Mountain Home splits conference wins with Middleton

The Mountain Home Tigers baseball team split their conference series with the Middleton Vikings in a doubleheader Friday night in Mountain Home.

Tigers 5, Vikings 2

The Tigers snapped an eight-game losing skid with their 5-2 win over the Middleton Vikings in the first game of a conference doubleheader Friday evening. Originally scheduled for Thursday, rain at Middleton prompted officials to move it to the following day.

Middleton took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, but Mountain Home grabbed the lead with two runs in the fifth. The Tigers added three more runs in the sixth for the win.

"It started out the same old story like last week with our bats leaving runners in scoring position," said Tigers head baseball coach Mark Cotton. "But our pitching kept us in it, and our defense kept us in it. Then our bats came alive, and we had some huge hits."

Jake Hennessey had two doubles and drove in a run, Austin Bodily had a two-run triple and Skyler Podesek had an RBI-single. Danny Brescia, Ryan Ichiyama and Joe Gutierrez also had hits with Gage Curtis also driving in a run.

Jared Day threw five quality innings to get the win to improve to 4-2 on the season while Gage Curtis pitched two innings and got the save -- his third of the season.

Tigers 2, Vikings 9

Middleton lefthander Cody Matthews struck out the first eight batters he faced in the nightcap and had the Tiger hitters struggling all night as the Vikings won, 9-2.

"We played great in the first game and kind of had some letdowns in the second game defensively," Coach Cotton said. "On the mound, we weren't as good as we've normally have been. We had plenty of opportunities, (and) I think what it really comes down to is we can't get it going offensively."

The coach added that if the Tigers can muster up the needed offense, "we're going to be a dangerous team. But until then, you've got to be able to put runs up to give yourself a chance."

Mountain Home managed just four hits in the second game. Jake Hennessey had a double while Austin Bodily, Alex Rodriguez and Joe Gutierrez also had hits with Nick Cruz adding an RBI.

Alex Rodriguez suffered the loss, despite giving up just one earned run, to drop to 2-6 on the season. With the split, the Tigers sit at 6-8 in conference and 6-14 overall.

They close out their regular season schedule this week against Emmett. They hosted the Huskies for Senior Night on Tuesday and play at Emmett today, May 2. The District III 4A Baseball Tournament begins Saturday.