Royals extend season record to 4 wins in one week

The Mountain Home Royals won four of five games in their first week this season of Class A American Legion baseball.

Mountain Home 8, Columbia 7

The Mountain Home Royals opened their season with a come-from-behind 8-7 win over the Columbia Mudcats last Tuesday at Royals Field.

The Royals fell behind 5-0 in the first inning and 6-0 after three innings.

Mountain Home then scored four runs in the fourth inning and added another one in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-5.

The Mudcats added another run in the top of the seventh to make it 7-5, but the Royals struck for three runs in the bottom half of the inning to pull out an 8-7 win.

Skylar Quintal, Alex Rodriguez and Alex Burke each had two hits for the Royals. Rodriguez knocked in a run. Danny Brescia, Skyler Podesek and John Kennison each had a hit. Brescia had an RBI.

Jake Hennessey, who relieved Alex Rodriguez in the top of the seventh, got the win. Rodriguez had 10 strikeouts, and just two of the seven runs he gave up were earned.

"It's nice to start the season off with a win," said Royals head coach Alex Hoffman. "It wasn't the way we wanted to win, but at the same time, I think it gives us a lot of stuff to carry over for our next games and see areas we need to improve."

Mountain Home 9, Emmett 6

Mountain Home 7, Emmett 10

The Royals came away with a split of their league doubleheader at Emmett last Wednesday, winning the first game 9-6 and losing the second, 10-7, in five innings after it was called because of darkness.

Mountain Home took advantage of walks, errors and timely hitting to take a 5-0 lead in the second and added three more runs in the third without the benefit of a hit.

Emmett chased Royals starter Jared Day in the fifth inning, scoring five runs, but Jake Hennessey came on and pitched three innings of relief to get the save, as the Royals won 9-6.

"There are still a lot of areas we need to improve," said Coach Hoffman, "but we went into the game hoping to get better than yesterday, and I think we did that."

Alex Rodriguez had two hits and drove in two runs for the Royals in the first game. Jake Hennessey had a two-run single, Jesse Rodriguez an RBI single and John Kennison also collected a hit.

Jared Day picked up the win, striking out eight batters in four innings.

Mountain Home jumped out to a 5-2 lead after two innings in the second game, but a seven-run third inning for Emmett proved to be the difference in the game, which was called because of darkness after five innings.

Mountain Home managed just three hits in the game, getting a double from Ryan Ichiyama and singles by Joe Gutierrez, and Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez knocked in a run.

Gage Curtis suffered the loss, pitching into the third inning. Austin Bodily pitched 2.2 innings of quality relief, giving up just one run.

Royals 12, Pirates 5

Royals 11, Pirates 8

The Royals had to battle back from deficits in both games, but swept two games from the Glenns Ferry Pirates Saturday night in Mountain Home.

The Royals fell behind Glenns Ferry 5-2 in the top of the fourth inning in the first game, but erupted for five runs in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead. They added five more in the sixth to put the game away, 12-5.

Skylar Quintal, Jake Hennessey and Skyler Podesek each had two hits in the first game. Quintal and Hennessey both scored three runs and Podesek had an RBI. Alex Rodriguez had a triple and drove in three runs, Austin Bodily had a triple and RBI, Ryan Ichiyama had an RBI-single and Gage Curtis and Joe Gutierrez also had hits.

Austin Bodily came on in relief in the third inning and pitched 2.2 innings of shutout ball to get the win. Jesse Rodriguez struck out the side in the seventh to close out the game.

In the second game, Glenns Ferry erupted for six runs in the top of the fourth to go up 7-5, but the Royals tied it at 7-7 in the bottom of the fourth and went up 10-7 in the fifth. The final was 11-8, Mountain Home.

Jake Hennessey, Skyler Podesek and Austin Bodily each had two hits.Hennessey had an inside-the-park home run and three RBI, while Podesek knocked in three runs and Bodily one. Alex Burke, Nick Cruz, Alex Rodriguez, Jesse Rodriguez and Joe Gutierrez all had hits. Rodriguez's was a two-run double.

Skyler Quintal picked up the win, relieving John Kennison in the fourth and striking our five in four innings of work.

Coach Alex Hoffman was pleased with the sweep.

"Yeah, it feels good. I would have liked to give up less runs, because we had some struggles defensively here and there throughout the day.

"The good thing about these last two games is I'm a little more comfortable where I'm at, so I'm getting a good grasp on the things we need to work on -- things like being in the right spot when we need to be, and we came from behind in both games, and showed real character."

The sweep improved the Royals to 4-1 on the season and 2-1 in league play.

Mountain Home hosted the Nampa Braves for two games Tuesday night. They host the Boise Senators for two next Monday, June 13, starting at 5 p.m. They travel to Bishop Kelly to face the Boise Barons for two on June 14, starting at 5 p.m., then head to Dillon, Mont., for the Maybelle Arthur Memorial Tourney June 16-19.