Tigers sweep Wood River in non-conference action

The Mountain Home Tigers opened their 2011 baseball season with a non-conference sweep of Wood River Friday at Tiger Field, 9-0 and 6-3.

In the first game, Jared Day and Gage Curtis combined on a one-hit shutout of the Wolverines.

Ronnie Young, Jake Hennessey, Gage Curtis and Enrique Varela all had two hits. Varela had a double and three RBIs, Hennessey had two RBIs and Young had a double. Skyler Podesek and Alex Rodriguez also had hits while Jared Day and Joe Gutierrez both had RBIs.

Day picked up the win, throwing five innings, striking out nine while giving up just one hit. Curtis pitched the final two innings, striking out one.

In the second game, Rodriguez threw six outstanding innings, striking out 13 and giving up just one run on one hit. Jake Hennessey threw the last inning, giving up two runs to make it a 6-3 final. Hennessey led the Tigers at the plate with two hits, one a triple and two RBIs. Podesek also had two hits, one a triple, and knocked in one run. Skylar Quintal, Gage Curtis and Jesse Corbett also had hits with Quintal earning an RBI.

"We got some great pitching and some big hits, so I'm extremely happy with our first efforts of the season," said Tigers baseball coach Mark Cotton.

The Tigers open their conference schedule this week, hosting Nampa on Thursday and traveling to Nampa on Friday.

"I don't know a whole lot about them, but if we can get good pitching, hitting and sound defense like we did against Wood River, we should be all right," said Coach Cotton. Both games against Nampa start at 5 p.m.