Errors prove costly as Tigers fall during three games

Errors plagued the Mountain Home Tigers last week as they lost three of four baseball games.

Caldwell 12, Mountain Home 2

When the Mountain Home Tigers played Caldwell last Thursday at Caldwell, it was their first game in exactly two weeks, and they played like it, too, with sloppy fielding and lackluster hitting, falling to the Cougars 12-2 in conference baseball.

The Cougars took advantage of a hit, two hit batters and two errors to score three runs in the second inning, and added two more unearned runs in the third. A five-run fourth inning made it 10-0 Caldwell.

Mountain Home scored two unearned runs in the top of the fifth to keep the game going, but the Cougars scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to end it, 12-2, by the 10-run rule.

"It was a rough outing all the way around," said Tigers head coach Mark Cotton. "We just beat ourselves -- we didn't come out to play. We just did not play like the Mountain Home Tigers today, like we did right before the spring break. We need to find that and get that back."

Mountain Home managed just two hits off Caldwell's lefthander Jordan Britton. Zach Peterson and John Kennison both singled and Kennison had an RBI.

Levi Abrahamson suffered the loss, despite giving up just one earned run in three-plus innings while striking out seven batters.

Kuna 10, Mountain Home 7

A six-run fourth inning spelled disaster for the Tigers Friday as they lost to the Kuna Kavemen 10-7 in conference baseball at Tiger Field.

Mountain Home grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning and trailed 2-1 until the fourth, when four fielding errors helped Kuna score six unearned runs to take an 8-1 lead.

Mountain Home plated a run in the bottom of the fourth and added four more in the fifth to cut the deficit to 8-6, but that would be the closest the Tigers would come, as Kuna left with a 10-7 win.

"That's kind of been the story of the season for us," said Coach Cotton regarding the fourth inning. "One inning will come back to haunt us, and you can't have six or seven errors in a game and expect to be competitive. "

The Tigers outhit the Kavemen, 10-7. John Kennison had three hits and scored two runs. Jesse Cobos and Jesse Rodriguez both had two hits, Rodriguez had a double and drove in two runs. Zach Peterson, Danny Brescia and Teddy Reaume also had hits, and Justin Schmidt, Skyler Podesek and Levi Abrahamson had RBIs.

Zach Peterson suffered the loss, despite giving up just two earned runs, and Jesse Rodriguez pitched three innings of one-hit relief, striking out four batters.

Mountain Home 15, Kimberly 7

Mountain Home 12, Kimberly 14

Mountain Home continued its error-plagued defense Saturday but hit the ball fairly well to gain a split with the visiting Kimberly Bulldogs at Tiger Field, winning the first game, 15-7 but dropping the second 14-12, in extra innings.

A four-run fifth inning helped Mountain Home take a 7-6 lead on the Bulldogs in the first game, and an eight-run sixth inning iced it for them, as they won 15-7.

Zach Peterson and Tyler McCall both had two hits for the Tigers. Peterson drove in three runs and McCall one. John Kennison, Danny Brescia, Skyler Podesek, Jesse Cobos and Jesse Rodriguez also had hits. Kennison scored three runs, Brescia scored two and drove in one, Podesek had a triple and scored three runs, Rodriguez had two RBIs, Cobos one, and Daniel Welle also had an RBI.

John Kennison picked up the win, giving up just one earned run in six innings, striking out eight, and Levi Abrahamson pitched a scoreless seventh inning, striking out two.

In the second game, the Tigers fell behind, 12-3, after three innings, but battled back to tie the game at 12-12 after seven, forcing extra innings.The Bulldogs were able to score two unearned runs in the top of the eighth to win the second game, 14-12.

"We still have a lot of things to work on, but overall, I thought we showed a lot more heart than we did yesterday," the coach said. "We came back in the second game and played really well in the first game, especially down the stretch, after we'd given up some stuff early. We put the ball in play.

"Offensively, I was really impressed with what we did. I thought we had some guys come up with some big hits down the stretch. Our defense is still plaguing us a little bit, but... I think there's a lot of positives to take away from today."

The Tigers outhit Kimberly, 12-8 in the second game, led by Jake Ryan, who had three hits, including two doubles, and knocked in four runs. Zach Peterson and Jesse Cobos both had two hits. Cobos knocked in three runs and Peterson had a triple. Skyler Podesek had a two-run triple and Teddy Reaume, Levi Abrahamson and Danny Brescia also had hits.Reaume had an RBI, Abrahamson scored three runs and Brescia two.

Danny Brescia pitched over four innings of one-hit relief, but suffered the loss when the two unearned runs scored in the top of the eighth. He had seven strikeouts.

Mountain Home travels to Rodeo Park in Nampa on Thursday to face the Nampa Bulldogs and are home against Bishop Kelly on Friday.