Joey Wendle’s walk-off base hit in the bottom of the 11th inning gave the Nashville Sounds a 6-5 win over the Round Rock Express in front of a sellout crowd of 10,370 fans at First Tennessee Park Friday night.
Wendle’s game-winner came just moments after Barreto started a rally with a two-out walk. The speedster swiped second and third base before trotting home on Wendle’s base hit off Round Rock reliever Tanner Scheppers.
The-back-and-forth contest started early with both teams scoring within the first two innings. Barreto wasted little time getting Nashville a lead when he clobbered a two-run homer to left-center to make it 2-0 in the first. It was the start of a huge night for the 21-year-old infielder who went 4-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored. He finished a triple shy of the cycle and reached base five times.
Round Rock answered back immediately with a pair of runs in the second. The first four batters of the inning reached against Zach Neal, and catcher Brett Hayes evened the game at 2-2 with a two-run single to left field.
The Sounds regained the lead in the third when Barreto sparked a rally with a leadoff double. After Express starter David Ledbetter retired the next two batters, Yairo Munoz came through with a run-scoring base hit to give the Sounds a 3-2 lead.
It remained 3-2 until late in the game as the pitchers settled in. Neal turned in a quality start with six strong innings in a no-decision. He allowed two runs on six hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out three.
When Neal left, the Sounds’ lead vanished. Round Rock produced four hits off Josh Smith in the seventh inning and got run-scoring knocks from Willie Calhoun and Will Middlebrooks to take a 4-3 lead.
Nashville responded again with Barreto in the middle of a rally. Kenny Wilson singled to start the home half of the seventh and moved to second when Joely Rodriguez balked. The southpaw retired the next two batters but then allowed a game-tying single to Barreto.
A 4-4 game turned in the favor of the Express without a hit in the top of the ninth. Jared Hoying reached on an error by Munoz to start the inning. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, stole third base, and then scored on a two-out wild pitch by Lou Trivino.
Round Rock’s 5-4 lead was short lived as Jaff Decker launched a solo homer on Tayler Scott’s first pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning.
The walk-off win for the Sounds was the eighth of the season and first against Round Rock.
Game three of the four-game series is scheduled for Saturday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Chris Jensen (5-1, 5.45) starts for the Sounds against right-hander James Dykstra (2-8, 7.47) for the Express. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Starting off Coffee Pot weekend in the appropriate manner, the CHS golf team throttled Tullahoma on Thursday in a 9 hole match at Willowbrook.  All 4 Raider golfers beat the low score of Tullahoma as the Raiders won 154 to 192.  The win runs the Raiders’ record to 21 and 2 on the season.

Austin Farris had the low round for Coffee County as he shot a 1 over par round of 37.  Matthew Hale fired a 38, Josh Perry carded a 39 and Reid Lawrence had a 40.  Samuel Prater added a score of 42 for the Raiders.   Tullahoma was led by Regan Baker who had a 42.

The Raider linksters will tee it up again on Monday when Cookeville visits Willowbrook for an 18 hole match.  The shotgun start will begin at 1 PM.

Coach Andrew Taylor has been preaching “baby steps” when talking about his young CHS volleyball team this season.  With 3 sophomores playing crucial roles and only 2 returning starters from last year, consistency has been a challenge all season long.  On Thursday night, the Lady Raiders headed to Lincoln County for their first district road match and in the words on Coach Taylor, “(we are) growing up” as they captured the 4 set win.

After splitting the first 2 sets, the Lady Raiders won sets 3 and 4 by two point margins to run their district record to 2 and 0.  The Lady Raiders had 45 kills on the match led by sophomore Keelie Hillis who knocked down 10.  Freshman Lexi Bryan added 9 kills and senior Alliyah Williams had 8.  Hillis and senior Odalis Garcia tied for the team lead in blocks with 3.  Williams led the team in aces with 4.  Sophomore Amanda Mukai had 3 aces and led the team in assists with 32.  Senior Tyana Fenton led the Lady Raiders in digs with 18.

Coffee County will return home on Monday to take on White County at the Joe Frankl Patch Memorial Gym.  First serve is set for 6 PM.

Outshooting the visiting Shelbyville Eaglettes 21 to 13, the Coffee County Lady Raider CHS soccer captured a 4 to 0 win on Thursday night in their district opener.  The Lady Raiders got a pair of goals in each half and keeper Ashley Woods had 5 saves.  The win improves Coffee County to 2-0-1 on the year and 1 and 0 in district play.

Allie Amado had a pair of goals each assisted by Reyna Flores.  Amado’s first goal came in the 15^th minute with the second one coming in the 55^th.  Jenna Garretson opened the Raider scoring with an unassisted goal in the 14^th minute and Jessica Barrera added a unassisted goal in the 58^th minute to round out the scoring.

This weekend’s soccer tournament at Franklin County has been cancelled, the Lady Raiders return to the pitch on Tuesday as they welcome Warren County to the Raider soccer field for a non-district match.  That match will kick off at 7 PM and Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.

The Coffee County Middle School football team scored on the game’s first drive and last drive, and added a touchdown on the last drive of the first half, but it was not enough to get a win over Rhea County on Thursday night.  In a game you heard here on Thunder Radio as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series, the Raiders fell by a final score of 40 to 20.

Kelby Walker was the star of the night for Coffee County as he scored all 3 of Coffee Middle’s touchdowns.  He punched in the first score from 4 yards out with 4:50 left in the first half to give the Raiders a 6 to 0 lead.  The visiting Eagles scored on their next 3 drives to build a 24 to 6 lead with less than 90 seconds remaining in the half.  But Coffee County recovered a Rhea County fumble on a punt and Ethan Baker completed a 17 yard touchdown pass to Walker with 1 second to go in the half to give the Raiders some momentum entering the 2^nd half.

After a scoreless 3^rd quarter, Coffee County lost a pair of 4^th quarter fumbles which allowed Rhea County to build a 40 to 12 lead.  But Walker bolted down the right sideline to score from 44 yards out with 7 seconds left in the game.  Walker finished the night with 86 yards rushing on 17 carries and 2 rushing touchdowns.  He also caught 4 passes for 17 yards and a receiving touchdown.  Baker finished the night with 15 rushes for 53 yards and passed the ball 7 times for 5 completions and 20 yards through the air.

The Raiders return to conference play on Tuesday night when they welcome Harris to Carden-Jarrell Field.  That game will kick off at 6:30 PM.

You can download a copy of the broadcast by visiting out downloads page at:   http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

After taking a lead into the half, the Westwood football team saw Liberty score 4 second half touchdowns to pull away for a 32 to 22 Duck River Valley Conference win.  Facing Liberty on their home field, Westwood got first half touchdown runs from Connor Smith and Blake Hale, along with a 2 point conversion by Hale, to take a 14 to 6 lead into the half.

Liberty came out in the second half firing on all cylinders as they scored 2 touchdowns in the first 40 seconds of the 3^rd quarter to take the lead 20 to 14.  Konor Heaton scored on the first play of the 4^th quarter to put Westwood up 22 to 20.  Liberty rallied to add a pair of 4^th quarter touchdowns to capture the win.

The Rockets are back at home next Thursday night when they play host to Community.  That game is set to kick-off at 6:30 PM at Dyer-Bouldin Field.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you that game as part of the First National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  We begin live coverage with the pregame show at 6:20 PM.

The Westwood soccer team welcomed CTSC rival Huntland to Dyer-Bouldin Field on Thursday night for their 2^nd conference match of the week.  The Lady Rockets struggled to find the back of the net in a shutout loss to the Lady Hornets.  Huntland dropped Westwood by a final score of 5 to 0.

The Lady Rockets are now off until Tuesday, September 5^th when they play host to Fayetteville.  That match will get underway at 5:30 PM.

The Nashville Sounds got a go-ahead single from Matt McBride in the sixth inning and never looked back in a 9-3 win over the Round Rock Express in front of 8,359 fans at First Tennessee Park Thursday night.

McBride’s base hit to left field snapped a 3-3 tie and was one of Nashville’s 15 knocks in the win over their American Southern Division rival.

The two teams exchanged two-run homers in the first two innings. Round Rock’s Will Middlebrooks launched a two-run blast off Nashville starter Daniel Mengden to give the Express a 2-0 lead in the first. Chris Carter returned the favor when he drilled a two-run homer off Express starter Dario Alvarez to even the game at 2-2.

Nashville grabbed a 3-2 lead in the third when Franklin Barreto drilled an RBI triple off the wall in deep left field. The lead didn’t last long as Round Rock’s Doug Bernier singled in a run in the fourth to make it 3-3.

Mengden tossed four innings before leaving in favor of Chris Bassitt. The reliever tossed two scoreless innings to help set the stage.

When Bassitt was finished for the night, the offense turned it on. Starting with McBride’s go-ahead base hit in the bottom of the sixth, Nashville scored two runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth to take a comfortable 9-3 lead.

Nashville came up with nine hits in the final three innings and got dominant pitching from the bullpen as they pulled away.

Following Bassitt’s two innings, Sam Moll worked a perfect seventh, Raul Alcantara set the side down in order in the eighth, and Logan Bawcom did the same in the ninth. Nashville pitchers retired the final 13 Round Rock batters they faced.

Carter, Franklin Barreto, and Yairo Munoz had three hits apiece to lead the offensive charge. Every other hitter in the starting lineup contributed a hit.

Bassitt earned the win, his fourth of the season. Tyler Wagner was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs in two innings.

Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Friday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Zach Neal (3-8, 5.47) starts for the Sounds against right-hander David Ledbetter (3-3, 4.18) for the Express. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.