Tiger nine beat Middleton

Rain played havoc with part of the Buck's Bag Baseball Tournament last week.

The Mountain Home Tigers were scheduled to play four games, but were able to only get in only three, with the final game played on their home field instead of in Nampa.

Idaho Falls 12

Mountain Home 0

In a battle of Tigers last Thursday, a seven-run fifth inning by Idaho Falls gave them a 12-0 five inning win over Mountain Home at Nampa's Rodeo Park.

Mountain Home, missing four players due to various reasons, managed just two hits in the game -- those by Michael DesPres and Chris Rau. Bret Young suffered the loss, giving up all 12 runs -- just four of them earned -- while striking out seven and walking four.

Mountain Home 3

Middleton 1

Michael DesPres had a season-high 16 strikeouts in pitching a two-hitter against the Middleton Vikings Friday at Nampa's Rodeo Park.

With the win, DesPres improved to 2-0 on the season, and lowered his earned run average (ERA) to 2.86.

Kyle Kerfoot had two hits for the Tigers. Aaron Swartz and Bret Young both had hits and RBIs, and Joe Poseley and Kori Andrews also had hits, while Alex Hoffman had an RBI.

Hillcrest 11

Mountain Home 0

With Mountain Home's other games at Nampa washed out, the Tigers did manage to get in a Saturday game in Mountain Home against the Knights of Hillcrest.

The game was a 2-0 pitching duel going into the sixth inning, when the Knights got to Chris Rau and Alex Hoffman for nine runs to claim an 11-0 win in six innings.

Aaron Swartz, Bret Young and Michael DesPres had Mountain Home's only hits, Despres' was a double.

"This tournament was supposed to be a way to learn more about ourselves as a team, and we certainly learned some things we need to work on," said Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore.

"On the positive side, we certainly got another great pitching effort from Michael DesPres, and it was good to see Kyle Kerfoot come up off the JV team and play well as a freshman -- both he and Alex Hoffman did well, which is a positive thing to see.

"We did leave a lot of runners on base, which is something we've got to improve on, but I do feel we're moving in the right direction."

The Tigers took a 2-8 overall record into Tuesday's non-conference game at home against Centennial. They return to SIC 4A conference play Thursday and Friday, hosting Caldwell on Thursday, and playing at Caldwell on Friday.