Royals pick up 3 wins before losing to Toros

The Mountain Home Royals picked up three more wins last week to extend their win streak to eight before a nightcap loss at Mountain View ended it.

Royals 10, Capitals 0 (5 innings)

Royals 5, Capitals 4

The Royals came away with a doubleheader sweep of the Boise Capitals last Tuesday night, winning 10-0 and 5-4 at Royals Field in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning in the first game, stretched it to 9-0 in the fourth, and ended it by the 10-run rule in the fifth, 10-0.

Royals head coach and manager Alex Hoffman was pleased with the first game win.

"When you win, 10-0, you can't ever be disappointed with that," said Coach Hoffman, "but I think I'm more happy with the fact we didn't give up any runs and our defense played well behind our pitchers."

Jesse Cobos led the Royals at the plate with three hits including a two-run inside-the-park home run. Jesse Rodriguez had two hits and drove in two runs, Jake Ryan had a two-run double, John Kennison had an RBI-single and Danny Brescia and Cody Blakemore also had hits.

Zack Peterson went four innings and scattered four hits to pick up the win and improve to 4-2. Levi Abrahamson pitched a scoreless fifth inning for the Royals.

Mountain Home jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning in the second game, but the Capitals tied it at 3-3 in the top of the third.

Mountain Home regained the lead in the bottom of the third on Levi Abrahamson's RBI-single. The 4-3 lead held up until the seventh, when the Capitals scored to tie the game at 4-4.

Zack Petersen led off the Royals' seventh with a single. Danny Brescia was hit by a pitch, and Jesse Cobos followed with a walk-off game-ending double that scored Petersen with the winning run, 5-4.

"It's crazy," said Coach Hoffman after the second game. "We come out and win the first game 10-0, and that's great, and then the second game, we keep them in the ball game, but you look at it, it was a good ball game, all the way around.

"Hats off to Capital, and yes, I would have loved to 10-run them again, and was that the expectation -- but at the same time, it's more important for us to play in these tight situations, these tight games, because that's what it's going to come down to the deeper we get into this season and this summer.

"That's going to show what our character is, so hat's off to Capital, and hats off to our guys for finding a way to win!"

Zach Petersen, Danny Brescia and Levi Abrahamson each had two hits for the Royals in the second game, Petersen and Brescia both scored two runs, Peterson knocked in a run, and Abrahamson also had an RBI. Jesse Cobos had an RBI-double, and Teddy Reaume had a double and Bailey Miller-Hodge also had a hit.

Levi Abrahamson, the third of three Royals pitchers, picked up the win in the nightcap to improve to 3-1 on the season.

Royals 5, Toros 1

Toros 4, Royals 3

The Royals stretched their win streak to eight with a 5-1 win over the Mountain View Toros Friday at Mountain View High School in Meridian, but dropped the second game to the Toros, 4-3.

Levi Abrahamson and Mountain View's Boden Mills had a good pitching duel going in the first game.

Mountain Home got on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning, as Zach Petersen reached base by being hit by a pitch. A pick-off attempt by the Toros sailed away from the first baseman and Petersen ended up at third base. He came home on Danny Brescia's single. Another misguided throw by Boden Mills trying to pick Brescia off also got away from the Toros first baseman. Brescia rounded second and tried to make it to third base, but was thrown out. Jesse Cobos then homered over the left field fence to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.

Mountain View got one run back in the bottom of the fourth, when a balk by Levi Abrahamson scored a runner from third base. The Royals added two more runs in the sixth inning, as John Kennison, who led the inning off with a walk, scored on Danny Brecia's one-out triple, and Brescia came home on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Cobos.

Mountain Home added another run in the top of the seventh, as Bailey Miller-Hodge singled with two out, stole second, and came home on John Kennison's single. Levi Abrahamson went the distance for the win, scattering three hits, striking out 10, as he improved to 4-1.

"That's what he needed and that's what we needed from him," said Coach Hoffman of Abrahamson's effort on the mound.

"That was awesome. It was a great game and Mountain View, they're a good ball club. All around, they look like one of the better teams we've played in our conference all year and I'm proud of the way we went out there and found a way to win."

Danny Brescia, Tyler McCall and Bailey Miller-Hodge all had two hits. Brescia had a triple and two RBIs. Jesse Cobos had a home run and two RBIs and John Kennison had an RBI-single.

The second game was another pitching duel, this time between Mountain Home's Zach Petersen and Mountain View's Nick Flesher.

Mountain View scored a run in the first inning, Nick Flesher helping his cause with an RBI-triple. They added two unearned runs in the second inning and another one in the fifth inning to build up a 4-0 lead.

Mountain Home finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning, as John Kennison led off the inning by being hit by a pitch. He went to third on Zach Petersen's single and came home on Danny Brescia's single. Jesse Cobos followed with a single, but Zach Petersen was ruled out at the plate on the throw home.

Mountain Home scored two more runs in the top of the seventh. Jake Ryan led off the inning with a single and came home after Teddy Reaume singled and the throw from right field to third base to try and get Ryan sailed down the third base line.

Reaume was able to score before the Toros finally quit throwing the ball around. Cody Blakemore followed with a single, and the Royals had the tying run at first base with no outs. Nick Flesher was able to get the next three batters out, however, to notch the 4-3 Toros' win.

"That kid (Flesher), hats off to him. We haven't seen anything like that since high school ball, really, and it showed," said Coach Hoffman after the game.

Jake Ryan had two hits for the Royals, including a double. John Kennison, Zach Petersen, Jesse Cobos, Teddy Reaume and Cody Blakemore also had hits. Danny Brescia had an RBI. Zach Petersen suffered the loss for the Royals, although just one of the four runs he gave up was earned. He dropped to 4-3 on the season, but lowered his ERA to 3.05, second best on the team. John Kennison pitched two scoreless innings of relief.

The Royals end their conference schedule at 15-3. They are 19-6 overall. The Area B Class A District Tournament is scheduled to start this weekend at Timberline Park in Boise. Coach Hoffman hopes for the best from his Royals.

"At this point it's kind of up in the air as to who will be the high seed. I imagine we have one of the better records, but it doesn't matter who we play, we've played everybody and have beaten everyone at least once, so there's no reason why we can't do it again, especially for those teams that have given us a loss. We should come out with a little chip on our shoulder ready to change the pace of the game."