Royals finish 3rd at memorial baseball tourney

The Mountain Home Royals won six of nine games last week in a busy week of American Legion baseball, claiming third place at the Maybelle Arthur Memorial Wood Bat Tournament in Dillon, Mont.

Royals 13, Senators 12

Royals 9, Senators 8

The Mountain Home Royals battled back in both games last Monday night to sweep a conference doubleheader from the Boise Senators, 13-12 and 9-8, at Royals Field at Eastside Park.

A three-run third inning gave the Royals an early 4-2 lead in the first game, but the Senators scored four in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead.

Mountain Home pushed across five runs in the fifth to go up 9-6, but back came the Senators with four in the sixth to go up 10-9, and added two more in the top of the seventh to make it a 12-9 lead.

Gage Curtis singled in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, as the Royals came back with four runs to win it 13-12.

Skyler Podesek had three hits and four RBIs in the first-game win.

Ronny Young and Nick Cruz also had RBI-singles and Jake Hennessey had a double and scored three runs. Ryan Goldsby, Alex Burke and Alex Rodriguez also had RBIs.

Jesse Rodriguez, the third of three Royals pitchers, picked up the win.

The Royals trailed 6-1 in the third inning of the second game, but once again found a way to win, scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 9-8 lead.

Gage Curtis, who pitched the final four innings in relief, struck out the side in the top of the seventh to pick up the win.

John Kennison had the big bat, getting three hits, scoring two runs and driving in one. Jake Hennessey, Skylar Quintal, Alex Rodriguez and Jesse Rodriguez each had two hits in the second game. Hennessey had three RBIs, Quintal one, and Danny Brescia and Joe Gutierrez also had RBIs.

Gage Curtis had seven strikeouts in four innings of relief to improve to 1-1 on the season.

"In these type of situations, regardless of the opponent, I'm happy to know that we can fight from behind," said Royals Head Coach Alex Hoffman after the sweep.

Royals 10, Barons 7

Royals 6, Barons 3

Mountain Home took two league games from the Boise Barons last Tuesday night at Bishop Kelly, winning the first game 10-7 and taking the nightcap 6-3.

It was another case of the comeback kids in the first game, as they found themselves down 7-4 going into their last at bat.

They sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the seventh to take a 10-7 lead and Danny Brescia pitched a scoreless seventh in relief to make it a 10-7 win.

The Royals pounded out 15 hits in the first game win, with Alex Rodriguez getting four of them, driving in four runs. Jake Hennessey had three hits, scored three runs and drove in one.

In all, 10 Royals had hits, as Danny Brescia, Skyler Podesek, Jesse Rodriguez, Justin Schmitt, Ryan Goldsby, Skylar Quintal, Jared Day and Ryan Ichiyama all had hits, with Brescia, Jesse Rodriguez, Schmitt, and Goldsby driving in runs. Gage Curtis also had an RBI.

Jesse Rodriguez got the win, improving to 2-0 on the season.

In the second game, the Royals scored three times in the sixth inning for a 6-3 win, as John Kennison threw a complete game, scattering six hits for his first win of the season.

Alex Rodriguez, Skylar Quintal, Jesse Rodriguez and Ryan Goldsby each had two hits and Quintal and Goldsby had RBIs. Ronny Young had an RBI-double and Gage Curtis a two-run single. Joe Gutierrez also had a hit for the Mountain Home squad.

"At least we can say we're consistent in the way we're doing things right now," said Coach Hoffman after the sweep. "And as far as John Kennison on the bump goes, I'm so proud of him. He went out there today and he made every little adjustment he needed to make. I wish he would have gotten a little bit more support defensively, but it was a good character-builder for him."

Mountain Home 6, Dillon 2

The Royals got a great pitching effort from Jared Day in their opener at the Maybelle Arthur Memorial Wood Bat Tournament, downing the host Dillon Cubs 6-2.

Jake Hennessey led the Royals against Dillon with four hits, including two doubles, and drove in three runs. Skyler Podesek, Danny Brescia and Alex Burke also had hits. Alex Rodriguez had an RBI.

Jared Day struck out seven and scattered seven hits in the complete game win to improve to 2-0 on the season.

"It was a great win," said Royals head coach Alex Hoffman after the game. "I don't want to count our chickens before they hatch, but I think we turned the page in a lot of areas in our game today. We still had those physical errors that we don't want to have, but for the most part they played an awesome game.

"Jared Day did a good job today. He was real confident today and did good things when the pressure was on, and that's something I'm really happy to see out of him."

Missoula 8, Mountain Home 4

The Royals opened Friday with a 10 a.m. game against the Missoula Pioneers, a Senior Babe Ruth team, and had problems getting going, falling to the Pioneers 8-4.

The Royals were outhit 13-6, with John Kennison getting two hits and scoring two runs for the Royals. Jake Hennessey had a two-run double, Skyler Podesek had an RBI-double, Alex Rodriguez an RBI-single and Ronny Young also had a hit.

Alex Burke, the first of three Royals pitchers, suffered the loss.

Bitterroot 4, Mountain Home 2

The Royals played the 12:30 p.m. game Friday against the Bitterroot Bucs and falling short, 4-2, in a pitching duel between the Royals' Gage Curtis and Bitterroot's Austin Erler.

Bitterroot got a run in the bottom of the first to go up 1-0 and added another in the fourth. The Royals tied it with two runs in the top of the fifth, but the Bucs regained the lead with a run in the bottom half of the inning and added another one in the sixth to make it a 4-2 final.

Gage Curtis pitched a complete game, giving up just two earned runs and six hits, while striking out five. He helped his cause with an RBI- double at the plate.

Skyler Podesek had an RBI-single, Alex Rodriguez had two hits, Austin Bodily had a double and Skylar Quintal and John Kennison also had hits.

Mission Valley 4, Mountain Home 3

The Royals faced the Mission Valley Mariners in their fourth game of the tournament on Saturday morning, and got an excellent pitching effort from Alex Rodriguez.

The Royals right-hander allowed just one hit while striking out 10 batters, but three unearned runs -- two in the top of the seventh -- spelled defeat for the Royals, as they fell short, 4-3.

Alex Rodriguez and Joe Gutierrez both had RBI-singles, Jake Hennessey had a double, and Jesse Rodriguez and Ryan Goldsby also had hits. Austin Bodily also drove in a run.

Despite the loss, Coach Hoffman was pleased with the effort by his Royals against the Mariners.

"It was a tough one, but from where I'm sitting right now, that's the reason we play the game of baseball and that's the reason I love the game of baseball, with games like that."

Mountain Home 15, Bucs 11

The Royals ended up playing the Bitterroot Bucs again, this time for third place on Sunday morning, and battled back from behind to win 15-11.

Mountain Home scored a run in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead and Bitterroot tied it at 1-1 in the top of the second.

The Royals erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the second to go up 8-1.

The Bucs scored four in the third, and added six in the fourth, to take an 11-9 lead before Skyler Quintal came on in relief to shut down the Bucs for over three innings. The Royals meanwhile plated five runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth to come back to win 15-11.

Jake Hennessey had three hits, including a double, scored four runs and drove in one. Austin Bodily had a two-run double. Ronny Young had a two-run single, Skyler Podesek had an RBI-single, Danny Brescia had a single and two RBIs, and Nick Cruz also had a hit.

Quintal picked up the win, improving to 2-0 on the season.

Coach Hoffman was pleased to close out the tourney with a win.

"It's the first time in a while that we've scored 15 runs, but I can't say we did it the pretty way. I'll take the win, obviously."

Coach Hoffman hopes to use the experiences from the Dillon tournament to make the Royals a better ball club.

The Royals take an 11-4 overall record into today's league doubleheader at home against the Boise Gems, the first game starting at 4 p.m.

The Royals are home against Middleton for a single non-conference game Friday night at 7 p.m., and host the Boise Seminoles for two league games Saturday, starting at 11 a.m.