Tiger baseball team still seeking first win of season

The Mountain Home Tigers came close to picking up some wins, but left the Buck's Bag Baseball Tournament still looking for that first win of the season.

Twin Falls 10

Mountain Home 5

Errors proved costly Thursday as the Mountain Home Tigers opened Buck's Bag Baseball Tournament action at Eagle against Twin Falls. Ten Tiger errors helped lead to seven unearned runs as the Bruins bested the Tigers, despite getting just four hits off three Mountain Home pitchers.

"After some shaky conference games where we were striking out too much, our hitters seem to be settling down and putting the ball in play and doing a nice job, and our pitching continues to be strong enough to win, but our defense is certainly letting us down," said Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore.

"Jake Hiler has been hitting well for us early on, and Kyle Kerfoot is starting to come around, getting on base and making things happen that way, but obviously, we've got to secure our defense if we want to start getting some wins."

Jake Hiler had two hits and two RBIs against Twin Falls. Alex Hoffman and Kori Andrews had hits and RBIs, Kyle Kerfoot had a hit and two runs scored, and Chris Rau had an RBI.

Columbia 6

Mtn. Home 3

Mountain Home scored all of their runs in the seventh inning, but it was too little, too late, as they dropped a 6-3 contest to Columbia Friday morning at Eagle. The Tigers did play much better defensively, committing just two errors.

"It was a quality ball game," said Coach DeVore. "Jake Hiler gave us another great start, which he has been doing. It took awhile to get some runs finally across the board, and really, it came down to Columbia taking advantage of moments when they did have runners in scoring position and they got their guys across the plate and we didn't, but that's a team that we learned a lot about, and hopefully, when we play them next week in conference, we'll have learned enough to start to get into the win column against them."

Jake Hiler struck out seven batters through six innings, and had two doubles and an RBI. Alex Hoffman had a double and RBI, and Kyle Kerfoot, Jordan Cisna and John Murdorf also had hits.

Eagle Mustangs 8

Mountain Home 7

The Tigers faced Eagle Friday afternoon at Eagle, and battled back from a 6-1 deficit to take a 7-6 lead in the fifth inning. But Eagle tallied two runs in the sixth that proved to be the difference in the game.

"It was one of our prouder moments this year, I think in terms of just mentality all around," said Coach DeVore of the Eagle game.

"Our bench was fired up for the game. Chris Rau had a big day, going three for four for us, and Jake Hiler had another two for four performance. Alex Hoffman had his first start of the year on the bump pitching for us, and certainly threw well enough for us to win. It's just one of those things where a few key plays down the stretch cost us against a quality team.

"Eagle is 9-3, or something like that at this point of the year, and that would have been a big win for us, but more than anything, we're starting to see some growth for our kids and a lot more quality at bats and we're starting to see things happen. Tyson Sessions had a huge two-run double for us, and those are the kinds of things that need to start happening for us if we're going to start getting the season turned around."

Chris Rau was big at the plate with three hits, including two doubles, and drove in a run. Jake Hiler had two hits, Tyson Sessions had a two-run double, and Calvin Vivier, Kori Andrews and Ricky Lee also had hits.

Alex Hoffman suffered the loss, despite giving up just three earned runs.

Hillcrest 9

Mtn. Home 1

The Tigers ended the Buck's Bag Tournament on Saturday against Hillcrest and came up short, 9-1, to the Knights from Idaho Falls.

"Unfortunately, we somewhat reverted back and got sloppy again and our defense let us down," said Coach DeVore of the Hillcrest game.

"Gabe Anderson threw well for us, coming up from the JV and had some quality innings pitched, we just didn't play defense behind him. John Murdorf had his first innings on the bump and he threw extremely well for us, but if we don't play better defense and be a little more consistent at the plate, we're going to continue to struggle.

"The kids know where we're at. We're all frustrated right now. We left the tournament frustrated and upset and all of the things you would hope to be feeling after the rough start that we've going right now, but I have a lot of faith in these kids. We have some really quality individuals on this team and what we've been struggling with right now is certainly something that can be overcome. I think it'll take a group effort, all the kids and coaches coming together and holding each other accountable and hopefully we'll start seeing it turn around as we get back into conference play next week."

The Tigers had just four hits against Hillcrest, Chris Rau had two of them. Kyle Kerfoot and Zane Bundy had the other hits.

The Tigers returned to conference play yesterday, hosting the Columbia Wildcats. They face the Wildcats at Columbia tomorrow in Nampa, and then play Friday and Saturday at the Buhl Invitational Tournament.