Royals open at District with 5-2 victory over Capitals

The Mountain Home Royals closed out their regular season American Legion baseball schedule with a win over Columbia last week and opened the district tourney with a win over the Boise Capitals.

Royals 9, Columbia 0

The Mountain Home Royals closed out their regular season schedule July 14 with a 9-0 win over the Columbia Mudcats at Columbia High School in Nampa.

Royals head coach Michael Hobgood used the non-league game as a tune-up for district for his pitching staff, as seven Mountain Home pitchers each pitched a scoreless inning, combining on a one-hitter. A six-run third inning by the Royals put the game out of reach.

Zach Petersen and Shae Sterling paced the Royals' hitting with two hits apiece. Petersen scored two runs and drove in another. Cody Blakemore had a hit and two RBIs and Teddy Reaume, Tyler McCall and Josh Sheffield also had hits.

Levi Abrahamson also had an RBI while earning the win from the mound.

"That was a good win," said Royals head coach Michael Hobgood. "We hit the ball well and got some guys some at bats at the end. We threw a different pitcher every inning, and took a no-hitter to two outs of the seventh before a single. Overall, it was a very good tune-up for us."

Royals 5, Capitals 2

Mountain Home had the third seed heading into the Eastern Division Area B Class A District Tournament and opened Saturday against the sixth-seeded Boise Capitals, beating them 5-2 in action at Mountain View High School in Meridian.

The Royals pushed across two runs in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead over the Capitals, who added a run in the fifth to tie the game at 2-2.

Mountain Home scored three runs in the sixth to regain the lead and went on to a 5-2 win.

Levi Abrahamson, who pitched two scoreless innings of relief, earned the win. He also singled in a run.

Cody Blakemore and Bailey Miller-Hodge had RBI-singles. Kody Arellano had two hits and Zach Petersen, who pitched the first five innings, also had a hit. Jesse Cobos scored two runs.

"We struggled there for a little bit," said Coach Hobgood. "Zach pitched very, very well, and Levi came in and slammed the door right there, and we executed when we had to. It's a great win -- it gives us a day off and allows us to prepare for Monday."

The win puts the Royals in a Monday night game against the seventh-seeded Boise Senators, who had upset the second-seeded Boise Gems. The double-elimination tourney continues through Friday at Mountain View High School in Meridian.