Tiger nine drop first three games

The Mountain Home Tigers ended the first week of the baseball season still looking for their first win.

Timberline 12

Mtn. Home 5

The Mountain Home Tigers opened their 2007 baseball season at Timberline, losing to the Wolves 12-5 in non-conference action last Tuesday.

Alex Hoffman got the Tigers on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning with a solo home run over the left field wall, but Timberline got four straight hits to score three in the bottom of the first and take a 3-1 lead.

Jordan Cisna doubled in Jake Hiler, who had led off the Tiger second with a hit, to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Timberline added two more runs in the third to go up 5-2, but the Tigers took advantage of a couple errors, three walks and a hit to tie the game up at 5-5 in the top of the fourth.

The Wolves battled back to score five runs on just one hit in the bottom of the fourth, to take a 10-5 lead. They added two more in the fifth to close out the scoring on the night, winning 12-5.

The game was Timberline's fourth, and the Tigers' first, and Mountain Home head baseball coach Travis DeVore noted his Tigers got caught up in first-game jitters, committing lots of errors.

"We've just got to grow up a little bit. You could see the speed of the game was way too quick for some of our guys today. We weren't aggressive. We played like we're rusty. We have some key players that are obviously going to be a lot better than they were tonight, but there's some silver linings.

"There were some fine efforts out of our pitching staff, and that's a really, really green staff. Those guys don't have a lot of innings at the varsity level, so they threw okay for us.

"I thought Jordan Cisna played well behind the plate and had some good at bats for us. (Alex) Hoffman, (Jake) Hiler, (Chris) Rau all had good at bats in the middle of the lineup, so there are some things to build on, but we obviously have a lot of work to get done."

Jake Hiler had two of the six hits the Tigers had on the night and scored two runs. Alex Hoffman had a home run and RBI, Jordan Cisna had a Double and two RBIs, Tyson Sessions had an RBI single, and Joe Poseley also had a hit.

Joe Witrosky, the third of five Mountain Home pitchers, suffered the loss, despite not giving up a hit. Only five of the 12 runs scored by Timberline were earned.

Emmett 9

Mtn. Home 6

Once again errors played a big part in the Tigers' downfall at Emmett last Thursday, as six Mountain Home errors led to six unearned runs, and the Tigers lost 9-6 in their conference opener.

Emmett scored four runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-1 lead and added another in the second to go up 5-1.

The Tigers scored three runs in the fourth and added two more in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6, but Emmett scored three unearned runs in the sixth to win it 9-6.

"We're just getting off to a rough start this season," said Coach DeVore after the game. "We have a lot of things to work on, and we're really at that point where we're beating ourselves. Hopefully, we'll take these first couple weeks and learn the game a little bit more and you'll see a different team out there by the end of spring break."

The Tigers managed just four hits off the Emmett pitchers.

Alex Hoffman had a hit and RBI, Ricky Lee, Chris Rau and Jake Hiler also had hits, and Jordan Cisna and John Murdorf had RBIs.

Chris Rau suffered the loss, despite giving up just three earned runs.

Emmett 3

Tigers 2

(8 innings)

Mountain Home looked like a much improved ball club Friday night when they hosted the Huskies in their home opener. Jake Hiler and Emmett's Eric Kaiser were involved in a great pitcher's duel.

Hiler, who pitched seven innings for the Tigers, struck out 10 and scattered eight hits. Kaiser, who went the distance for Emmett, struck out 15, and doubled in what proved to be the winning run off Alex Hoffman in the eighth.

"They certainly picked it up on defense tonight," said Coach DeVore after the game. "I certainly can't complain about that kind of an effort.

"Jake Hiler threw an outstanding game, and he mixed his pitches up well. He was able to throw his breaking pitch in any situation tonight. There were a couple times where runners were in scoring position and he worked his way out of it. It was a huge game for him, and obviously it was a big game for us, but we've still got some adjustments to make to get into the win column.

"Kori Andrews got his first start tonight (behind the plate) and he played extremely well and got on base a ton for us, and that helped pick us up tonight."

Alex Hoffman and Kori Andrews both had two hits for the Tigers, Hoffman an RBI double. Ricky Lee had a triple, Chris Rau an RBI double, and Jake Hiler and Joe Poseley also had hits.

The Tigers host Bishop Kelly this afternoon in conference baseball, and travel to Bishop Kelly on Friday, both games at 5 p.m.

"I'm proud of the team for how far they've come from Tuesday to Friday, and if we can continue to make those sort of adjustments the rest of the way, we'll be fine, but it's going to be a little bit of a rocky road early on," said DeVore looking towards this week's Bishop Kelly series. "I still think that we're a team that's going to challenge for a state berth, and I think we're a team that's going to do well in conference, but it's going to be a little bit of a slow start."