Tigers' baseball winning streak ends after three

The Mountain Home Tigers extended their win streak to three games with a win over Filer, then dropped three straight before a win over Kimberly ended a busy week of baseball.

Mountain Home 15, Filer 6

The Mountain Home Tigers picked up their third straight win last week with a 15-6 win over the Filer Wildcats at Filer.

The Tigers scored in all but one inning and put the game out of reach with five runs in the seventh inning.

"We have started playing solid baseball at the right time of the year," said Tiger baseball coach Mark Cotton after the Filer win.

"Offensively, we are starting to hit the way we are capable of. The rest of this week is a big week in regards to conference standings. Hopefully, we can maintain the mentality we have been bringing to the field. Thee guys have worked hard and it is starting to pay off."

Danny Brescia had three hits, including two doubles, and drove in five runs. He also pitched a complete game, giving up seven hits and allowing just two earned runs while striking out seven batters.

Teddy Reaume also had three hits and scored four runs. Cody Blakemore, Levi Abrahamson and Jesse Cobos each had two hits.Blakemore had a double and three RBIs, Cobos had a double and a triple and drove in one run. Zach Petersen and Jace Bennett also had hits. Bailey Miller Hodge scored two runs, and Tyler McCall drove in one run and scored another.

Kuna 3, Mountain Home 2

Fielding errors once again hurt the Tigers last week as they dropped a 3-2 conference game to the Kuna Kavemen at Kuna.

Levi Abrahamson was involved in a pitcher's duel with Kuna's pitcher. With the game tied at 1-1, Kuna scored two runs off errors in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead.

Mountain Home got one run back in the top of the sixth as Danny Brescia homered, and had runners in scoring position, but could not get them in, as they came up short, 3-2. The loss snapped a three-game Tiger winning streak.

"We had plenty of opportunities to win the game," said Coach Cotton. "We had a great outing (pitching) by Levi Abrahamson. We just couldn't get it done offensively. It's the same old story -- losing these close ball games -- we just couldn't seem to get over the hump. We've just got to get better."

Danny Brescia had two of the three hits Mountain Home had in the game and drove in both runs -- one with his home run. Levi Abrahamson had the other hit.

Abrahamson suffered the loss, despite just giving up just one earned run on five hits and striking out seven batters.

Emmett 4, Mountain Home 0

Errors opened the door for the Emmett Huskies Thursday afternoon as they broke open a pitching duel between Mountain Home's Jesse Cobos and Emmett's Cody Hedges with four unearned runs in the third inning as the Huskies prevailed 4-0 in a conference game at Emmett.

"You're not going to win if you don't score runs," said Coach Cotton. "I know that sounds simple, but it's the truth. Our team ERA (earned run average) is under two (runs per game), and we have a losing record Some of that's on me -- I've got to find better ways to win ball games -- but at the same time we've got to have a better approach at the plate and we don't. We're really struggling at the plate."

Jesse Cobos pitched well for the Tigers, giving up just eight hits while striking out nine. Cody Hedges scattered four hits, as the Tigers hit the ball hard, but very few found holes in the Emmett defense. Hedges helped himself out with a two-run double.

Teddy Reaume, Danny Brescia, Jesse Cobos and Cody Simpson had Mountain Home's hits.

Nampa 11, Mountain Home 4

A six -run second inning proved to be the big difference in the game Friday as the Bulldogs beat the Tigers 11-4 in Mountain Home.

Nampa scored two runs in the first inning on a two-run home run by Dom Hamudeh and took advantage of a couple of Tiger errors to put up six runs in the second inning for an 8-0 lead.

Mountain Home managed single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and two runs in the sixth, but could not get any big rally going to come back.

"Nampa came out and kind of put a clinic on the first two innings -- they came to play and we didn't," said Coach Cotton. "I think the most disappointing thing about today is the last three or four weeks I feel like we've brought a decent mentality and pretty good product to the field, and I felt like our mentality was really weak today and we were defeated before we even stepped on the field."

Danny Brescia continued his hot hitting for the Tigers, getting three hits, including triple and an RBI. Zach Petersen had two hits, including triple and two RBIs. Teddy Reaume, Levi Abrahamson and Cody Blakemore also had hits.

Zach Petersen was the starter and losing pitcher, being pulled in the second inning, with relief help from Levi Abrahamson and Danny Brescia.

Mountain Home 3, Kimberly 0

The Tigers got a complete game six-hit shutout from Zach Petersen Saturday, while the Tigers manufactured three unearned runs against Kimberly to down the Bulldog, 3-0 Saturday at Tiger Field.

Zach Petersen scattered six hits while striking out seven batters to get the win. The Tigers scored twice in the first inning and added another run in the third inning.

Cody Blakemore and Tyler McCall had Mountain Home's only hits, but Teddy Reaume, Levi Abrahamson and Danny Brescia all scored runs. Brescia drove in a run.

"I thought we put a solid product on the field today," said Coach Cotton. "We made big plays when we had to, and Zach Petersen threw a great game. We still have to get better offensively, but it is nice to get a win after the struggles we've had the last few ball games."

The Tigers had a conference doubleheader at Bishop Kelly Tuesday, host Skyview on Thursday and travel to Middleton on Friday.

The Mountain Home News continues its series of looking at the Mountain Home Tigers baseball team.

Cody Blakemore

Cody Blakemore is a junior catcher and pitcher for the Tigers. The son of Julie and Scott Blakemore, Cody's hobbies include "hunting, hanging with friends, video games, football and skateboarding."

His goals for the season are team oriented, saying, "my goals are to have a great season with the team and try to help them in any way possible, if that's being the best catcher, or helping with pitching. I think we have a great squad that could win state this year, but to do that, we need to show up every day ready to play."

Cody's goals for the future? "Go to college to study criminal justice. I would love to keep playing baseball or football in college, but I still have time to see if that happens."

Jesse Cobos

Jesse Cobos is a junior outfielder and pitcher for the Tigers. The son of Jesse Cobos and Barbara Hopkins, his hobbies include "snowboarding, guitar and football."

Jesse's goals for the season include "help our team win state, and also to pitch the most innings in the conference."

His future plans are to "play baseball forever, or join the police force."