Royals roll to another lopsided win

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The Mountain Home Royals improved to 3-0 on the season with an 11-2 Class A American Legion baseball win over the Boise Barons last Tuesday night at Bishop Kelly.

The Royals grabbed an early 2-0 lead, and put the game out of reach in the sixth inning when they scored six runs to increase their lead to 10-2.

Aaron Swartz, Alex Hoffman and Jake Hiler each had two hits and two RBIs for the Royals. Michael DesPres had an RBI single, and Chris Rau also had a hit.

"We finally figured it out," said Royals coach Mark Cotton in radio comments after the game. "The guys were really passive -- kind of going back to their old ways -- and then they just made the decision to break it out.

"Joe Poseley was a huge part of that when he came in off the bench and had a big hit."

Coach Cotton also was pleased with the pitching efforts of the Royals in the win.

"The (pitching) mound here is huge, and the guys had a hard time getting the ball down in the zone, but as soon as they figured it out, they threw really well. I was impressed with (Alex) Hoffman coming in out of shortstop and throwing like he did, and (Chris) Rau, he got his pitch count up there a little too high, but for a first outing of the summer, he did great."

Chris Rau picked up the win, going five innings, striking out three and limiting the Barons to just four hits. Michael DesPres and Alex Hoffman both pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

The Royals' home opener last Thursday was suspended in the third inning by first lightning and then rain. It was to be resumed Monday with Mountain Home leading Kuna, 2-0, in the top of the third inning of the first game.

The Royals headed to Dillon Montana today for the Maybelle Arthur Memorial Tournament in Dillon Montana. They open play tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 10 a.m. against Mission Valley.

Friday they play Missoula at 10 a.m. and Belgrade at 12:30 p.m.

They play Dillon at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, and take on Billings at 10 a.m. Sunday morning. The top two teams with the best record play for the Championship at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

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