Tigers go one-for-three in conference baseball

Mountain Home had to settle for just one win last week, but almost made it two straight as they had Bishop Kelly on the ropes for a good share of the game before losing in conference baseball.

Emmett 14, Mountain Home 5

A nine-run third inning proved to be the difference Tuesday as the Huskies beat Mountain Home 14-5 at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home had taken an early 3-0 lead, but the Huskies erupted for nine runs in the third to take an 11-3 lead that the Tigers were never able to make up.

"It's kind of been our problem all year -- us giving up big innings," said Tigers head coach Mark Cotton.

"Offensively, I felt we got better, and on the mound we're always pretty solid. I think we struggled a little bit there, today, but we had guys step up and do some things and we got better as the game went on, and at this point in the season, with the way that we're playing, we've got to take some pride in the small victories and get better."

John Kennison had two hits for the Tigers. Skyler Podesek and Jesse Rodriguez both had doubles and RBI, Jesse Cobos had an RBI-single, Danny Brescia had a triple, and Zach Peterson, Tyler McCall and Cody Blakemore also had hits. Levi Abrahamson suffered the loss.

Mountain Home 5, Nampa 1

Mountain Home got a complete game effort out of Zach Peterson last Thursday at Nampa as the Tigers won, 5-1.

The Tigers broke open a 1-1 ball game with three runs in the fifth inning and added an insurance run in the seventh, as the Tigers snapped a three-game conference losing streak.

"It was nice to come out and play a solid game of baseball all the way around," Coach Cotton said.

"By no means have we arrived, as we still made some mistakes out there, and little mistakes here and there can cost you in a big game, but we played 20 times better than we've played in the last two weeks, all the way around."

Zach Peterson went the distance on the mound for Mountain Home, striking out seven batters to improve to 3-2 on the season and lower his ERA to 2.42.

Skylar Quintal and Danny Brescia both had two hits against Nampa, Quintal drove in two runs. Skyler Podesek had an RBI-double, Jesse Rodriguez had an RBI-single and Tyler McCall also had a hit.

Bishop Kelly 7, Mountain Home 5

For four innings the Mountain Home Tigers had the Bishop Kelly Knights on the ropes, leading the Knights 5-0, but fifth-inning errors opened the door to six Knight runs, and Bishop Kelly remained unbeaten in conference, downing the Tigers 7-5 Friday at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home scored single runs in the first and second innings and added three more in the fourth to go up 5-0.

"I'm really proud of our guys effort," Coach Cotton said. "I feel like we've really turned the page on our season, even though it was a loss, there's definitely some positives from today's game. I feel like we're getting better and we're competing, and I think the big game-changer today for us was Jesse Rodriguez, coming in and throwing the way that he did."

Jesse Rodriguez suffered the loss, despite giving up just two earned runs in four-plus innings of pitching.

John Kennison and Skylar Quintal both had hits and RBI for Mountain Home. Danny Brescia had a double and Skyler Podesek also had a hit. Jake Ryan had an RBI.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 4-8 in conference and 7-9 on the season.

This week has the Tigers playing three more games. They traveled to Jerome on Tuesday, travel to Skyview on Thursday, and host Middleton on Friday.

"We have quality opponents coming up," Coach Cotton said. "Jerome's always tough, and Skyview, they beat us pretty bad earlier in the season, but I feel like we're a different baseball club, and I feel like we can definitely give them a run for their money, especially if we play the way that we've played the last two games."