Royals sweep doubleheaders to extend win record

The Mountain Home Royals kept their American Legion league record unblemished last week, sweeping the Boise Senators and the Emmett Blue Devils in league doubleheaders.

Royals 5, Senators 3

Royals 16, Senators 6

The Mountain Home Royals swept an American Legion baseball doubleheader from the Boise Senators Thursday in their home opener at Tiger-Royals Field, winning the first game 5-3 and taking the nightcap 16-6.

Mountain Home scored two runs in the third and fourth innings to build up a 5-1 lead in the first game, and withstood a two-run seventh by the Senators to win,5-3.

Levi Abrahamson went the distance for the win in the first game, despite a wild streak. He struck out eight, walked eight, and hit six batters while scattering four hits to get his first win of the season.

Abrahamson helped himself out by picking off a runner at first, while Royals catcher Cody Blakemore picked off three runners. The Royals also had a double play that got them out of an inning.

"It's always good to get a win," said Royals head coach and manager Alex Hoffman. "I hate to be a negative guy after a win, but to me, it's not necessarily about the wins and the losses, it's about the product we show on the field and the strides we take during the game, and for whatever reason, I don't think we were able to take that step forward today as a whole."

The Royals only had five hits, but took advantage of them. Cody Blakemore had an RBI-double, Danny Brescia an RBI-single and John Kennison, Jesse Cobos and Levi Abrahamson also had hits.

The Royals were able to get their bats going in the second game, pounding out 15 hits and putting the game away with a six-run seventh inning.

"I was a little worried, because I ran us into a few things trying to put pressure on our guys on the bases," said Coach Hoffman. "I was worried, but they came up and hit the ball, and as soon as we got the spark going, you could tell the feeling in all the players, and myself included, changed, and that's a big part in why we came out and put ten runs on that team."

Danny Brescia had three hits, including a double and an inside-the-park-home run to deep center field to lead the Royals, driving in four runs and scoring twice.

John Kennison, Jesse Cobos, Ross Harlan and Teddy Reaume all had two hits. Kennison had a double and drove in two runs and scored twice. Cobos had a triple and scored two runs. Harlan had one RBI and Reaume scored three runs. Tyler McCall had a two-run triple, Zach Petersen had an RBI-double and Jace Bennett also had a hit. Jesse Cobos scattered six hits in six innings, striking out 12, to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Royals 15, Emmett 6

Royals 12, Emmett 4

The Royals came away with a doubleheader sweep of the Emmett Blue Devils Saturday afternoon at Emmett, winning the first game 15-6, and taking the nightcap 12-4.

Mountain Home spotted the Blue Devils two runs in the first inning of the first game, but took the lead 3-2 in the top of the third, only to lose it in the bottom half of the inning, 5-3.

The Royals tied it in the fourth, and went ahead for good in the fifth, scoring ten runs in the final three innings to win 15-6.

Despite getting outhit 12-11 in the first game, the Royals took advantage of four errors, nine walks and five hit batters to roll to the 15-6 win.

Jesse Rodriguez led the Royals at the plate with three hits, including two doubles. He also drove in three runs and scored four times.

Skylar Quintal had two hits, including a double, scored two runs and drove in one. Jesse Cobos also had two hits and scored four runs. Levi Abrahamson and Tyler McCall both had hits and two RBIs, while Abrahamson had a double. John Kennison and Danny Brescia also had hits. Kennison had an RBI and Brescia had a double. Zach Petersen also had an RBI.

Jesse Rodriguez pitched into the fifth inning to get the win to improve to 2-0. Skylar Quintal pitched two-plus innings of relief to earn his first save of the season.

A nine-run fifth inning for Mountain Home was the difference in the second game, as the Royals got their running game going to down the Blue Devils, 12-4.

John Kennison, Levi Abrahamson and Danny Brescia had the Royals only hits, each getting two. Kennison scored three runs and knocked in two, Abrahamson had a double and a triple, two RBIs and scored twice, and Brescia also knocked in a run.

The Royals aggressive base running helped lead to nine unearned runs.

John Kennison, who replaced Zach Petersen on the mound in the third inning, picked up the win.

The sweep of Emmett improved the Royals to 6-0 in league and 8-2 on the season.

The Royals have a league doubleheader at Mountain View today, June 19, starting at 5 p.m. and travel to Twin Falls on Friday for a non-league doubleheader with the Cowboys starting at 4 p.m. The Royals are back home for a league doubleheader with the Boise Gems starting at 5 p.m. Monday.