Royals outscore opponents 93-24 to open season 7-0

The only one able to stop the Mountain Home Royals during the first week of the American Legion baseball season was Mother Nature, as rain and a wet field caused a postponement of their season opener in Glenns Ferry last Tuesday.

But once the season started, the Royals came out with a bang, scoring 93 runs to just 24 in their first seven games of the season.

Royals, 11, 11

Kuna 1, 7

Mountain Home swept two games from Kuna last Wednesday in their home opener, winning 11-1 and 11-7.

In the first game, the Royals took advantage of nine hits, two hit batters and a walk to score 10 runs in the third inning to win in five, 11-1.

Ricky Baker led a 12-hit attack with three hits, including a double and triple, and drove in two runs. Chris Rau and Eric Christiansen both had two hits, Rau had two doubles and drove in three runs. Zane Bundy had a three-run double, Alex Hoffman had a two-run home run, and Jake Hiler and Brock Morris also had hits.

Chris Rau picked up the win, allowing just one hit while striking out five, walking three and hitting two.

Mountain Home had 15 hits in the second game to pull away for an 11-7 win.

Shawn Lewis had three hits and drove in two runs. Ricky Lee, Alex Hoffman, Jake Hiler and Chris Maholick each had two hits, Hoffman had a triple and three RBIs, Lee and Maholick both had two RBIs, Maholick also had a triple, and Hiler also knocked in a run with a double. Gabe Anderson, Cal Vivier, Chris Rau and Eric Christiansen also had hits. Vivier's was a triple. Ricky Baker also had an RBI.

Trevor Woodruff went five innings to get the win, striking out seven. Ricky Baker closed out the game, pitching the last two innings, striking out five.

Mountain Home Royals head coach Matt Bundy was pleased to open the season with a sweep.

"It was nice to get the first two games under our belts and get two wins. In the first game Chris Rau threw really well. He had some good velocity and threw a one hitter, and in that big third inning, Hoffman hit that home run and Zane hit a bases clearing double to kind of open that one up, as it was pretty tight there for a couple of innings.

"Trevor threw a nice game in the second game, and Ricky threw some nice relief, and a couple guys came up and had some nice hits -- Shawn Lewis and Chris Maholick had nice games at the plate."

Royals 15, 20

Glenns Ferry 1, 9

The Royals got their doubleheader with Glenns Ferry in on Thursday, sweeping the Pirates, 15-1 and 20-9, both games going five innings.

Mountain Home scored in every inning in the first game against Glenns Ferry, with a seven-run fifth inning helping end it early, 15-1.

Alex Hoffman, Jake Hiler, Eric Christiansen, Ricky Baker and Zane Bundy all had two hits, Hoffman and Christiansen both had three RBIs, Baker had two RBIs, Bundy and Hiler each had one. David Bitrick and Gabe Anderson also had hits, Bitrick had an RBI, and Chris Rau had two RBIs.

Eric Christiansen picked up the win, throwing four innings, giving up just two hits and striking out three. Jake Hiler threw a scoreless and hitless fifth, striking out the side.

"It was a good win," said Coach Bundy after the game. "It seemed like all of our hits dropped and we has some good pitching. Eric threw a real nice four innings, and Jake hasn't had any work for quite a while, so we ended up bringing in Hiler there for that last inning and he struck out the side."

A 12-run third inning helped the Royals shoot out to a 15-4 lead over the Pirates in the second game.

They upped their lead to 20-4, and withstood a five-run fifth by Glenns Ferry that made it a 20-9 final.

The Royals pounded out 19 hits in the second game with Brock Morris, Chris Rau, Zane Bundy and Trevor Woodruff all getting three hits, Morris had a double and triple and scored five runs, Rau and Bundy both drove in three runs, and Woodruff also had an RBI. Alex Hoffman and Jake Hiler each had two hits, Hoffman had a two-run home run and Hiler drove in three runs.David Bitrick had a triple and three RBIs, Shawn Lewis had a hit and two RBIs, and Cal Vivier had a triple and an RBI.

Brock Morris picked up the win, throwing into the fifth inning before Alex Hoffman came on to end the Glenns Ferry rally in the fifth.

Royals 12, 12

Columbia 2, 2

Once again the Royals got good pitching and good hitting in sweeping two 12-2 wins from Columbia Friday at home.

Chris Rau had two hits and drove in four runs against Columbia in the first game. Ricky Lee and Ricky Baker also had two hits, including doubles, Alex Hoffman had a double and drove in three runs, Cal Vivier, Jake Hiler, Zane Bundy and Brock Morris also had hits, Vivier scored three runs, and Bundy and Morris both had RBIs. Gabe Anderson limited Columbia to just three hits, striking out seven batters.

A four-run fifth inning by the Royals ended the second game by the same score of the first game, 12-2.

Shawn Lewis and Ricky Lee both had two hits in the second game, Lewis had a triple and two RBIs, Lee had a double and one RBI. Brock Morris had a double and two RBIs and scored three runs, Alex Hoffman, Chris Rau, Cal Vivier, Gabe Anderson, Eric Christiansen, Ricky Baker and Tom Hennessey also had hits, Hoffman, Rau, Vivier and Hennessey also had RBIs, and Jake Hiler also knocked in a run.

Hennessey limited Columbia to just three hits while striking out eight.

"We had a good day today -- that's three straight doubleheaders that we've swept," said Coach Bundy after the Columbia sweep.

"I was just telling the guys though, that we've played some really good baseball, but we're going to have to step it up. The Gems are a good team, and that's who we've got home for a single game tomorrow, and the Gems are always really, really tough."

Royals 12

Gems 2

Mountain Home broke open a close game with six runs in the second inning, and ended it by the 10-run rule with five runs in the sixth, winning 12-2. The Royals only outhit the Gems, 8-5, but took advantage of four walks, three hit batters and a couple errors to pull away for the win.

Shawn Lewis, Jake Hiler and Eric Christiansen each had two hits, Lewis had three RBIs, Hiler had two and a triple, and Christiansen had one RBI and a triple. Alex Hoffman had a triple and three RBIs, Chris Rau had a hit and RBI, and Ricky Baker had two RBIs. Hiler had a shutout until the sixth, and scattered five hits while striking out six.

Coach Bundy was pleased with the way this team rose to the occasion against the Gems.

"Yeah, we did! I think the Gems are probably one of the better squads in the league, and we took advantage there in that second inning where they gave us a couple walks and hit a batter ­-- we actually scored a run before we got a hit -- and I told the guys, when they give you an opportunity to jump ahead like that, you've got to take it, and then you can change the momentum and set the stage for some other nice little RBIs, so we had a nice game today."

The Royals took a 7-0 record into last night's scheduled game at Capital High School in Boise against the Boise Capitals. The Royals go to the Nampa Wood Bat Tourney Thursday through Sunday. They open against Mountain View at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Skyview. They have two games schedules on Friday, taking on Wood River at 4:30 p.m. and Nampa at 7 p.m. at Nampa Rodeo Park. On Saturday they again play Wood River at 4:30 p.m. The fifth-place game is at 10 a.m. Sunday, the third-place game is at 1 p.m. and the championship game is at 4 p.m. Sunday, all at Rodeo Park in Nampa.