Noah Anderson of CHS baseball

“It was ugly, but it is a win.” Those were the words of Coffee County Central High School baseball coach David Martin following Saturday’s 9 to 8 district tournament win over Lincoln County.  The win advances the Red Raiders to Sunday’s quarterfinal matchup with Columbia.

Trailing 8 to 7 entering the bottom of the 6^th inning, Coffee County loaded the bases and on 2 singles and a hit batter before scoring the tying run when Nathaniel Tate was hit by a pitch to drive in A. J. Rollman.  Grant Sadler worked a walk to drive in Noah Anderson with the eventual winning run for Coffee County who improves to 17 and 13 on the season.

In a game you heard here on Thunder Radio, Coffee County built a 7 to 3 lead after 2 innings.  The Raiders allowed 3 unearned runs in the first 4 innings as Lincoln County closed the gap to 7 to 5.  In the 5^th inning, the Falcons strung together 4 straight hits to capture an 8 to 7 lead with a solo home run being the lead run.  Not to be denied a matchup with Columbia in the 2^nd round, Coffee County used the 6^th inning rally to capture the lead.

Jacob Langham led Coffee County in hitting as he had a pair of doubles and scored 2 runs.  Noah Anderson had 2 singles, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored.  Grant Sadler and Jacob Duncan each finished with 2 RBI.  Hayden Skipper came on to pitch the final 2 innings to get the win.

Noah Anderson and Hayden Skipper were named the Crazy Daisies Co-Players of the game.  Coffee County will take on Columbia on Sunday afternoon at Columbia Central High.  That game will get underway at 5 PM.

Download the broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

Even after losing their third outfielder to an injury within the past three days, the Cardinals still managed to extend Julio Teheran’s SunTrust Park struggles and provide sufficient support for Mike Leake during Saturday night’s 5-3 win over the Braves.

Leake limited the Braves to one hit through the first six innings, then allowed a pair of extra-base hits, including Adonis Garcia’s three-run homer, in the seventh. But as the Braves lost for the fifth time in their past six games, they were unable to overcome the damage created by Matt Carpenter’s two-run homer in the third inning and Matt Adams’ solo shot in the fourth.
“Yesterday, everybody contributed in that game. There were hard-hit balls all over the place,” said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, whose club has scored 31 runs during its five-game road winning streak. “I think you just need a few of those days to kind of set that expectation level for what the offense should look like. Everybody is just kind of feeding off each other.”
This has not been a good week for the Braves, who have surrendered a first-inning run in each of the past five games and have seen their starting pitchers produce a 9.00 ERA over the first five games of this homestand. These struggles extended to Teheran, who gave up four runs over five innings on the way to producing his third consecutive disappointing home start.
“I felt a lot better as compared to my last start,” said Teheran, who allowed four runs in five innings to the Cardinals compared to the Mets’ six runs in six innings on Monday. “I felt like the ball was coming out pretty good. I made a couple mistakes, but that’s part of the game. They took advantage. Whenever I was missing, they scored some runs.”
When right fielder Jose Martinez exited in the top of the first inning with a left groin injury, the Cardinals inserted Adams, who singled ahead of Carpenter’s two-run shot and then drilled what proved to be a decisive homer in the fourth. Adams’ solo shot, which had a 107-mph exit velocity per Statcast™, stands as the latest of the five long balls Teheran has surrendered over his past 15 innings at SunTrust Park.
“Smashed a couple balls,” Matheny said. “[He has a] nice, short swing and the ball is jumping for him. [Playing left field] wasn’t exactly what he was expecting, but he did a real nice job.”
After Matt Kemp doubled with one out and Nick Markakis drew a walk, Garcia followed with his three-run blast over the left-center-field wall. The homer, which traveled a projected 424 feet (the second-longest of the third baseman’s career), snapped Leake’s streak of not allowing a home run over 55 innings. That streak stood as the longest in the Majors.
“[Leake] was throwing a lot of strikes and attacking a lot of hitters,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s throwing the ball really good. I knew we were going to have our hands full going into the night. It just adds to the problem when you get behind a guy like that and have to play catch up.”
Though his ERA rose to 1.79 (second lowest in the National League), Leake still leads the Majors with six quality starts.
“[The] fastball and cutter were moving pretty good today,” Leake said afterward. “I didn’t have to go too deep with the secondary stuff.”
With a 3-for-4 night on Saturday, shortstop Aledmys Diaz is the first Cardinals player since 2009 to tally at least three hits in three consecutive games. Matt Holliday was the last to do so. Diaz has reached base 11 times since Thursday.
R.A. Dickey will take the mound when Atlanta concludes its three-game series against the Cardinals at 12:35 p.m. CT on Sunday. Dickey helped the Braves to their only win over their past six games as he tossed six solid innings against the Mets on Tuesday.

The Nashville Sounds overcame a three-run deficit Saturday night to defeat the El Paso Chihuahuas 7-3 in front of a sellout crowd at First Tennessee Park. 10,193 fans witnessed the Ryan Lavarnway rip a bases clearing double in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Sounds a lead they would not relinquish.

The eighth inning rally for the Sounds (13-13) began when Matt Olson reached on a strikeout wild pitch with two outs. Matt Chapman and Jaycob Brugman then each drew walks to set up Lavarnway to be the hero. The Sounds catcher clubbed a bases clearing double into the alley in right center field to double up El Paso 6-3. Chris Parmelee then doubled in another run just for good measure.

The Sounds’ offense found itself playing catch-up before getting a turn at the plate. El Paso (13-17) tagged Daniel Gossett (0-2, 4.71) for a pair of runs on four hits in the opening frame. El Paso’s Rafael Ortega put the Chihuahuas on the board when he cracked a two-run double into the right field corner.

El Paso tacked on a third run in the second inning when Franchy Cordero grounded out to second base to drive in Dusty Coleman. Coleman was on third base after drawing a walk, then he stole second base and advanced to third on an error by Lavarnway. Gossett finished the day with a season-high 100 pitches thrown, 60 of which were strikes in his five innings of work. The right-hander surrendered three runs on six hits and walked four Chihuahuas while striking out a half-dozen.

The Chihuahuas were poised to add to their lead in the fourth inning after a lead-off single from Diego Goris. Coleman then stepped up to the plate and drilled a pitch into the deepest part of the ballpark in center field that could have potentially scored Goris from first base. It was not to be, however, as Kenny Wilson flashed the leather and made a sensational over-the-shoulder sliding catch.

When the home half of the fifth inning rolled around Chapman continued his resurgence at the plate. The Sounds’ third baseman smoked a 2-1 pitch from Tyrell Jenkins the opposite way and over the fence to put Nashville on the board. For Chapman the home run was his fourth of the season, all of which have come during his current five-game hitting streak. Nashville shaved another run off the deficit as Franklin Barreto served a base hit into center field to score Lavarnway from second base. One inning later Chapman drove in the game-tying run as he lofted a fly ball into right field with Mark Canha on third.

The score would stay knotted at three until the bottom of the eight when Lavarnway delivered the knockout blow with two outs and the bases loaded.
Michael Brady (2-1, 3.57) was terrific out of the bullpen for Nashville as he worked three scoreless innings and struck out four en route to his second win of the year.
The Sounds continue a four game set with the Chihuahuas Sunday afternoon for game two of the series. Right-hander Raul Alcantara (0-0, 0.00) takes the mound for the Sounds against right-hander Dinelson Lamet (2-1, 2.52) for El Paso. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.

History will have to wait.

The Predators’ first trip to the Western Conference final experienced a delay Friday, the result of a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues in Game 5 of the second-round series.

Nashville’s pursuit of franchise history will be put on hold until at least Sunday, when the Predators will get another shot in Game 6 on Sunday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena, where they have won eight consecutive playoff games.

At the 25-second mark of the third period, Blues forward Jaden Schwartz popped in a game-winning rebound to prevent his team from being eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Blues’ main objective in their attempt to extend their season was scoring the first goal, which they hadn’t done in losing three of four. St. Louis led for a total of 3:51 in the first four games and aimed to correct that Friday, owning the puck-possession advantage in the first period.

Back-to-back Predators penalties, committed 10 seconds apart, awarded the Blues a lengthy two-man advantage in the final minutes of the period. It was a critical opportunity that they squandered, putting one shot on goal during the 1:50 stretch. Dangerous Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko had five shot attempts, three of which Predators captain Mike Fisher blocked.

St. Louis ultimately achieved its first-goal goal, with forward Dmitrij Jaskin slipping behind the Nashville defense and flinging a rebound over goaltender Pekka Rinne.

When the Predators later received their own two-man advantage in the second period, forward James Neal was the recipient of a brilliant passing display, tying the game with a layup goal.

Lance Lynn cruised through six scoreless innings and the Cardinals didn’t look like a team missing two starting outfielders as they humbled Mike Foltynewicz on the way to claiming a 10-0 win over the Braves on Friday night at SunTrust Park.

Aledmys Diaz contributed four hits to the offensive onslaught that backed Lynn, who scattered four hits and exited with a 0.72 ERA over his past four starts. Freshly promoted Tommy Pham highlighted his two-hit night with a two-run home run in a four-run third inning, and Matt Carpenter added to Foltynewicz’s woes by hitting his own two-run shot in the fourth.
Foltynewicz matched a career high as he allowed seven earned runs over just four innings. The 25-year-old right-hander’s attempt to construct a fourth consecutive strong start quickly evaporated as Jose Martinez and Jedd Gyorko fueled St. Louis’ season-best 16-hit attack with a pair of first-inning doubles.
Called up from Triple-A Memphis to replace Stephen Piscotty — who is on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain — Pham doubled in his first plate appearance during the second inning. The outfielder added to the splendor of his season debut in the third inning when he jumped on a slider and drilled it over the center-field wall. The two-run shot had an exit velocity of 101 mph and traveled a projected 410 feet, per Statcast™.
Since entering Thursday with a .218 batting average, Diaz has recorded two consecutive three-plus-hit games, this latest of which included three RBIs. The Cardinals’ shortstop took advantage of Carpenter’s leadoff walk in the third inning when he followed Yadier Molina’s sacrifice bunt with a two-run double. Diaz added a single in a two-run sixth inning against Josh Collmenter.
Nick Markakis’ fourth-inning double was the 400th of his career, making him the eighth active player to reach this mark. The others are Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre, Carlos Beltran, Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Adrian Gonzalez and Matt Holliday.
Julio Teheran will attempt to halt his SunTrust Park struggles when this three-game series resumes Saturday at 6:10 p.m. CT. Teheran has allowed at least six runs in both of his past two home starts..

Jurickson Profar’s walk-off base hit gave the Round Rock Dance Halls a 4-3 win over the Nashville Honky Tonks at Dell Diamond on Friday night. The 10th inning base hit gave Round Rock a big advantage in the two-game #BattleForTheBoot series between the two American Southern Division rivals.
Profar’s game-winner came off Honky Tonks reliever Aaron Kurcz with one out in the inning. Kurcz struck out A.J. Jimenez to start the inning, but then issued a costly walk to Elio Castillo.
Drew Robinson followed with a base hit to left field, setting the stage for Profar who rifled a 1-1 pitch from Kurcz into right field to score Castillo with the winning run.
Nashville (12-13) starter Zach Neal gave the Honky Tonks a chance with the longest outing by a starter this year. Neal went seven innings and allowed three runs on six hits in the quality start.
Trailing 1-0 into the fourth, Mark Canha blasted his fifth homer of the season to even the game at 1-1. Round Rock got the lead right back on Cesar Puello’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning.
It remained 2-1 until the seventh as Neal and Round Rock starter Tyler Wagner both locked in. Matt Olson singled with one out in the top of the seventh, and trotted home moments later when third baseman Matt Chapman launched a two-run homer to give the Honky Tonks a 3-2 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Josh Wilson’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh tied the game at 3-3.
Nashville had a golden opportunity in the ninth but let it slip away. Round Rock pitchers R.J. Alvarez and Preston Claiborne combined to issue three walks in the frame. The Honky Tonks turned to pinch-hitter Chris Parmelee with the bases loaded, but he struck out the end the threat.
With two more home runs, Nashville has hit 20 over the team’s last nine games. Chapman hit three and Canha hit two in the four-game series split.
The two teams do not face each other until late June at First Tennessee Park. Game two of the #BattleForTheBoot series will be in Nashville on Thursday, June 29th. The Honky Tonks will need to win the game to force a social media vote to decide the series.
The Sounds return to First Tennessee Park Saturday night to begin a nine-day, eight-game homestand against the El Paso Chihuahuas. Right-hander Daniel Gossett (0-2, 4.94) starts for Nashville against right-hander Tyrell Jenkins (2-2, 5.79) for El Paso.