Nolan Jernigan of CCMS baseball
The quest for a CTC title came up one game short for the Coffee County Middle School baseball team on Monday. Needing a pair of wins to force a winner-take-all final on Tuesday, the Red Raiders could only manage a split. The Red Raiders raced past North Franklin in the semifinals 10 to 0 before falling to Tullahoma in the finals by a score of 6 to 2.
In the semifinal matchup, the Red Raiders got the benefit of 10 walks including 4 in the first inning as the Raiders built a 3 to 0 lead. Nolan Jernigan had a 2 RBI double in the pivotal first inning as Coffee Middle staked themselves to a lead they would not surrender. Dayne Crosslin, Cole Pippenger, Jacob Holder also had doubles for the Red Raiders. England Bryan pitched 5 2/3 innings to get the win striking out 7 and surrendering only 2 hits.
Tullahoma pushed across 2 runs in the top of the 1st inning and pushed that margin to 4 to 0 before the Raiders could push across a run. After leaving the bases loaded in the 2nd and 3rd inning, Coffee Middle finally pushed across a pair of runs in the 5th inning to cut the deficit to 2. Tullahoma added a pair of unearned runs in the 7th inning to seal the championship.
Coffee County was led in hitting by Cole Pippenger who had a single and a double and drove in a runs. Nolan Jernigan added a 2 singles while Hayden Garr had a double and walked twice. The Red Raiders finished the season with a record of 17 and 3. Coffee County also finished as the regular season Central Tennessee Conference champions.
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