Tiger nine falls to Bishop Kelly

The Mountain Home Tigers dropped two SIC 4A conference baseball games to Bishop Kelly last week.

Bishop Kelly 4

Mtn. Home 1

The Tigers battled Bishop Kelly tough in Mountain Home last Wednesday, falling to the Knights 4-1.

Bishop Kelly scored single runs in the first and second innings, and added two more in the fourth against Chris Rau, who struck out six and limited the Knights to just four hits.

Mountain Home had the bases full with no one out in the bottom of the first against Josh Osich, but the Knights lefthander then struck out three in a row to get out of the inning.

The Tigers managed just two hits off Osich -- both by Jake Hiler -- who struck out 19 Tiger batters in the ball game. Hiler scored Mountain Home's only run in the sixth off a sacrifice fly by Tyson Sessions.

"It was a great pitching duel," said Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore after the game. "Obviously Osich threw extremely well for them, but Rau I thought threw every bit as good. He mixed up his pitches well, and, in a lot of ways, threw better than Osich. If he had five or six more miles on his fast ball that Osich has, you'd see the same sort of numbers in that game, because Chris had better command of his stuff for sure.

"We were just a little overpowered by the fast ball, but the season is young, and that's the kind of stuff we'll get better at. I thought our bats got better as the game went on, as guys were more aggressive. Jake Hiler continues to swing the bat well for us, and Chris was a ton better as a pitcher between Emmett and today, so we're improving, but we obviously have a long ways to go."

Bishop Kelly 10

Mtn. Home 0

Things fell apart defensively for the Tigers Friday at Bishop Kelly and Mountain Home continued to struggle at the plate as the Knights won, 10-0, in six innings.

Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore was disappointed with their Friday efforts.

"It was a really poor effort on our part up and down, from the coaches down to the players.

"The only bright spot was Jake Hiler threw well. Most of their runs came on things that I would not call base hits, they're pop flies that have to be caught at this level. We have to demand more out of ourselves, from the 14 players and three coaches. We can't be accepting the fact that we're just here to play the game. We're NOT here just to play the game, we're here to play the game well -- that's why were here, and we're not doing that.

"At least the first four games I walked away thinking we're getting better each time, but today, there was no talk, no excitement, it's like spring break started a day early. The only consolation I can give myself and give the team is the fact that no one's beating us, we're beating ourselves."

The Tigers managed just three hits off two Bishop Kelly pitchers Friday. Chris Rau had two hits and Alex Hoffman, one.

Jake Hiler suffered the loss, striking out four and walking four in four innings.

The Tigers are at the Buck's Bag Tourney at Eagle this week, taking on Twin Falls Thursday, Columbia and Eagle on Friday. How they do in their first three games will determine when and where they play on Saturday.