Category: Sports

The Nashville Sounds jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held on to defeat the Memphis Redbirds 7-4 Tuesday afternoon. The win secured the series victory for the Sounds over the first-place Redbirds.

Gossett lowered his league-leading ERA to 1.63 with another stellar performance Tuesday afternoon. He recorded his second quality start of the season with six shutout innings of two-hit baseball while fanning seven batters. The only real danger he found himself in came in the fourth inning when Luke Voit doubled to lead off the frame and reached third base on a wild pitch. Gossett stranded Voit at third by drawing a fly out and striking out a pair of batters.

Nashville drew first blood in the third inning. Dustin Garneau singled and advanced to second on an error. Jorge Mateo then legged out a triple as he served a hit just fair down the right field line to plate Garneau. Steve Lombardozzi scored Mateo from third with a ground out to the shortstop to provide Gossett with a two-run cushion.

The Sounds doubled their lead in the fourth inning as Josh Phegley and Garneau each went deep off Memphis’ Austin Gomber. Phegley won an eight-pitch at-bat while Garneau crushed a 1-0 pitch over the 20-foot fence in left center-field.

The first two batters to come to the plate for the Sounds in the sixth reached base in the sixth inning and came around to score on a two-out bloop single from BJ Boyd to extend Nashville’s lead to 6-0.

Memphis finally broke through in the seventh inning off Sounds reliever J.B. Wendelken. After walking the leadoff batter, Wendelken induced a fly out before yielding four straight singles and was promptly pulled from the game. Jeremy Bleich allowed two of his three inherited runners to score to trim the Redbirds deficit to 6-4.

The Redbirds again threatened in the eighth as they singled twice off Raul Alcantara but Bobby Wahl entered the game with two outs in the frame and struck out Alex Mejia to leave both runners stranded. He then shut the door on the Redbirds in the ninth for the four-out save.

The Sounds are off Wednesday before beginning a four-game series Thursday against the Oklahoma City Dodgers in Oklahoma City. Right-hander Chris Bassitt (1-1, 5.40) starts for the Sounds while Oklahoma City has yet to name its starter. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 a.m.

Post-Game Notes

• With today’s 7-4 win, the Sounds improved to 20-18 on the season.
• Nick Martini extended his consecutive on-base streak to 26 games when he singled in the third inning. Since April 14, Martini has reached safely in every game he has played in.
• Dustin Garneau threw out another would-be base stealer in the fifth inning. He has thrown out 10 runners this season, which is tied for second in the Pacific Coast League.
• The Sounds doubled their season total of home runs off left-handers with a pair today off Austin Gomber.
• Sheldon Neuse has struck out at least once in each of his last 17 games.

The 2018 season is the Sounds’ 41^st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

Five members of the Coffee County Central High soccer team were honored with district postseason honors on Thursday night.  The Red Raiders were honored at the conclusion of the District 8AAA soccer championship in Columbia.  Briggs Haithcock was named the District 8AAA midfielder of the year.  Benjamin Reid and Leo Botello were tabbed to the District 8AAA 1^st team all-district team. Two Red Raiders were selected for the District 8AAA 2nd team all-district team as Tyler Walker and Paco Barrera were named to that select team.

Back at home for the first time in more than a month, Nashville SC earned its best win of the season.  Nashville used stifling defense and two goals from Lebo Moloto to win 2-0 over Eastern Conference leading Louisville City FC on Sunday in front of 8,610 at First Tennessee Park.  Nashville SC got goals in either half by Lebo Moloto.

Nashville SC beat the defending USL Cup champs Louisville City 2-0 as forward Lebo Moloto scored his first two goals in his Nashville SC career.  Nashville completed its fifth shutout of the season in eight games.

SCORING

37’ – NSH – Lebo Moloto (Ropapa Mensah)

84’ – NSH – Lebo Moloto (Justin Davis)

NOTES

– Starting keeper Matt Pickens earned his fifth shutout which is tied for the best mark in the USL.

– Nashville SC is the first team all season to score 2 goals against Louisville City.

– Moloto is the first player to score multiple goals in the same game for Nashville SC.

– Nashville SC has yet to allow a goal at home this season with a 2-0-1 mark at home. At First Tennessee Park, Nashville SC is 2-0-0 with a pair of 2-0 wins.

– Nashville SC announced a capacity crowd of 8,610 at First Tennessee Park.

Frankie Montas delivered a complete game, but the Nashville Sounds fell to the Memphis Redbirds, 2-1, Monday afternoon at AutoZone Park.

Montas used only 93 pitches to breeze through eight innings. The right-hander yielded a pair of solo home runs to Redbirds’ right field Tyler O’Neill. The solo blasts were enough as Nashville squandered two golden opportunities in the middle innings.

O’Neill hit a solo home run in the second, but Nashville’s Anthony Garcia answered with a solo blast in the top of the fourth to even the game at 1-1. The tie didn’t last long as O’Neill launched his second homer of the day in the bottom of the fourth to give Memphis a 2-1 lead.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fifth, Slade Heathcott broke for home after a pitch briefly got away from Redbirds’ catcher Jeremy Martinez. The backstop recovered, and Heathcott was tagged out in a rundown to end the inning.

The top of the sixth started with Memphis right-hander Dakota Hudson issuing three consecutive walks. The Redbirds turned to reliever Edward Mujica to get out of the jam and he did so by striking out Sheldon Neuse and Heathcott, then getting Steve Lombardozzi on a fly out to center.

Aside from an infield single by Nick Martini in the seventh, the Sounds didn’t get any offense going the rest of the game.

Montas threw 60 of his 93 pitches for strikes as he matched a career-high eight innings. He has three consecutive starts of at least six innings while dropping his ERA from 6.19 to 3.75.

The Sounds and Redbirds conclude their four-game series Tuesday morning in Memphis. Right-hander Daniel Gossett (3-0, 1.93) starts for the Sounds against left-hander Austin Gomber (2-2, 4.25) for the Redbirds. First pitch is scheduled for 11:05 a.m.

Post-Game Notes

• With today’s 2-1 loss, the Sounds dropped to 19-18 on the season.
• Nick Martini extended his consecutive on-base streak to 25 games when he singled in the fifth inning. Since April 14, Martini has reached safely in every game he has played in.
• Frankie Montas matched a career-high with 8.0 innings. It’s the longest start by a Sounds pitcher this season.
• Montas joins pitcher James Naile as the only Sounds pitchers to throw a complete game this season. It’s the fourth complete game of his career, and first since June 9, 2015 while pitching with Double-A Birmingham.

The 2018 season is the Sounds’ 41^st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

Four for Four!  Sarah Pearson punched her ticket to the TSSAA state track meet on Saturday for the 4^th straight season.  The senior captured a 4^th place finish in the 300M hurdles in Saturday’s TSSAA Sectional track meet at Blackman.  This is the 2^nd year in a row that the senior has qualified in the 300M hurdle race as she ran a season best time of 50.22 seconds.  Pearson just missed qualifying for her 4^th straight pentathlon earlier this month.  Making the feat more remarkable, Pearson is recovering from a torn ACL after having surgery on November 17th.

Macy Tabor and Trace Bryant both barely missed out of qualifying in the high jump.  Tabor finished in 5^th place with a personal best jump of 5’.  Bryant also jumped a personal record best 6’ as he finished in 7^th place.  Jalen Cummings captured a 6^th place finish in the shot put with a throw of 41’.  Raven Weber finished in 6^th place in the pole vault with a vault of 9’.  Pearson also competed in the shot put as she had a throw of 31’ 10.5 which placed her in 7^th place.

Pearson will compete in the state 300M hurdle race on Thursday, May 24^th at MTSU.  The evening program gets underway at 3 PM in the afternoon and Pearson’s race will be held sometime after 4:30 PM at the Dean Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium.  Sarah is the lone representative of the CHS track team at the state meet this season.  This is the 27^th consecutive year that a Coffee County athlete has qualified for the state meet.

The Coffee County Middle School track team rolled into the CTC Track Championships on Friday.  The Lady Raiders and Red Raiders used 29 personal best performances to capture a 1^st place finish for the Lady Raiders and a 3^rd place finish for the Red Raiders.

The Lady Raiders got a 2^nd place finish in the 4×400, a 5^th place finish in the 4×200 and a 6^th place finish in the 4×100 for the team relays.  Coffee Middle got first place finishes from Madison Rooker in the 800M, Greenlee Woods in the 1600M, Alyssa McClanahan in the shot put, Jayda Wright in the discus and Emma Wood in the long jump.

The Red Raiders won the 4x400M while getting a 6^th place finish in the 4x100M and a 7^th place finish the 4x200M in the team relay races.  The Coffee County boys got first place finishes from Jacob Rutledge in the 800M and the 1600M, Ethan Welch in the discus, and Ethan Beaty in the 400M.

Individual results are:

Girls

100 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
8	Katie Cotten	14.70 PR
10	Emma Wood	14.98 PR
14	Alyssa McClanahan	15.38 PR
200 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
8	Katie Cotten	30.73 PR
15	Emma Wood	32.7
400 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
5	Alyssa Gipson	01:13.6
7	Kinzie Givens	01:15.2
15	Holli Hancock	1:21.52 PR
800 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Madison Rooker	2:48.69 PR
4	Jorja Waggoner	03:01.5
5	Alexis Wise	3:02.68 PR
1600 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Greenlee Woods	05:56.1
3	Josie Willis	06:34.3
9	Lindsey Grimes	7:11.29 PR
13	Haley Koren Sherrill	08:11.3
4×100 Relay
Place	Name	Time
6	Relay Team	01:02.0
4×200 Relay
Place	Name	Time
5	Relay Team	02:10.3
4×400 Relay
Place	Name	Time
2	Relay Team	05:12.2
Shot Put
Place	Name	Distance(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Alyssa McClanahan	32-02.00 PR
2	Marley Perry	32-00.00
8	Chandlar Carter	26-09.00
Discus
Place	Name	Distance(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Jayda Wright	75-05 PR
2	Nikki Graham	70-04 PR
3	Marley Perry	68-08 PR
High Jump
Place	Name	Height
3	Kinzie Givens	4-02.00 PR
6	Katie Cotten	4-00.00
Long Jump
Place	Name	Distance(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Emma Wood	13-04.50 PR
2	Madison Rooker	13-01.50 PR
15	Holli Hancock	10-07.25 PR
Boys
100 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
11	Ethan Baker	13.00 PR
14	John McKelvey	13.28 PR
16	Lee Bieder	13.59 PR
200 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
8	Ethan Baker	26.79 PR
13	John McKelvey	27.98
17	Elijah Clemmons	28.73PR
400 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Ethan Beaty	59.27
5	Braison Yancer	1:02.95 PR
13	Phinehas Rollman	1:08.96 PR
800 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Jacob Rutledge	02:17.1
6	Jacob Slabaugh	02:38.7
11	Blake Young	2:44.58 PR
23	Clayton Bryant	3:26.00 PR
1600 Meters
Place	Name	Time(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Jacob Rutledge	05:16.3
2	Ethan Welch	05:22.9
10	Bradley Escue	6:13.46 PR
4×100 Relay
Place	Name	Time
6	Relay Team	56.28
4×200 Relay
Place	Name	Time
7	Relay Team	02:03.1
4×400 Relay
Place	Name	Time
1	Relay Team	04:14.3
Shot Put
Place	Name	Distance(PR indicates Personal Record)
7	Phinehas Rollman	33-01.00
8	Michael Delong	31-07.00
19	Michael Floyd	15-01.00
Discus
Place	Name	Distance(PR indicates Personal Record)
1	Ethan Welch	127-04 PR
11	Michael Delong	73-11 PR
18	Michael Floyd	39-00
High Jump
Place	Name	Height
2	Ethan Welch	5-04.00
15	Elijah Clemmons	4-00.00
Long Jump
Place	Name	Distance(PR indicates Personal Record)
12	Braison Yancer	14-00.00 PR
18	Lee Bieder	12-04.00

Former Coffee County Lady Raider softball coach Jeff Breeden continues to add titles to his own personal trophy case.  The Middle Tennessee softball team won its first C-USA Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon. The Raiders came from behind for the second time in as many days to defeat Florida Atlantic, 7-6.

The Blue Raiders advance to the NCAA Regional with the win for just the second time in program history.

Middle is the lowest seed to advance to a C-USA title game since 2009 and the lowest seed to ever claim a league championship. The Raiders entered the weekend as the No. 6 seed.

The Raiders’ 39 wins are the most since 2001, when the squad won 41 games.

This is MT’s second conference championship in program history; the 2000 squad won the Ohio Valley Conference Championship.

Both teams grabbed a run in the first inning. For the Raiders, Precious Birdsong walked, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and then stole home. She was waved safe on an obstruction call.

Florida Atlantic evened the score at one apiece in similar fashion. Emily Lochten walked, stole a base and scored on a single down the left field line.

The game remained knotted at ones until the Middle broke the game open in the top of the fifth. Kirstyn Cuccia led off with a single up the middle and Keely McGee followed with a walk. Summer Burgess loaded the bases by reaching on an error by the third baseman. Then for the second time in the tournament, the Raiders hit a grand slam. Kristin Uselton delivered the blast, her third of the season, over the left field fence. The clutch bomb put MT ahead, 6-1.

Morgan Harris kept the rally alive by following that up with a double down the left field line. Danielle Munoz put the Raiders up, 7-1 by scoring Harris on a single to right field.

The Owls started their come back in the next half inning. With two outs, Alex Miller reached base on a single to right field. Then Lochten hit a two-run home run to cut the MT lead to 7-3.

FAU struck for more runs in the sixth. Three singles loaded the bases for the Owls and Miller followed with a double to right field made it a 7-5 game. Then Madisyn Palmer put a bloop single into the infield that made it a one-run ballgame. A fly out to right field got MT out of the inning, preserving the lead.

The Owls had a leadoff single to start the bottom of the seventh, putting the winning run at the plate. Gretchen Greer delivered in the circle for the second game in a row. The senior struck out two and forced Jolie Duffner to fly out to Cuccia in right field for the final out.

The win was the fifth of the tournament for the Raiders as they went undefeated at the Tournament.  After the game, Coach Breeden remarked about how special this team and this moment is. “Words can’t describe it. I love my squad.  Will be a fun selection show.”

Cori Jennings got the win in the circle and Greer was credited with the save.

The championship also secured MT five spots on the All-Tournament team including a Tournament MVP award for Jennings.

2018 Conference USA All-Tournament Team
P – Cori Jennings, Middle Tennessee
P – Mia Olson, Florida Atlantic
IF – Emily Lochten, Florida Atlantic
IF – Rachel Rogers, UAB
IF – Kristin Uselton, Middle Tennessee
IF – Summer Burgess, Middle Tennessee
OF – Kirstyn Cuccia, Middle Tennessee
OF – Precious Birdsong, Middle Tennessee
OF – Samantha Lageyre, Florida Atlantic
C – Kendall Smith, WKU
DP – Sloane Stewartson, Louisiana Tech
Utility – Tatum Buckley, Florida Atlantic

Up Next

With the conference championship win, Middle takes C-USA’s Automatic Bid to the NCAA Regionals. The Raiders will travel to Tuscaloosa for a first round matchup with Alabama. That game is scheduled for Friday night at 8:30 PM.

Eric Jokisch earned his first win of the season as the Nashville Sounds topped the Memphis Redbirds 8-4 Saturday night. Beau Taylor’s three-run double in the sixth inning gave the Sounds a lead they would not relinquish to ensure Jokisch his first victory.

The night did not get off to a hot start for Jokisch. Memphis slugger Tyler O’Neill crushed his 10^th home run of the season to put the Redbirds in front 2-0 in the opening inning.

After yielding two runs on three hits in the first inning, Jokisch found his groove. The southpaw did not allow another hit until the fifth inning when Max Schrock hit a high chopper over the head of Jokisch and in front of second baseman, Franklin Barreto. Jokisch found himself in a jam in the sixth inning after allowing back-to-back two-out singles to end his night. Jake Sanchez was called upon to extinguish the threat, which he did by striking out Wilfredo Tovar.

Daniel Poncedeleon was rolling along for the Redbirds through five innings. The Memphis starter kept the Sounds out of the hit column through five frames before Nick Martini lined a base hit back up the middle in the sixth. Poncedeleon was then pulled from the game with runners on first and second and nobody out. Andrew Morales entered the contest and retired BJ Boyd before Franklin Barreto delivered an RBI single to cut the 2-0 lead in half. Anthony Garcia was intentionally walked to load the bases and Taylor made Memphis pay. The Sounds’ catcher poked a bases-clearing double down the left field line to flip the game on its head and put the Sounds in front 4-2.

The Redbirds inched closer with a run in the seventh inning but that would be as close as they would come to tying the game. The Sounds used a two-out rally in the eighth inning to extend their lead. Sheldon Neuse picked up his 100^th career RBI by smashing a single to left field. Jorge Mateo kept the train moving with a two-run dribbler up the middle to push the lead to 7-3. Josh Phegley’s sacrifice fly in the ninth inning completed the scoring for Nashville.

Memphis added an inconsequential run in the ninth off Josh Lucas who tossed the final two innings for the Sounds.

The Sounds and Redbirds continue their four-game series Sunday afternoon. Right-hander James Naile (3-3, 3.72) starts for Nashville against left-hander Sean Gilmartin (2-1, 4.82) for Memphis. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.

Post-Game Notes

• With Saturday’s 8-4 win, the Sounds improved to 18-17 on the season.
• Nick Martini extended his consecutive on-base streak to 23 games when he was hit by a pitch in the third inning. Since April 14, Martini has reached safely in every game he has played in.
• For just the second time in seven Eric Jokisch starts the Sounds scored more than one run.
• Beau Taylor’s three-run double in the sixth inning snapped an 0-for-13 skid for Taylor.
• Sheldon Neuse extended his hitting streak to a season-high five games with his RBI single in the eighth inning. He has also struck out in each of his last 14 games after being fanned in his first at-bat.

The 2018 season is the Sounds’ 41^st in franchise history and fourth as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Single-game tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.