Tigers' season ends following 9-1 loss to Middleton

The baseball season came to a close for the Mountain Home Tigers last Monday with their 9-1 loss at Middleton to the Vikings.

The Tigers had opened on May 7 at Kuna and lost a close game, 4-1, to the Kavemen.

At Middleton Monday, the Vikings scored a run in the first, added two more in the third, three in the fourth, one in the fifth and two in the sixth.

The Tigers' lone run came in the sixth.

The Tigers managed just four hits off Middleton pitcher Trevor Maughan, who struck out 11 Tigers on the day.

Skyler Podesek had two hits, both doubles, while Jake Hennessey and Joe Gutierrez had the other two hits. Gutierrez's hit was a double.

Alex Rodriguez had Mountain Home's only RBI. He also suffered the loss to finish 2-6 on the season.

"It's kind of the same old story as the regular season," said Mountain Home Tiger head baseball coach Mark Cotton. "Defensively, we had a couple letdowns that hurt us, and then our bats really started to quiet down as well. Our at bats, from the beginning of the game to the end, for the most part, weren't what they needed to be.

"We had a couple bright spots in the lineup, but we just kind of went cold, and it's definitely a rough way to end the season."

The Tigers finished 7-17 overall, but Coach Cotton looks for a better year next year, starting this summer with Legion ball.

"Definitely we're a young ball club, and there's no way around it, it was a disappointing season this year. I think that we learned a lot about our team. I think we learned a lot about what we need to get better at during the off season. Heading into next year, it's not all negative, there were definitely some bright spots throughout the season, and you can't focus on the negatives with a season like this or it'll just eat you up.

"These guys have a full summer of playing baseball with Coach (Alex) Hoffman with the Legion program. He's going to do a great job with those guys. If they can take the next step this summer, we have a chance to be a dangerous team next year."