Royals finish second at districts

After stumbling in the second round of the Area B Class A American Legion Baseball Tournament, the Mountain Home Royals fought their way back through the losers' bracket to face the Boise Gems in the championship round Monday and qualify for state.

The Mountain Home Royals lost to the Boise Gems, 14-5, in that game to finish second at district. The open State Cass A Tournament play Friday morning at 10 a.m. at Timberline Park in Boise against the Buhl Tribe.

Details of that game were unavailable at press time.

In action earlier in the tournament:

Royals 9

Caldwell 0

Mother Nature was the only one to stop the Mountain Home Royals in the tournament opener against the Caldwell Bobcats.

When heavy rains interrupted their game at Nampa's Rodeo Park, it was suspended Tuesday and concluded the next day at Columbia High School in Nampa, with the Royals going on to a 9-0 win.

The game was originally halted because of lightning, but during the delay, heavy rain drenched the field, so Tuesday's opening game was suspended in the third inning, with Mountain Home leading the Caldwell Bobcats, 1-0. The Royals were batting in the bottom of the third inning with the bases loaded and one out when the game was called.

Returning to play the next day the Royals managed to add single runs in the third, fourth and fifth, to go up, 4-0 and put the game out of reach with a five-run sixth inning.

"It was a great finish," said Royals head coach Matt Bundy. "We started out pretty well yesterday, had the lead and had the bases loaded, and then we came in this morning and Jake hit a nice sac-fly to push a run across.

"We really got our bats going near the end of the game, as it took us an inning or two to get going. We had some guys swinging well -- Jake did well, he had a nice sac-fly and a double, Hoffman had a couple hits, Zane had a couple hits -- and up and down the lineup guys were finding ways to get on base, so it was a good effort."

Alex Hoffman, Jake Hiler and Zane Bundy all had two hits against Caldwell, Hoffman had two doubles and two RBIs, Hiler a double and two RBIs, and Bundy also had an RBI. Ricky Lee had a hit and RBI, Ricky Baker and Chris Rau also had hits, Rau's a double.

Rau went the distance for the win, his ninth, scattered three hits and struck out eight.

"My arm felt better today in the beginning of the day than it did yesterday, but I wasn't as overpowering today as I was yesterday though," Rau said. "I think they went home and did some batting practice, but the defense picked it up for me today."

Senators 6

Royals 5

The old cliche of the district tourney being a brand new season certainly was true Thursday as the Royals faced the Boise Senators, a team they had beaten three times during the regular season, outscoring them, 28-4 in those three games.

An error opened the door for the Senators to score five runs in the second inning as the Senators held off the Royals, 6-5.

Jake Hiler had retired the first five batters he faced, and had two quick outs in the second. Then a fielding error on a ground ball extended the inning.

Back-to-back hits then produced a run. A hit batter loaded the bases. Three consecutive hits produced four more runs before Hiler got a strikeout to end the inning, the Senators up, 5-0.

The Royals managed to load the bases in the third inning, but failed to score. The scored stayed at 5-0 until the seventh, when the Senators pushed across another run to go up 6-0.

The run proved to be huge, as the Royals rallied in their last at bat to score five, and left the bases loaded, falling short, 6-5.

Royals coach Matt Bundy thought his team was going to pull off the comeback win.

"Yeah, we had everything all set up. We went around the (batting) order and everybody did a good job. It's just one of those things where you just end up a couple of strikes short. If we could have done this a couple of innings before, I think we would have been in great shape, but we just kind of waited until right there at the end.

"You know that five-run inning that we let them have early on, when they get all their runs with two outs was unfortunate, and then they pushed that other run across late in the game on some walks.

"The boys kept their heads up, but unfortunately we weren't as motivated at the beginning of the game as we were at the end, and that's a lesson I think we learned today, and hopefully we'll benefit from, because hopefully, we've got a few more games now in the loser's bracket, but I think we'll be okay," he said after the game.

Jake Hiler had two hits for the Royals. Cal Vivier had a two-run triple, Tom Hennessey and Brock Morris had hits and RBIs, Shawn Lewis had a double, Zane Bundy had a hit, and Alex Hoffman had an RBI.

Jake Hiler suffered the loss, despite not giving up an earned run. He fell to 4-4 on the season.

Royals 11

Vallivue 1

The loss to the Boise Senators put the Royals in the consolation bracket, playing a 9 a.m. Friday game against the Vallivue Titans. Mountain Home bounced back from their loss, taking care of Valluivue 11-1 in five innings.

The Royals struck for three runs in the first two innings, and scored in every inning on their way to the five-inning win.

Eric Christiansen had three hits and drove in three runs. Chris Rau and Ricky Lee had two hits, Rau had two RBIs, Lee scored three runs, Tom Hennessey knocked in a run with a triple, Ricky Baker had an RBI, and Alex Hoffman scored three runs.

Gabe Anderson scattered five hits, striking out six, and improved to 5-2 on the season.

Royals coach Matt Bundy was pleased to see his Royals bounce back from the loss to the Senators and beat Vallivue.

"It was a fun game and I think we're ready to continue on through the consolation bracket to do what we need to do to take care of business and get us back to the winner's circle."

Royals 5

Eagle 4

After their Friday morning win over Vallivue, the Royals had come back six hours later to face the Eagle Vipers, and battled back from behind twice to edge the Vipers, 5-4.

The Vipers got to Royals starter Eric Christiansen for two runs in the first inning, and added another in the second to go up, 3-1. Mountain Home scored twice in the third to tie the game at 3-3, but the Vipers scored a run in the fifth to go up, 4-3.

Mountain Home scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to regain the lead, 5-4. Jordan Cisna, who came on to pitch in the sixth inning, closed out the game for the win.

Jake Hiler, Tom Hennessey, Alex Hoffman and Chris Rau each had two hits in the win, Hiler knocked in three runs, Hennessey, one, and Hoffman scored two runs. Cal Vivier and Brock Morris also had hits.

"That was a well-played baseball game by both sides," said Coach Bundy after the game. "We had some guys make some good defensive plays, and we had some guys come up with some huge at-bats there, and they made some good defensive plays.

"Luckily we just got that one more run than they did, and today was a good test of character. We had a couple of miscues early, and we had that little miscue there in the seventh inning when we don't get that first batter out on the ground ball, and the boys responded.

"We didn't get down on each other, we kept support, we stayed up, and it's good to see the boys are able to pick each other up and fight through some adversity.

"This obviously is the road less traveled, or more traveled, depending upon how you look at it with more games, but the team's really gelling and coming together well," he said after the game.

Royals 12

Emmett 1

The Royals continued their road to the finals by knocking off Emmett in five, 12-1 on Saturday afternoon at Rodeo Park in Nampa.

Both Mountain Home and Emmett were the number one seeds in their respective divisions, but both found themselves in the consolation bracket battling to stay alive for a state tourney berth.

Cory Holm led off the top of the first inning for Emmett with a bunt single off Royals ace Chris Rau. Rau's attempt to pick Holm off first went sailing down the right field line, and Holm wound up at third, coming home on Jared Blacker's single to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.

Rau did not give up a hit after that, setting down the final 10 batters he faced.

Mountain Home tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the bottom of the first and broke the game open with a seven-run second inning. The Royals added three more in the third, and closed out the scoring with a run in the fourth, as they cruised to a 12-1 win.

"Chris was throwing really well, and the first inning we push a run across-- our goal is two runs per inning -- and then that second inning we just exploded on them," said Coach Bundy.

"Then we made some switches and guys were hitting the ball hard, too, and that's kind of what we've decided to do is a little bit of platooning, and it's working for us, and we get a lot of kids in the game and a lot of kids produce and it's just a lot of fun for them!"

Alex Hoffman had a three-run triple and Ricky Lee had two hits, an RBI and scored three runs. Jake Hiler had a hit and two RBIs, Shawn Lewis and Zane Bundy had hits and RBIs, Ricky Baker had a double, Chris Rau drove in two runs, and Cal Vivier, one.

Rau improved to 10-0 on the season with his five inning two-hitter and credited his defense.

"It's easy to pitch when I've got a great defense behind me. Some great plays in the outfield -- Gabe (Anderson) in that last inning dived for the ball, (Eric) Christiansen reaches over the fence getting that one -- I only had a couple strikeouts, so that one's credited to our defense and our explosive offense.

"It's easy to pitch against guys whose morale is down after you put 10 to 12 runs up on them, so it was a good game all-around, and I think we're ready to go all the way."

Royals 3

Senators 0

The Emmett win put the Royals in a re-match against the Boise Senators Sunday afternoon. After their win over Mountain Home, the Senators had lost to Mountain View, then stayed alive with a win over the Boise Capitals.

This time the Royals prevailed, 3-0, at Rodeo Park in Nampa.

The Senators went with the same lineup that beat the Royals last Thursday, including pitcher Roy Hall. Hall pitched well, but Mountain Home's Gabe Anderson threw a shutout against the Senators and got great defense behind him.

The Royals scored their first run in the second inning as Zane Bundy, Brock Morris and Ricky Lee had back-to-back singles, Bundy scoring on Lee's single.

Mountain Home scored two insurance runs in the sixth, and won 3-0 to secure a state tourney berth.

"It was a heck of a game. The boys are really gelling and having a great time and playing some darn good baseball!" said Coach Bundy after the game. "I couldn't be prouder of Gabe (Anderson) for coming back and throwing seven complete innings like that. The guys came through -- it was awesome!"

The win also guaranteed the Royals a return trip to state, which also had Coach Bundy smiling.

"Yeah we are -- that's the good news -- we've been playing these games as a one-game season, and all of a sudden we're not looking at a one-game season any more, which is fun. We're getting ready to go to state, so that means we'll be out in the community fundraising, so we hope we get good community support."

Ricky Lee, Ricky Baker and Brock Morris each had two hits, Lee had two RBIs, Baker had a double. Chris Rau and Zane Bundy also had hits.

Gabe Anderson went the distance for the win, scattering seven hits while shutting out the Senators. Anderson, who improved to 6-2 on the season, was quick to credit the great defensive play behind him.

"My defense was really sharp today. I didn't have very many strikeouts, but the defense was big and Ricky Lee swung it really well!"

Royals 11

Toros 4

After beating the Senators, the Royals then faced the Mountain View Toros Sunday night to see who would face the Boise Gems in the championship round on Monday. The Toros had lost to the Gems, 14-4, earlier in the day in the semi-finals.

The Royals broke it open in the fourth inning on their way to an 11-4 win.

Mountain Home took advantage of three walks and three hits to score four runs in the first inning to go up, 4-0.

The Toros got to Jordan Cisna for three runs in the third and added another in the fourth to tie the game at four, but Mountain Home struck for four runs in the bottom of the fourth, added two more in the fifth, and one in the sixth, and Cisna finished strong, retiring the final 10 batters he faced to improve to 6-0 on the season.

Ricky Lee and Tom Hennessey both had two hits. Lee had a triple and scored three runs, while Hennessey had a double and drove in three runs.

Chris Rau had an RBI double, Jake Hiler had a hit and three RBIs, Brock Morris and Ricky Baker both had hits and RBIs, and Alex Hoffman also had a hit.

Coach Bundy was proud of the way his Royals are playing right now.

"It was a great win. I can't think of the right descriptive words to express how happy we are to be playing for the championship. We went into that losers' bracket real early in the tournament and we've played a ton of baseball, and I think that's really what helped us, especially against Emmett last night, and the Toros. Our guys just like to play baseball more than some of these other kids.

"I swear that's what takes us through here at this point, because we've played I don't know how many innings the last four days, but it's a ton of baseball, and these guys are having fun. The team work is there and the camaraderie is high and I'm extremely proud of these kids and glad to have worked with them all summer."

The State Class A American Legion Baseball Tournament starts this Friday (Aug. 1) and runs through Aug.5 at Timberline Park in Boise, home of the Boise Gems.