Mountain Home comes up short, drops games to Kuna, Vallivue

The Mountain Home Royals came up short last week, dropping doubleheaders to Kuna and Vallivue in Class A American Legion baseball.

Kuna 8, Royals 4

Kuna 6, Royals 4

Mountain Home battled Kuna tough last Monday but came up short against the Diamondbacks, dropping two contests at Kuna.

In the first game, Mountain Home errors led to six unearned runs as the Royals lost, 8-4.

Conor Lierke had two hits in the first game while Kole Filipovich and David Welle also had hits, Welle's was a double, which drove in a run. Kyle Acarregui also had an RBI.

Sklyer Knudson was tagged with the loss despite giving up just four hits and two earned runs.

In the second game, Kuna jumped out to a 4-1 lead after one inning, and the Royals were never able to get any closer than two.

Jordan Lenz had two hits and scored two runs for the Royals in the second game. Riley Woodland and David Welle both had RBI-singles. Kole Filipovich, Luke Lockard and Conor Lierke also had hits.

Lenz suffered the loss, despite giving up just two earned runs.

Mountain Home Royals head coach and manager Michael Hobgood thought they were games his team could've won.

"In both of those games, we had one inning where we gave up three or four runs and they got away from us, but I was pretty happy," the coach said. "Kuna's definitely better than they've been, and we fought 'em, and considering we only had 10 guys and the heat that we had to play in, we competed."

Vallivue 19, Royals 8

Vallivue 9, Royals 0

The Royals hosted the Vallivue Titans last Tuesday evening at Royals Field in Mountain Home and lost to the Titans in two.

A six-run third inning and a four-run fourth put the Titans up, 11-0, in the first game. Mountain Home battled back to within five after five innings, but Vallivue put up eight more in the sixth to win by the 10-run rule, 19-8.

Kole Filipovich had two hits and drove in a run for the Royals in the first game. Jayden Sexton had an RBI-double, and Esmer Castillo had an RBI-single. David Welle, Luke Lockard and Bailey Miller-Hodge also had hits. Welle drove in two runs, and Lockard scored two.

Miller-Hodge was the starter and losing pitcher for the Royals.

In the evening's nightcap, Vallivue's Hayden Tena shut out the Royals on two hits as the Titans blanked the Royals, 9-0.

Luke Lockard reached on an infield hit in the second inning, and Riley Woodland singled in the sixth for Mountain Home's only hits. Woodland went the distance on the mound for the Royals, striking out four. Just four of Vallivue's nine runs were earned.

"We've just got to get rid of those bad innings" Coach Hobgood said. "Vallivue's a really good team. They swing it real well, and I think we were a little flat and complacent. We gave ourselves a chance to battle a team, and they just kind of ran away from us there at the end. You know that happens, but if you want to beat the best, you've got to come and play 'em."

The Royals have a rare week off, returning to action Tuesday night against the Boise Capitals at home. They are also home July 16 for two games against Meridian starting at 5 p.m. and host the Boise Gems in a single game Friday evening at 6 p.m.

"Hopefully, the week off can set us up," Hobgood said.

The team has three conference games left, including the doubleheader against the Capitals at the beginning of the week.

"Hopefully, we can set up some pitching and get ourselves out of the basement (in conference) and give ourselves a shot once we get to District and show some teams that we're not what we've been playing like," the coach said. "We're a better team than that and hopefully start to scare some people."

The Royals have a doubleheader scheduled at Canyon Ridge on July 13 and a doubleheader at Buhl on July 16 to close out their regular season schedule.

The Class A Area B District Tournament starts July 18 at Wigle Field at Borah High School in Boise.