Royals snap 7-game losing streak during sweep against Centennial

The Mountain Home Royals snapped a seven-game losing skid Friday night by downing the Centenial Cannons in an American Legion baseball doubleheader at Centennial. The win comes following losses to the Boise Gems and Twin Falls Cowboys.

Gems 6, Royals 4

The Mountain Home Royals dropped a 6-4 American Legion baseball game to the Boise Gems last Monday night at Timberline Park in Boise.

The Royals played the Gems tough and led early, 4-2. But Boise came back to score single runs in the fourth and fifth to tie it and pushed across two runs in the sixth to win the game.

"That was our best game of the season," said Royals manager and head coach Michael Hobgood. "We came out, and we play like that -- we didn't make errors -- we made a team beat us. At Timberline, to lose a two-run ball game in the seventh -- most teams don't do that. We had them on the ropes and had a lead, and they just flat beat us.

"But those are losses you can live with, because that's the growth loss," the coach added. "To go to Timberline and basically beat them for six innings, that shows where we can be."

Cody Blakemore and Luke Lockard both had two hits against the Gems. Cody Simpson, Riley Woodland, David Welle and Jayden Sexton also had hits.

Blakemore suffered the loss, going the distance by striking out two and giving up 10 hits.

Mountain View 23,

Mountain Home 2

Mountain View 11,

Mountain Home 7

The Royals traveled to Mountain View High School in Meridian last Wednesday and lost a doubleheader to the Toros.

Sklyer Knudson led the Royals at the plate with two hits in the first game. Kyle Acarregui had a hit and an RBI, and Curran Price, Cody Blakemore and Riley Wooand also had hits.

In the second game, Cody Blakemore had three hits, including a double. Curran Price had two hits, Riley Woodland had a double and Cody Simpson and Tyler Abernathy also had hits.

"Mountain View is a tough team," Coach Hobgood said. "You cannot give them anything for free, and we did that too many times -- we gave them a lot for free. We walked guys (and) we made errors.

While not a athletic team, Mountain View does "all the little things right," the coach added.

"When you have a team that does all the little things right and then you give them stuff for free on top of that, they do what they did to us and they make us pay."

Cowboys 15, Royals 5

Cowboys 19, Royals 8

The Royals hosted the Twin Falls Cowboys in a non-conference doubleheader Thursday at home, dropping two to the Cowboys.

In the first game, an eight-run second inning proved to be the difference for the visiting Cowboys, who added two runs each of the last three innings to win, 15-5.

Kyle Acarregui and Bailey Miller-Hodge both had two hits in the first game. Acarregui had a two-run double and Miller-Hodge also knocked in a run. Curran Price, Riley Woodland and David Welle also had hits.

Kole Filipovich, who had thrown over 80 pitches the night before in relief at Mountain View, got the start, but did make it out of that eight-run second inning to suffer the loss. Sklyer Knudson pitched five-plus quality innings to close out the game.

The Cowboys pounded out 20 hits in the nightcap, scoring in every inning to roll to a 19-8 win in five innings.

Mountain Home managed to score three runs in the first inning without the benefit of a hit to take a 3-2 lead, but the Royals managed just four hits in the game and couldn't overcome the effort by Twin Falls.

Curran Price had two hits and drove in a run for the Royals. Esmer Castillo and Conor Lierke also had hits.

Jordan Lenz pitched the first three innings for the Royals and suffered the loss. Riley Woodland closed out the game on the mound.

Coach Hobgood thought his team played with Twin Falls both games, despite the lopsided scores.

"That's kind of been our track record -- we have that one bad inning and it kills us," the coach said. "In that first game, you take away that second inning -- the eight-run inning away and we're in a one-run ball game right there, and this (second) game, we just came out flat after that first loss.

"We came out early and battled, but they took the lead and we got a little flat and in the dugout," Hobgood said.

"There are some guys individually that are doing great things, and I think once we get nine guys that can do it all at the same time, I think we'll be fine," the coach added.

Royals 13, Cannons 9

Royals 6, Cannons 5

Mountain Home returned to the win column Friday night, taking a pair of wins from the Cannons at Centennial, 13-9 and 6-5.

In the first game, Kyle Acarregui and Luke Lockard led the Royals at the plate. Acarreguui had two hits, and Lockard had a hit and drove in three runs. Sklyer Knudson, Jordan Lenz, Riley Woodland and Curran Price also had hits.

Price went the distance for the win, giving up just four hits and striking out three batters.

Luke Lockard, Cody Simpson and David Welle had hits in the second game, Lockard's was a double. Riley Woodland had an RBI.

Bailey Miller-Hodge went the distance on the mound for the win, scattering three hits while striking out three batters.

"We played really well," Coach Hobgood said. "We had some guys out of position and they came through really well. We let them crawl back in the first game, but ended up pulling it out in extra innings. In the second game, Bailey Miller had a no-hitter through five, and just got a little tired, but ended up finishing it for us.

"We finally put a full day together and really did everything well," the coach added. "We swung it well, fielded it well, and threw it well. I think it's really starting to come together."

The Royals scheduled Saturday doubleheader with Lewiston was cancelled.

This week, Mountain Home has a Monday doubleheader at Kuna and hosts Vallivue for two on Tuesday.

The Royals will not be playing in the Firecracker Tournament in Boise this weekend as originally scheduled. However, they will be home Tuesday for two games against the Boise Capitals.