Royals rally to overpower Rangers

The Mountain Home Royals pounded out 12 hits in a 13-1 six-inning non-conference game over a young Meridian Ranger AA Legion team Friday night at Meridian High School.

The Royals jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one, led 5-0 after two and 9-0 after four on their way to a 13-1 win in six innings.

"We saw a lot of good things today," said Royals head coach Alex Hoffman after the game. "I would have kept the goose egg on the board a little bit better, but as far as our bats coming around and Alex (Rodriguez) being as efficient as he was with his pitches today, I can completely accept that win."

The Royals collected 12 hits off three Meridian pitchers. Ten different Royals had hits. Jake Hennessey and Gage Curtis both had two hits. Hennessey had a double and triple, an RBI and scored three runs.

Jesse Rodriguez, Skyler Podesek, Alex Burke, Ryan Goldsby, Danny Brescia, John Kennison, Nick Cruz and Alex Rodriguez all had hits. Jesse Rodriguez had two RBIs, Skyler Podesek, John Kennison and Nick Cruz had an RBI each, Alex Rodriguez had a triple and an RBI and Joe Gutierrez also had an RBI.

Alex Rodriguez went the distance for the win, scattering two hits. The Rangers scored an unearned run in the sixth to ruin the shutout.

The Royals were scheduled to host a Nampa team for a doubleheader last Monday, but since the schedule was made up in January or February, the Nampa team was unable to field a team, so the Nampa games were scrapped, although no one bothered to let the Royals organization know, as they showed up ready to play.

The Royals have a killer schedule this week, with the possibility of nine games in seven days. Coach Hoffman expects his squad to get a lot of playing time in during the next week.

"It'll be a good chance at getting some guys who haven't got as much playing time in, get them some playing time and see where we're at going to Dillon on Wednesday. We look forward to it.

"Hopefully we can get some guys to step up and throw some quality innings for us so we can save some of our pitchers at the top of the rotation for later on in the week. It should be fun and we're looking forward to it."

The Royals hosted the Boise Senators for two on Monday, traveled to Bishop Kelly for two Tuesday night, and then go to the Maybelle Arthur Memorial American Legion Tourney in Dillon, Mont., opening against the host Dillon Cubs Thursday evening at 6 p.m., taking on Missoula Friday morning at 10 a.m., facing Bitterroot at 12:30 p.m. Friday, and playing Mission Valley Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Sunday will have the third-place game at 10 a.m. and the championship game at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. All Mountain Home Royals games from the Dillon tourney will be carried on KMHI AM 1240.