Tiger baseball on 5-win conference streak

The Mountain Home Tigers saw their four-game win streak snapped by Vallivue Tuesday, but extended their conference win streak to five with a sweep of Middleton last week.

Vallivue 15

Mtn. Home 5

The Vallivue Falcons snapped Mountain Home's four game win streak Tuesday, downing the Tigers, 15-5, in a non-conference baseball game in Mountain Home.

The Falcons got to four Mountain Home pitchers for 20 hits, a good share of them on "seeing-eye" hits. Tiger errors also helped them out.

"I'm really disappointed, mainly at our approach at the plate," said Mountain Home Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore after the game.

"Our hitters were really unfocused, swinging at balls in the dirt, and really not going up there with much of an approach, and lately that's been the reason we've improved, because the mental side of the game has improved, but we didn't have it today. It's not like our pitchers threw terrible, though I know 20 hits sounds like it, but their number nine hitter had five hits, and not one of them was a legitimate hit, just a lot of soft balls that went in -- some bad luck in those terms, and you can't get upset about that kind of stuff, but if we'd had a better approach at the plate, it would have been a different ball game."

Chris Rau, who switched jersey numbers to seven to honor Tiger teammate Alex Hoffman, who saw his season end after suffering injuries in a weekend auto accident, had two hits for the Tigers and drove in a run. Jordan Cisna had an RBI single, Cal Vivier had a triple, Ricky Lee had a double and Joe Poseley also had a hit.

John Murdorf suffered the loss, pitching the first three innings.

JV players Ricky Baker, Adam Carter and Gabe Anderson also threw for the Tigers against Vallivue.

Mtn. Home 9

Middleton 3

Mountain Home jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, and led 5-0 after three. That was more than enough for Tiger pitcher Chris Rau, who limited the Vikings to just two hits as the Tigers won, 9-3.

"There were a lot of bright moments tonight," said Coach DeVore after the game. "Guys had some real clutch hitting and picked up more RBIs than we've been getting. There were a lot of good two-strike swings that put the ball in play and scored runs that probably three weeks ago would have been strikeouts, so that's a huge jump forward, and that's up and down the lineup.

"That's the first time this year we've played a game where no one in the lineup has struck out, so that's a lot of positive there. Chris Rau had a great game all-around, he threw a great game and had four runs scored.

"Murdorf went two-for-two, John's been hitting a lot better as well, so lots of positives, and it was definitely a team effort on the win."

Chris Rau had two hits and two RBIs and scored four runs. John Murdorf had two hits and an RBI, Joe Poseley and Joe Witrosky both had a hit and two RBIs, Jordan Cisna and Jake Hiler had hits, and Tyson Sessions had two RBIs.

Mtn. Home 13

Middleton 1

Mountain Home took advantage of eight walks and four errors to take a 6-0 lead after three innings. That was more than enough for Tiger pitcher Jake Hiler, who gave up just two hits, as the Tigers won, 13-1, the game ending early after five innings due to the 10-run rule.

Jake Hiler improved to 4-2 on the season, and lost both his no-hitter and shutout in the fourth inning after Coby Cantrell led off the inning with a walk, and Trent Harrison doubled him in. Hiler struck out eight and had just one walk and one hit-batter. At the plate Hiler had a double ands two RBIs. Chris Rau had a double and three RBIs, Cal Vivier, John Murdorf and Zane Bundy had hits and RBIs, Joe Poseley had a double and scored three runs, and Joe Witrosky also had a hit.

Despite the lopsided win, Coach DeVore thought his guys lost their focus for a while.

"I still think we can play better. We took advantage of a lot of Middleton mistakes and got on the board early, but in some ways that hurt our mental approach, and I don't think we were swinging the bat well until about the third or fourth inning, other than Chris Rau early on with that big double.

"I reminded them after the game how far we've come this year, but we're there because we've been mentally prepared to play, and not because we're complacent, and tonight I thought we were a little bit complacent.

"We let them dictate the tempo of the game, which is something that we don't need to do, because the teams in this conference that you've got to beat are Bishop Kelly and Emmett this year, so we've got to play to our potential, not to the potential of our opponents."

The win improved the Tigers to 7-13 overall, and 5-5 in league play. The Tigers are at Nampa on Thursday to face the Bulldogs, and host the Bulldogs on Friday.

"They're a tough team every year," said Coach DeVore. "I know they're down a little bit in their conference games, but their overall record is a little bit better.

"These are games that are really going to show where we're at, because Nampa's got a kid, Trevor Morris, who can throw a little bit, and his younger brother (Quaid) at shortstop is also a player. They've got some kids that we know what we're getting up against, so we've got to play a lot more aggressive than we did today (against Middleton).

"We have our work cut out for us, without a doubt. This conference is crazy this year with all these teams congested in the middle. Obviously, we're starting to play with a little fire, and I'm pleased with that, but these next four games with Nampa and Skyview, they're going to be true tests because those guys are right in the thick of us getting a state berth."

The Tigers play their final home game of the season on May 1, against Skyview, and close out their regular season on May 2 at Skyview. The district tourney starts May 5 at Nampa and Kuna.