Royals pick up six additional wins

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The Mountain Home Royals picked up six more wins last week, sweeping doubleheaders from the Boise Capitals, Twin Falls Cowboys and Kuna Diamondbacks, all at home, while dropping a league doubleheader to the Boise Gems in Boise.

Royals 7, Capitals 5

Royals 13, Capitals 7

The Mountain Home Royals swept a Class A Area B American Legion baseball doubleheader from the Boise Capitals last Tuesday night at Royals Field in Mountain Home. The Royals won the first game 7-5 and took the nightcap 13-7.

In the first game, the Capitals scored runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead, but a five-run third inning by Mountain Home, with two out, gave the Royals the lead for good, and they hung on for a 7-5 win.

Cody Blakemore, Kody Arellano and Levi Abrahamson each had two hits and drove in a run. Arellano and Abrahamson had doubles. Jesse Cobos, Shae Sterling and Bailey Miller-Hodge also had hits. Cobos had a two-run home run and Sterling an RBI-triple.

Zach Petersen picked the win, going six-plus innings, and Jesse Cobos earned the save, holding the Capitals scoreless in the seventh inning.

Mountain Home built up a 5-0 lead after two innings in the second game and stretched it to 8-0 before the Capitals struck for six runs in the bottom of the fourth.

The Royals added five in the fifth to go up 13-6 and win 13-7. Bailey Miller-Hodge picked up the win, with relief help from Jace Bennett and Levi Abrahamson.

Miller-Hodge and Abrahmson both had three hits. Abrahamson had a double and drove in two runs. Miller-Hodge scored twice. Teddy Reaume tripled and doubled and scored three runs and drove in two. Cody Blakemore had two hits including a double. Jesse Cobos had an RBI-single, Kody Arellano had a double and Shae Sterling also had a hit.

The Capitals represent a pretty good team, said Royals head coach Michael Hobgood.

"They ended out season (at district) last year, so I told the guys as a reminder, and they came out today and really played really well."

Gems 8, Royals 5

Gems 6, Royals 4

The Royals dropped a league doubleheader to the Boise Gems Thursday at Timberline Park in Boise. Mountain Home came up short, 8-5, in the first game, and dropped the nightcap 6-4.

The Gems jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead in the first game, and it proved to be more than enough, as Mountain Home could get no closer than two at any point in the game.

Jesse Cobos had two hits and drove in two runs in the first game. Zach Petersen doubled in a run and scored twice and Bailey Miller-Hodge also had a hit.

Levi Abrahamson, who went the distance on the mound and suffered the loss. He also had a hit and two RBI.

A five-run third inning in the second game gave the Gems a 6-0 lead. The Royals made a game of it, coming back within two, but lost 6-4.

Shae Sterling had two hits and scored a run for the Royals. Cody Blakemore hit a two-run triple, Zach Petersen had an RBI-double, Teddy Reaume had a double and Jesse Cobos, Kody Arellano and Bailey Miller-Hodge also had hits.

Cobos went the distance, suffering the loss despite striking out six batters.

"We just didn't hit when we had to," lamented Coach Hobbgood after the sweep by the Gems. "We hit, but we just let them get out with the lead, and made mental mistakes in the second game. We had a multitude of opportunities with guys at second and third and less than two out, we just couldn't get the job done."

Royals 11, Cowboys 19

Royals 15, Cowboys 5

The Royals managed a split with the Twin Falls Cowboys Friday night at Royals Field in Mountain Home, losing the first game 19-11 and taking the nightcap 15-5 in five innings.

Coach Hobgood played a lot of non-starters in the first game of the non-league doubleheader against the Cowboys. After falling behind 10-4 after three innings, the Royals managed to battle back within three, 12-9, but ended up on the short end of a 19-11 contest.

The Royals had 12 hits in the loss, led by Levi Abrahamson with three. He also scored three runs and knocked in one. Curran Price had two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs. Teddy Reaume and Esmer Castillo both had two hits, including triples, and drove in a run. Jace Bennett had a two-run double, Josh Sheffield had an RBI-single and David Welle also had a hit.

Teddy Reaume suffered the loss, going four innings. Jace Bennett finished up the game, pitching the last three.

"Teddy (Reaume) definitely deserved to have a lot better (defense) than what he got, which kind of hurt him, but this was really one of the last games that we'll be able to get the young guys in and let them just go, with Kuna conference games tomorrow, and Columbia, which will really be a tune-up before district, so it was good to get them a chance to play" said Coach Hobgood.

With their starters in for the second game, the Royals jumped out to a 10-1 lead after two innings, withstood a Cowboy rally that brought them within five at 10-5, then ended it with a five-run fifth to win 15-5.

The Royals had ten hits in the win, led by Teddy Reaume's two, which included a two-run triple.

Kody Arellano, the wining pitcher, also had two hits, including a double and scored two runs.

Jesse Cobos had a two-run triple, Zach Petersen had an RBI-double, and Shae Sterling, Levi Abrahamson, Bailey Miller-Hodge and Derek Kellogg all had RBI-singles.

"There was some motivation behind that (quick start in the second game)," said Coach Hobgood.

"When we went up there, the bet our older kids, so these guys wanted to come in and really take the opportunity to show someone who we really are, and they did a great job. We keep hitting like that, we'll have those games. I'm very proud of what they did tonight."

Royals 10, Kuna 6

Royals 20, Kuna 3

Mountain Home's bats came alive Saturday as the Royals pounded out 27 hits and scored 30 runs in a doubleheader sweep of the Kuna Diamondbacks at Royals Field in Mountain Home.

The Royals trailed 6-1 early in the first game but battled back to down Kuna 10-6.

Shae Sterling had the hot bat in the first game with three hits, including a double and triple, driving in four runs. Teddy Reaume had two hits including a double and scored two runs. Tyler McCall had an RBI-triple, and Jesse Cobos and Kody Arellano also had hits.

Cody Blakemore earned the win, shutting out the Diamondbacks the final four innings after giving up six runs in the first three.

The Royals found themselves down 3-2 after three innings in the second game, but scored four runs in the fourth, and blew the game open with 14 runs in the fifth to win 20-3.

The Royals pounded out 17 hits in the second game, Zach Petersen had four hits and drove in five runs. Cody Blakemore and Jesse Cobo both had three hits including doubles, Blakemore drove in two runs, Cobos, one, and scored three times. Shae Sterling and Bailey Miller-Hodge had two hits, Sterling had two doubles and drove in three runs, Miller-Hodge had a double and drove in a run. Teddy Reaume had a two-run triple, and Esmer Castillo also had a hit. Derek Kellogg and Kyle Acarregui also had RBI. Zach Petersen scattered five hits and struck out three to get the win.

"We started slow both games," said Coach Hobgood after the sweep.

"Eventually, we started to turn it around. Against a team like that, it's really just a war of attrition, you've got to just keep grinding at them and eventually they'll crack and make breaks. We hit the ball really well today and our pitchers threw pretty well -- there's some things we obviously can fix there -- but that was a huge sweep for us today."

Mountain Home improved to 29-16 on the season, and finished its league schedule at 12-6.

"We're 12-6, and now, unfortunately with the sweep by the Gems, we put ourselves in a situation where we would need help to jump back up into the two seed," said Coach Hobgood. "From what I hear around the district, we should be pretty well locked in to the number three seed now, but most of those teams have to play two or three conference games next week, but we're fine with whatever seed we get. We've beaten most everybody, and we know we can play with everybody."

The Royals closed out their regular season schedule at Columbia on Monday. The Area B Class A District Tournament begins this Saturday at Mountain View High School in Meridian.

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