Tiger nine split games with Wood River squad

The Mountain Home Tigers dropped a conference series to Columbia last week, but managed a split with Wood River.

Columbia 10

Mtn. Home 9

The Mountain Home Tigers battled back from five runs down in the seventh inning at Columbia last Tuesday, but the Wildcats came back to score two runs in the bottom of the inning to beat the Tigers 10-9 in conference baseball.

The Tigers loaded the bases but failed to score in the first inning but did manage to score one run before a bases-loaded double play stopped their second inning.

Columbia put together four straight hits against Tiger starter Gabe Anderson in the third inning to score three runs and take a 3-1 lead.

The Tigers took advantage of Columbia throwing errors to score twice to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth, but the Wildcats got two more in the bottom half to regain the lead, 5-3.

Trevor Woodruff relieved Gabe Anderson in the fifth inning and got hit for three runs and four hits as the Wildcats increased their lead to 8-3.

Mountain Home went into its last at bat down 8-3 and took advantage of an error, two hit batsmen and three hits to score six runs to take the lead, 9-8.

Trevor Woodruff, who retired the Wildcats in order in the sixth, got the first out on a strikeout in the seventh, but then hit a batter and gave up a single. He then walked the next batter, loading the bases.

Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore then went to his ace left-hander, Eric Christiansen, to try and preserve the lead, but the Wildcats tied the game on a questionable balk call and then Zack Fredericksen singled to right to score the winning run, as Columbia won, 10-9.

"I was a little disappointed earlier in the game when we had a chance to put them away and left seven runners on base in the first three innings. We have to be focused and not let them come back in," said Coach DeVore in radio comments after the game. "I was very proud of how we finished, in terms of coming back in the last inning with clutch hitting when we needed it, but the lack of intensity early in the game was the real story there, because we should have had a lot more runs on the board before that."

Ricky Baker, Anthony Castillo and Chris Maholick each plated two runs with hits in the seventh inning. Eric Christiansen, Ricky Lee and Brock Morris also had hits.

Trevor Woodruff suffered the loss, despite striking out six batters in two and a third innings of work.

Columbia 19

Mtn. Home 4

The two teams squared off again last Wednesday in Mountain Home, but what looked like was going to be a pitching duel soon turned ugly, as the Wildcats plated nine runs in the fourth and added seven more in the sixth to drub Mountain Home 19-4 in six innings.

Columbia got to Tiger starter Eric Christiansen for two runs in the top of the first, but the Tigers scored three unearned runs in the bottom half to take a 3-2 lead.

Columbia tied it at 3-3 with a run in the second, and it stayed that way until the top of the fourth when the Wildcats chased Christiansen with five hits. Tom Hennessey took over on the mound, but a fielding error on the first batter he faced kept the inning going, and Hennessey then waked two and hit two batters before getting a strikeout to end the inning, a nine-run fourth for Columbia as they went up, 12-3.

Hennessey shut out the Wildcats in the fifth, but in the top of the sixth, four hits and two walks ended his night, and Anthony Castillo took over. The Tiger sophomore had trouble finding the plate, walking four straight batters.

Another Mountain Home fielding error extended the inning before Castillo got the final out on a ground-out, but Columbia had added seven more runs to make it 19-3.

Mountain Home managed to score one run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 19-4 final.

"Obviously, this wasn't our best effort of the season. It seems like baseball has a way of giving you a dose of humility from time to time, and there's no doubt that the way the season's started off has made us a bit humble," said coach DeVore after the game.

"The biggest job we have right now is staying positive and not making excuses, because we're a much better team than 2-10, and certainly all of us have to take responsibility for a start like this.

"It's not any one person -- certainly, coaches through players, we all have to come out focused and positive each day, because we're not playing our best baseball right now.

"Our pitching has been carrying us most of the season, keeping games close, but on a day when they didn't have their best stuff, other parts of the game have got to step up. There were moments of that for sure -- Jake Hennessey did an absolutely great job of swinging the bat for us today -- but we have a long way to go.

"We'll get there,"DeVore said, noting "we have too good of athletes not to get there -- but certainly, we're not a 2-10 team."

The Tigers managed just seven hits in the game. Jake Hennessey had three of them and an RBI. Ricky Lee had an RBI double, and Brock Morris, Anthony Castillo and Logan Monasterio also had hits.

Eric Christiansen suffered the loss, falling to 1-2.

Mtn. Home 6, 12

Wood River 9, 1

The Tigers hosted the Wood River Wolverines in a non-conference doubleheader Saturday at Mountain Home, losing the first game 9-6 but taking the second game 12-1 in five innings.

Mountain Home shot out to a 5-0 lead after two innings in the first game, but a couple errors helped the Wolverines score four runs in the third inning. Wood River tied the score at 5-5 in the fourth, and scored three more in the fifth, and one in the sixth, to go up 9-5.

Mountain Home managed a run in the bottom of the sixth, but could come no closer than the 9-6 final score.

"We felt like it was certainly a game we were going to win, getting off to the 5-0 lead early on, and Trevor was throwing exceptionally well for us" said Coach DeVore, "but some of those errors and just letting guys have extra at bats, it's going to obviously come back to bite you, especially when we have been struggling, and the last thing we need to be doing is giving teams extra efforts. But I was proud of the way we played. We're just working on that mentality of putting teams away when we do get up on those leads."

Chris Maholick had two hits, including a double in that first game. Eric Chrisitansen had an RBI triple, Tom Hennessey had an RBI single, and Ricky Lee, Ricky Baker and Jake Hennessey each had doubles.

Trevor Woodruff suffered the loss, pitching into the fifth inning. Ricky Baker pitched the final three innings, giving up just one unearned run.

In the second game, the Tigers scored in every inning, putting up five runs in the second and four in the fourth on their way to a 12-1 win.

Gabe Anderson didn't give up a hit until the fourth inning, and went the distance for the win, striking out five.

"Gabe Anderson threw outstanding on the bump that second game," said Coach DeVore, "and then, up and down the line-up, especially guys like Trevor (Woodruff) and Logan (Monasterio), they hit really well for us today, and Gabe had some great at bats for us, and Tom (Hennessey)'s starting to hit the ball for us.

"I think it's taken a little longer than it probably should have to get where it's at now, but certainly, we're an athletic team and we've got some kids that love this game, so we're going to get there, but we obviously have got to keep working hard, because we've still got half the season left, and there's still a lot of things we want to accomplish out here."

Trevor Woodruff had two triples and three RBIs, Logan Monasterio had two doubles and three RBIs, and Gabe Anderson had two hits including a double and an RBI. Ricky Lee had an RBI-triple, Eric Christiansen had a hit and two RBIs, and Brock Morris and Ricky Baker also had hits.

The win improved the Tigers to 3-11 on the season.

Mountain Home hosts Kuna tomorrow (Thursday), and travels to Kuna to face the Kavemen on Friday. They are also on the road for a non-conference doubleheader against Jerome Saturday at Jerome, and host Minico for two on Monday, April 13.