Tigers split with Emmett to open baseball season

The Mountain Home Tigers managed a split with Emmett last week in their conference openers, and dropped a couple non-conference games at Timberline on Saturday.

Mtn. Home 6, 4

Emmett 13, 3

The Tigers split their conference series with Emmett last week, losing 13-6 at Emmett on Wednesday, but taking a 4-3 contest at home against the Huskies last Thursday.

At Emmett, both team scored three runs in the first inning and went scoreless in the second. Mountain Home scored twice in the top of the third to go up 5-3, but the Huskies scored three in the bottom half to go up 6-5.

Emmett added another run in the fourth and scored six unearned runs in the fifth to go up 13-5. The Tigers got another run in the seventh to make it a 13-6 final.

"We made a lot of mistakes on defense, and to a certain extent it's to be expected, but it's not like we can settle for this effort, defensively we've got to get a lot better than that, if we're going to compete in this conference, because the conference is going to be pretty tough this year," said Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore after the game.

"I felt like baseball-wise, guys were doing a lot of smart things out there, but when the game speed got going, we were a step behind a lot during the game. We saw that by being behind on pitches, and being a step behind fielding the ball, getting it and booting it.

"We've got a ton of work to do, there's no doubt. It was a little bit disappointing opening game for us, yet at the same time, on both sides it was disappointing, as it was an ugly game and the score doesn't really tell us anything other than that both teams need to improve a ton."

The Tigers had just three hits in the game off four Emmett pitchers. Ricky Baker had an RBI double and a single, and Eric Christian also had a single.

Tom Hennessey, Anthony Castillo and Trevor Woodruff each pitched two innings. Castillo suffered the loss.

Thursday at home, the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead. The Huskies got single runs in the fourth and fifth to tie the game at 3-3.

Mountain Home regained the lead in the sixth when Ricky Lee walked, stole second and third and came home on a single by Brock Morris.

"Obviously our pitchers carried us this game," said Coach DeVore after the game. "We had some key at bats, guys getting on base and putting the ball in play a little bit more, but we still left a lot of guys on base, and so did Emmett, so there's definitely room for growth for both teams.

"This early in the season to have Gabe and and Eric come out and throw as well as they did, it's just a huge plus, and those guys, by the end of the season, they're going to be huge for us. They got a lot of varsity time last year and each won a game at the district tournament for us last year, so it was good to have both of them throw today, and they both obviously did a great job.

"Ricky Baker was outstanding behind the plate, throwing a guy out on a delayed steal in the seventh, and that's the kind of alertness that seasoned varsity guys (have), that they're awake for those plays."

The Tigers had five hits on the day. Brock Morris, Eric Christiansen and Trevor Woodruff all had RBI singles and Logan Monasterio also had an RBI. Ricky Lee scored two runs.

Gabe Anderson gave up just one earned run in five innings of work, striking out five. Eric Christiansen pitched two scoreless innings, striking out five, and got the win.

Timberline 5, 14

Mtn. Home 4, 5

The Tigers battled Timberline tough Saturday in dropping a non-conference doubleheader to the Wolves at Timberline.

In the first game, the Tigers scored a run in the top of the first, but Timberline put three runs across in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-1 lead. A three-run third for Mountain Home put the Tigers up, 4-3. Timberline tied it with a run in the fourth, and scored what proved to be the winning run in the sixth, as they won 5-4.

Eric Christiansen paced the Tigers at the plate, getting two of the four hits Mountain Home got, and knocking in two runs. Gabe Anderson and Anthony Castillo had the other hits and Trevor Woodruff also had an RBI.

Alex Rodriguez pitched the first four innings and Tom Hennessey went the final two innings and gave up just one run, but suffered the loss.

Timberline struck for five runs in the first inning of the second game of the doubleheader, but the Tigers came back within one, with a grand slam home run by Logan Monasterio in the top of the second. The Wolves added two in the bottom of the second and added seven more the rest of the game to win 14-5.

Tom Hennessey had two hits for the Tigers in the second game. Logan Monasterio had his grand slam home run with four RBIs and Ricky Lee, Brock Morris and Eric Christiansen also had hits.

Jon McCabe pitched into the fourth inning for the Tigers, and got the loss. Trevor Woodruff and Anthony Castillo pitched in relief.

Despite the losses, Coach DeVore thought his guys played fairly well against a good 5A team.

"We certainly had our chances to win. We were a couple of key hits away from breaking the first game open, and we were in that second game all the way through, it just kind of got away from us towards the end.

"I was proud of the kids in terms of improving from Wednesday to Saturday, and early in the season, that's what it's all about. We were certainly very close to getting a split at least with a quality club in Timberline.

"We had some guys step up huge. Alex Rodriguez pitched a great game for us and Tom Hennessey threw really well in relief as well, and then in the second game, after giving up five runs in the first, when Logan Monasterio hit that grand slam in the second, it got us right back in the game, so there were definitely some highlights for us, and some games that we could have won, but the name of the game right now is just improvement, so I'm proud of that at least."

The Tigers return to conference play this week, hosting Bishop Kelly on Thursday, and traveling to Bishop Kelly on Friday. Both games start at 5 p.m.

"They look tough at this point, and we certainly have our work cut out for us. It'll be nice to have three practices before those games, so we can continue to improve and get focused on those conference games," said Coach DeVore.