Tigers finish third, qualify for State

After getting upset in the first round of the District III 4A Baseball Tournament, the Mountain Home Tigers came back to win three straight, take third place and qualify for the State 4A Baseball Tournament this week in Nampa.

Emmett 4

Tigers 2

Mountain Home went into District as the number three seed, and opened against six-seeded Emmett and came out on the short end of a 4-2 ballgame.

Mountain Home jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but wasunable to put any more runs on the board the rest of the game.

Emmett got single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and added two more in the top of the seventh for the win.

"Hats off to Emmett, they came to play, and they executed well after that first inning, even when it looked like we had the momentum," said Tiger baseball coach Travis DeVore.

"They stayed with it and got some clutch hits and both Jake and Chris threw extremely well for us, Jake coming in and getting out of that bases loaded jam.

"But ultimately, there were some moments when we needed to execute and didn't, and Emmett could and did, even in that seventh inning when Ricky Lee hits the ball hard to third and bounces it off the kid's chest, falls right at his feet and he throws him out, those are game-makers.

"I give a lot of credit to Emmett's kids today. They came out to play and did a good job."

The Tigers only had four hits in the game. Jake Hiler had two of them, and drove in a run. Chris Rau and Ricky Baker had the other two.

Chris Rau pitched into the sixth inning, with Jake Hiler coming in and shutting down the Huskies in the sixth, but Emmett took advantage of an error and, coupled with a double in the seventh, scored two runs to take the lead and hand Hiler the loss, his fourth against six wins.

Tigers 14

Kuna 8

The Tigers then faced Kuna in a loser-out game. The Kavemen had dropped a tough 8-7 contest to Bishop Kelly in the seventh inning.

The Tigers had taken two from Kuna during the regular season, and despite trailing 5-0 early, came back to beat the Kavemen again, 14-8, Wednesday night at Rodeo Park in Nampa.

Nampa got to Gabe Anderson for five runs in the second inning, but Anderson settled down and got out of the inning, and set them down hitless from there until the seventh inning.

Mountain Home scored three runs in the third, and added 10 runs in the fourth to take a 13-6 lead. The Tigers got another run in the fifth and Kuna scored two in the seventh to make it a 14-8 final.

"We got a little rattled early on, but Gabe settled down and our bats came alive," said Coach DeVore. "Gabe had a monster day all the way around. He was huge for us throwing a complete game and then also with the stick, he did a really good job as well.

"I'm really proud of that effort, but we've got two more to go now, and hopefully the boys just keep coming out with the sticks like that, keeping us in the game.

"I'm proud of the boys tonight, after an emotional loss like last night, it's tough to come back, and they did a good job with that."

Gabe Anderson went the distance on the mound, scattering eight hits and improving to 4-1 on the season. He helped himself out at the plate with three hits including a double and two RBIs.

John Murdorf had a two-run double, Alex Hoffman, a two-run single, Chris Rau and Zane Bundy both had hits and RBIs, and Cal Vivier and Jordan Cisna also had hits.

Tigers 8

Middleton 3

The Tigers then faced Middleton on Thursday at Columbia and jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one on the way to an 8-3 win.

Middleton got two runs in the second and the Tigers answered with two in the bottom half of the inning. The Vikings added a run in the third, but did not score the rest of the way.

"I was really impressed with the kids' effort," said Coach DeVore of the Middleton win. "Eric Christiansen threw a great game for us in a tough spot there knowing our season's on the line. It speaks volumes for him and his composure and guys got some key hits in the first inning to get some runs across. It was just a team effort all the way around, and we're live for another day and have Jake (Hiler) to throw tomorrow, so obviously, we're excited about our chances, and have to get one more game going so that we can extend our season a week."

Alex Hoffman, Chris Rau, Jordan Cisna, Ricky Baker and Brock Morris all had hits and RBIs. Ricky Lee and Cal Vivier also had hits.

Eric Christiansen pitched six and a third innings before Chris Rau came in to get the final two outs. The win evened Christiansen's record at 1-1.

Tigers 10

Columbia 0

The Tigers had started the District Tournament hoping to face Columbia in the Championship game, but both the Tigers and Wildcats suffered losses in the first round, so the two met for third place with the final berth at state on the line.

"I could barely sleep last night, it's our senior year, and we don't want the season to end," said Tiger second baseman Cal Vivier after the game. "We came out ready to play -- everyone did!"

That they did, as Mountain Home scored eight runs in the first inning.

With their ace, Jake Hiler on the mound, that was way more than enough. Hiler gave up just one hit -- a double in the third -- as the Tigers won in five, 10-0, to advance to state.

"Our team came out really focused today," said winning pitcher Jake Hiler. "On the way up here, I could just see it, they wanted to win. No one wanted to go home right now. Most of us are seniors and everyone of them wanted to come out and beat Columbia. They beat us during the regular season, and we wanted to come back and beat them in district and go to state.

"I really wanted to beat Columbia. After they beat us last year in district to advance to go to state, I wanted to come out and beat them and shut them down."

Hiler struck out six and walked two and gave up just the one hit to improve to 7-4 on the season. Cal Vivier, Ricky Lee, Chris Rau and Jordan Cisna all had two hits, Vivier had a double and three RBIs, Cisna had two RBIs, Lee and Rau each had one. Alex Hoffman had a run-scoring single and Ricky Baker had a double.

"I knew they were ready to play, I didn't know they were that ready," said Coach DeVore after the game.

"You could tell how hungry they were in that first inning, and that's the best defense we've played all year, and that's what I was most worried about.

"I never would have guessed the kids would come out as focused and fired up as they were today. The key there was the defense -- balls we'd booted earlier in the tournament to give them extra at bats, they didn't do today.

"I'm proud of them. I've said it a number of times, but this has just been a pleasure of a team to coach because they are such good kids, and they love this team and they've committed so much time to it, they've had a lot of success, both at high school and legion ball, and none of us wanted the season to end -- even after next week we won't want it to end -- and that's a rare special feeling at the end of a season when guys care about each other so much."

The Tigers take a 17-10 record into the 4A State Baseball Tournament at Nampa's Rodeo Park Thursday. Coach DeVore is optimistic going into the state tournament with this bunch of players.

"I think we're a team that can compete for it. Certainly there are a lot of teams that can, and we've got our work cut out for us, but if these kids have the desire to get out there.

"I know you need a little luck going into a state tournament because you're going to see some quality teams, but again, it's momentum, and if these guys can continue to be fired up and have this positive approach, who's to say what will happen."

The Tigers open state at 7 p.m. Thursday evening at Rodeo Park against the Minico Spartans.