

Mountain Home increased their lead to 11-6 before a final Diamondback effort cut the margin to 11-9 in the top of the sixth.

The Royals added two more in the bottom half of the inning to make it 13-9 Royals heading into the seventh.

After Jeff Vogl walked the first batter in the Diamondback seventh, Daniel Rau came on to relief and shut down Kuna to preserve the 13-9 win.

David Zito picked up the win, pitching 4 2/3 innings and giving up just one hit. He struck out six and walked six. Jeff Vogl came on in the fifth to pitch out of a jam, but errors helped lead to three Kuna runs in the sixth.

"I think our pitching gave up just a total of six (seven) hits in the two games, yet we could do no better than a split," said Coach DeVore after the second game.

"Vogl, Rau and Zito in the second game, and Zito and Yong in the first game all pitched well, we just didn't play defense behind them. It's kind of a like repeating the same old song, but that (defensive errors) will be our Achilles heel until we get some of that figured out. It's just focus, and we can see it in these guys, they lose focus in the game. Any time we get a decent lead, we always lose focus, and if we play a team that's kind of competing with us, we lose a little bit of focus. Those are maturity issues, and hopefully, a long season will help weed some of these things out."

Bret Young continued his torrid hitting, collecting five hits in six at bats on the day. Brian Fields had three hits in the two games, and drove in two runs. Aaron Swartz also had three hits, Sam Cisners had two hits, Chris Rau had a hit and drove in three runs, Mike Anderson and Jeff Vogl both had doubles and RBIs, and David Zito also had a hit.

Mountain Home 9, 8

Eagle Vipers 8, 7

The Royals blew big leads in both games, but battled back to win both games in extra innings Saturday in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home led 6-1, and 8-3 in the first game before the error bug struck again -- the Royals committed six errors in the game -- and the Vipers battled back to tie the game at 8-8, sending the game into extra innings.

Sam Cisners, who had three hits in the game, doubled in the game-winner with two out in the bottom of the ninth, for a 9-8 win.

The Royals were cruising in the second game, and led 7-0 heading into the fifth inning, when the Vipers ended Aaron Swartz' shutout and scored five runs before Royals reliever Tim Whitmarsh finally ended the rally. Eagle scored two runs to tie the game in the seventh.

In the Royals eighth, Brian Fields singled in Tim Whitmarsh with the winning run as the Royals completed the doubleheader sweep with an 8-7 win in the second game.

"It's obviously nice for the team and Sam Cisners and Brian Fields to walk away from this long day of baseball and feel good, both of them getting a couple of game-wining hits," said Coach DeVore after the sweep.

"I thought the difference was definitely our pitching. Our defense hurt us in the first game. Our pitching lapsed a little bit in the second game, but for the most part, the guys did a great job.

"Chris Rau and Aaron Swartz threw great games and our bullpen threw awesome. That was a lot for Jeff Vogl to come in and relieve in both games. Daniel Rau came in and shut them down in the eighth inning in that second game, so there were a lot of perks there. I thought that was the best innings that Joe Poseley's caught in the second game as well. There were a lot of balls in the dirt, especially in the seventh inning when they did come back and tie the game up, they could have easily let runs get across, and he battled back there for us, so a lot of positives, especially after a wild first game, and it's nice to come away with two victories like this."

Aaron Swartz and Brian Fields both ended the day with five hits and two RBIs. Sam Cisners, Daniel Rau and Jeff Vogl all ended the day with three hits, Cisners had three RBIs. Bret Young had two hits and two RBIs, including his first home run of the season. Tim Whitmarsh had two hits, Michael DesPres had a hit and three RBIs, Chris Rau had a hit and two RBIs, and Joe Poseley also had a hit and RBI.

Jeff Vogl picked up the win in the first game, and Daniel Rau threw a scoreless eighth for the win in the second game, as the Royals improved to 9-4 overall, and 6-4 in league play. The Royals play six games this week. They had a doubleheader at Fort Boise against the Boise Seminoles on Monday, and are home tonight (Wednesday) against Caldwell for a 6 p.m. ball game.

They travel to Timberline in Boise for a 6 p.m. game against the Boise Gems Thursday night, and go to Ontario, Oregon Saturday for a doubleheader with Treasure Valley-Payette on Saturday.