Royals' win streak snapped; squad battles back to win two home games

The Mountain Home Royals had their five-game win streak snapped at Buhl last Thursday, but bounced back to win home league games over the Boise Seminoles and Boise Gems.

Buhl 7, 11

Royals 3, 0

The Mountain Home Royals returned to action last Thursday at Buhl after three days off, and came out a little sluggish, dropping two non-league games to the Tribe.

In the first game, the Royals scored all their runs in the third inning, which gave them a 3-2 lead, but Buhl answered with three of their own in the bottom half of the inning to shoot back out, 5-3. The Tribe added single runs in the fourth and fifth to win 7-3.

The Royals managed only three hits in the game. Jake Hiler had a hit and RBI, and Ricky Lee and Gabe Anderson had the only over hits.

Eric Christiansen suffered his first loss of the season, going three-plus innings before being relieved by Ricky Baker.

Mountain Home managed seven hits in the second game, but failed to score any runs. Buhl got to Royals starter and loser Chris Rau and reliever Jordan Cisna for 11 runs and 11 hits, the game ending in the sixth inning on a grand slam home run.

Chris Rau and Ricky Baker both had two hits in the second game, Jake Hiler, Joe Poseley and Shawn Lewis also had hits.

"We came out real flat," said Royals head coach Mark Cotton after the games. "Our approach at the plate -- we definitely took a step back as far as our approach is concerned offensively. We just were real flat when we got out here. Hopefully this will be a good wakeup call for the guys going into our weekend games at home.

There were some positives -- Ricky Baker stepped up big time with his bat, he started stinging the ball hard, and he threw well for us. Chris (Rau) threw well, we just didn't get outs for him, and Eric (Christiansen) also battled out there, for not having his best stuff, he stayed in there and competed well."

Royals 11

Seminoles 1

Home sweet home. After seven straight games on the road, the Royals were home against the Boise Seminoles Friday night and took care of the young Seminoles, 11-1, ending it in six innings.

Chris Rau had three hits and drove in two runs, and Ricky Lee and Brock Morris both had two hits, Lee had a triple, Morris two RBIs. Jordan Cisna had a two-run single, Jake Hiler had a triple and an RBI, Ricky Baker had a hit, and Steven Budine had an RBI.

Gabe Anderson picked up the win to improve to 3-0, striking out 10 batters in five innings. Brock Morris pitched a scoreless sixth.

"We had guys stepping up and hitting the ball a lot better," said Coach Cotton after the game. "Ricky Lee hit the ball well -- he's been solid for us at lead-off all year -- Chris Rau had a great day at the plate, and so did Brock Morris. Gabe (Anderson) threw a great game, and worked ahead in the count the whole ball game, and Brock Morris came in and closed it out. I'm really proud of the guys."

Royals 11

Gems 1

David Zito pitched a one-hitter as the Royals got revenge on the Gems for an earlier loss at Timberline, beating the East Boise team, 11-1, in five innings.

Zito improved to 3-0 on the season, striking out eight. He helped himself out at the plate with two hits and an RBI. Chris Rau continued his torrid hitting with four hits, two RBIs and four runs scored. He now has nine hits in his last 10 at bats and has raised his batting average for the season to .436, best on the team.

Jordan Cisna and Ricky Baker both had hits and RBIs, and Ricky Lee, Jake Hiler and Joe Poseley also had hits.

"It all starts with Ricky Lee, starting off with that lead-off double, that gets everything going, said Coach Cotton. "As soon as that happened, it seems like the guys' confidence just soared. Chris Rau has come on big for us, especially against better pitching, the guy's been the leader on the team, and Jake Hiler's another guy that had a big day at the plate for us. David Zito threw a one-hitter and pitched really well ­-- I can't say enough about him -- he's been a huge addition to the team.

"It's nice to see the guy pick it up and play better. I'm looking forward to next week a they hopefully continue to improve."

The win over the Gems improved the Royals to 14-5 overall and 5-2 in league play.

Mountain Home traveled to Fort Boise to face the Boise Seminoles last night, and host the Boise Senators for two tomorrow night stating at 5 p.m., both games league games. They host the Centennial Cannons for a single game at 7 p.m. on Friday, and play a doubleheader at Capital against the Boise Capitals Saturday starting at 1 p.m.