Tigers earn 3rd seed for district tournament

The Mountain Home Tigers closed out their regular season with two wins over Skyview last week, giving them the number three seed going into the District III 4A Baseball Tournament, which started yesterday at Nampa.

Tigers 8

Hawks 7

Mountain Home scored eight runs in the first three innings to build up an 8-3 lead, and hung on for an 8-7 win over Skyview last Tuesday at Mountain Home.

Chris Rau got the win, improving to 4-3 on the season, going four innings. John Murdorf pitched two innings, and Jake Hiler came in to strike the side out in the seventh with two on and nobody out.

Rau also was big at the plate, getting three hits, including a double and a home run, and knocking in three runs.

Jake Hiler also had three hits and an RBI. Brock Morris had two hits and two RBIs, Ricky Lee had a hit and RBI, and Cal Vivier and Kyle Kerfoot also had hits.

It was kind of a messy game at times on both sides, but there definitely were some outstanding performances," said Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore after the game. "Chris Rau threw well enough to win. He came out with a pretty sizeable lead, but we just didn't quite take care of the ball after that. Then Jake Hiler came in and struck out three of the four hitters he faced with two runners on base, so certainly, there were some highlights in it. Chris Rau swung the bat extremely well, hitting his first home run of the year, and Jake Hiler hit the ball well as well, so we're starting to put things together."

Tigers 10

Hawks 0

Mountain Home blanked the Hawks at Skyview in a game that took two days to complete. The game started last Wednesday, but was stopped in the top of the second inning when rain came and halted play, with the Tigers up, 4-0. They continued the game on Thursday, and the Tigers went on to win it, 10-0.

Chris Rau had another good day at the plate, getting two hits, including a double and two RBIs. Joe Poseley hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the third inning, John Murdorf had a hit and RBI, and Jordan Cisna, Ricky Lee and Kyle Kerfoot also collected hits.

Jake Hiler improved to 6-2 on the season, pitching six innings, striking out 10 batters and scattering four hits. Joe Poseley pitched scoreless seventh for the Tigers.

"There were some big things for us in that win," said Coach DeVore after the game. "Jake Hiler threw extremely well for us, as he's been doing all year, and it was a just a great end to the regular season for him. Joe Poseley getting his first career home run, and there were a lot of positives in that.

"Obviously, I feel like we're improving a ton, I just want us to get better every game, and I feel like over the last three weeks we've been doing some of that, with some minor exceptions."

The Tigers finished their regular season with an 11-13 overall record, and won their final nine conference games to go 9-5 in conference, earning the number three seed going into the district tourney.

They opened against number six seed Nampa last night at Rodeo Park in Nampa.

"We're excited going into district," said Coach DeVore. "We know we have a tough road ahead of us. Nampa's got a great pitching staff, and it's going to be a battle to get to state, but I'm certainly proud of how far the guys have come this year."