After one-run loss, Tigers pick up two more wins

The Mountain Home Tigers started the week off with a one-run loss at Columbia, but came back with wins over Kimberly and Caldwell last week in baseball action.

Columbia 2, Mountain Home 1

The Tigers battled the Columbia Wildcats in a tight pitching duel last Tuesday at Columbia, with the Wildcats coming out on top, 2-1, in conference baseball.

"All of these one-run losses are getting old," said Tigers coach Mark Cotton after the game. "The reality is playing teams close is not getting us any further in the conference standings. We have to close these games out and develop a killer instinct. It is sad when you have one of the best team earned run averages and are just 2-7. We absolutely have to get better with our bats."

Jesse Cobos limited the Wildcats to just two runs on five hits while striking out six batters through five innings of work, but Mountain Home managed just one hit off two Wildcat pitchers, that a single by Teddy Reaume.

Mountain Home 7, Kimberly 6

Mountain Home traveled to Kimberly Thursday for a non-conference game with the Bulldogs and overcame a three-run deficit to win 7-6.

"It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it," said Coach Cotton after the win. "The bottom line is we came back from a considerable deficit and found a way to win a close ball game. I am proud of our guys. We need to take this game and build on it.

"Levi (Abrahamson) did a great job on the mound and continues to get better every outing," he added.

Abrahamson worked five-plus innings of relief and struck out nine batters to get the win. He also had a hit and scored a run. Teddy Reaume and Bailey Miller-Hodge both had two hits, Reaume knocked in a run and scored a run. Miller scored twice. Cody Simpson had a pinch-hit two-run double, and Cody Blakemore and Tyler McCall also had hits. Blakemore's was a double.

Mountain Home 10, Caldwell 5

The Tigers overcame seven errors to hand the Caldwell Cougars a 10-5 conference loss Friday at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home had hits and scored runs in every inning to overcome some sloppy fielding in handing the Cougars, who were leading the conference race, the loss.

"I just told our guys if we clean up a couple things that happened defensively, we're a dangerous team," the coach said. "We showed it today. All through the lineup, guys are hitting, and I don't think the scoreboard totally reflects everything we were able to do." The Tigers had eight hits against two Caldwell pitchers. Danny Brescia, Cody Blakemore and Zach Petersen each had two hits, Brescia had a double and triple and two RBI, Blakemore and Petersen both knocked in a run, Blakemore had a double. Teddy Reaume had a two-run double and Tyler McCall had a double and scored two runs.

Zach Petersen was the winning pitcher. Jesse Cobos pitched three-plus innings of one-hit ball, striking out six batters.

The Tigers have an extremely busy week, playing five games in six days. They played at Filer on Monday, were at Kuna on Tuesday, go to Emmett on Thursday, are home against Nampa Friday and host Kimberly for an 11 a.m. non-conference game on Saturday.

The Mountain Home News continues its series of looking at the Mountain Home Tigers baseball team.

Zach Petersen

Zach Petersen is a junior pitcher and second baseman for the Tigers. The son of Tim and Lisa Petersen, his main hobbies are "video games, skateboarding, snowboarding and hanging out with friends."

His goals for the season are "to improve my hitting, pitching and fielding to help the team get to state."

Zach plans on attending college after high school and study meteorology.

Teddy Reaume

Teddy Reaume is a junior centerfielder for the Tigers. The son of Ted and Cathy Reaume, his hobbies include "baseball, soccer, snowboarding, guns and cars."

His goals for the season include "trying to be a vocal leader and have more confidence for the season, and for us to win districts and continue on from there."

His future plans include, "get a state title ring, to play (baseball) for a college and get a degree."