Tigers pick up first win of season

In a busy week of baseball, the Mountain Home Tigers picked up their first three wins of the season, their first coming at Columbia to earn a conference split with the Wildcats.

Columbia 10

Mtn. Home 4

Errors left their mark at Mountain Home last Tuesday when the Mountain Home Tigers hosted the Columbia Wildcats in conference baseball. A total of 16 errors were committed in the ball game -- 10 by Mountain Home -- which led to six unearned runs in a 10-4 loss to Columbia.

Mountain Home left the bases loaded in the first two innings, but managed only two runs in the bottom of the second, that after the Wildcats scored five unearned runs in the top of the second off Tiger starter Alex Hoffman.

Hoffman went four innings, giving eight runs, just four of them earned. John Murdorf pitched an impressive three innings of relief, striking out five.

"We've got to start playing defense," said Mountain Home Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore after the game. "I don't think there's any doubt what 's getting our heads down and ends up hurting our mental game is we go out there, commit some errors and it starts taking the momentum out of our plate appearances.

"Our pitchers are continuing to get the job done, they're getting the ground balls when we need them. John Murdorf has had a great couple of outings for us in the last few days, and obviously, we've just got to mature as a team and not accept the losing that's going on.

"It's a difficult situation. These are a group of fine young men, but losing gets to be contagious, and right now you can see it. We get down and then we just dig ourselves deeper, and we start beating ourselves up over it, and really start to create more errors instead of correcting the ones we've already made."

Jake Hiler had two hits for the Tigers, including a double. Cal Vivier, Kori Andrews, Jordan Cisna, and Joe Witrosky also had hits.

Mtn. Home 13

Columbia 12

Jake Hiler doubled in what proved to be the winning run in the top of the seventh, and struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh as the Mountain Home Tigers found the win column for the first time this season, holding off Columbia, 13-12 last Thursday at Columbia High School in Nampa.

Mountain Home managed to cut their errors in half -- they had five for the game -- but they did a lot to help keep Columbia in the game.

Jake Hiler singled in two runs in the top of the first, but three errors in the bottom of the inning helped Columbia take a 4-2 lead.

A four-run fourth for Mountain Home gave the Tigers an 8-7 lead, but the Wildcats scored two in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead, 9-8.

Errors helped Columbia extend the lead to 12-8, in the bottom of the fifth. Chris Rau doubled in two runs in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to 12-10.

Jake Hiler shut out the Wildcats in the bottom of the sixth -- the first time they had been held scoreless in the game -- and then came the top of the seventh, Mountain Home trailing by two, going into their last at bat.

Ricky Lee led off the inning with a double, and moved to third when Cal Vivier reached on an error. Lee scored on an RBI ground-out by Jordan Cisna, Vivier moving down to second.

Alex Hoffman's single moved Vivier to third base.

Chris Rau reached on a fielder's choice, Hoffman being forced out at second, and Vivier scoring from third base to tie the game at 12-12.

Jake Hiler than doubled in the gap and Rau raced around the bases to score the go-ahead run. The rally ended there, but the Tigers had the lead heading into the last of the seventh.

Jake Hiler dominated the Wildcats in the seventh, striking out all three batters to preserve Mountain Home's first win of the season.

"No doubt about it, that was a huge one," said Coach DeVore in radio comments after the game.

"It's a great comeback for the guys. Jake Hiler struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, and that shows that he's matured a ton. He did that during our (American) Legion ball, and that's where a lot of that experience he's got came from, as he won some big games for us down the stretch. He's going to be huge for us pitching as well as at the plate.

"Ricky Lee, with that double to lead off the top of the seventh, he had a couple big hits for us, and John Murdorf hit the ball well for us, but we've just got to figure out our defense, because the only way we're going to win ball games right now is 13 to 12 if we don't start playing defense. We showed today we can hit the ball, and I know we can pitch, but if we're going to win down the stretch, and win consistently, it's going to have to come with our defense."

Jake Hiler, Jordan Cisna and Chris Rau all had two hits including doubles, and three RBIs. Ricky Lee had a double and a triple, John Murdorf had two doubles, and Cal Vivier had a double and scored three runs. Hiler got the win, throwing three innings, giving up just one unearned run while striking out five.

Buhl 12

Mtn. Home 3

The Tigers played in the annual Buhl Mid-Season Baseball Classic over the weekend, opening Friday against the host Indians, losing 12-3.

Mountain Home managed just four hits in the game, doubles by Cal Vivier and Ricky Lee, and singles by Kori Andrews and Joe Poseley.

John Murdorf, who pitched the first three innings, suffered the loss.

Bear Lake 14

Mtn. Home 6

The Bear Lake Bears scored 10 runs in the last three innings to down the Tigers, 14-6 at the Buhl Classic.

Alex Hoffman, Kori Andrews and John Murdorf each had two hits for the Tigers, Murdorf, an RBI, and Chris Rau, Zane Bundy, Joe Witrosky and Ricky Lee also had hits, Bundy and Lee had RBIs.

Mtn. Home 4

Rigby 2

The Tigers got a great pitching effort from Jake Hiler and some timely hitting and decent defense to get past the Rigby Trojans, 4-2, Saturday afternoon.

Jake Hiler went the distance, striking out seven and walking just one to improve to 2-2 on the season. Hiler also had two hits and two RBIs, as did Chris Rau, who had a double, and Jordan Cisna.

Cal Vivier and Alex Hoffman also had hits.

Mtn. Home 11

Filer Wildcats 1

Mountain Home had good hitting, good pitching and great defense Saturday afternoon as they beat Filer, 11-1, in five innings.

The Tigers pounded out 12 hits, with Jordan Cisna, Alex Hoffman, Chris Rau and Zane Bundy all getting two hits, Bundy had three RBIs, Rau, two, and Hoffman, one. Jake Hiler had a hit and three RBIs, Cal Vivier a hit and RBI, and John Murdorf and Ricky Lee also had hits.

Murdorf picked up the win, going three innings. He and Joe Witrosky and Joe Poseley combined for a four-hitter.

"That's the most we've played as a team all year, and defensively, we're starting to put it together," said Coach DeVore after the two wins.

"Jake Hiler threw extremely well for us, like he's been doing, and we had a lot of clutch hitting, so there's a lot to be commended.

"Some guys have really stepped up in the outfield. Derek Thorton and Kyle Kerfoot are playing much better out there. Jordan Cisna is hitting the ball much better, and a lot of guys are starting to contribute, and the wins are coming with that, but more than anything, we're just starting to play better defensively."

The Tigers, now 3-12 overall, and 1-5 in conference play, return to conference action this week, hosting Kuna on Thursday and traveling to Kuna on Friday.