The Coffee County Middle School soccer team traveled to Tullahoma on Monday for a conference match with the Wildcats. In a match started early due to the threat of bad weather, the Raiders fell by a final score 4 to 0.
The Raiders got off to a slow start as Tullahoma was able to score a goal early to put Coffee County on the defense. A Coffee County own goal put the Raiders in an early 2 to 0 hole. The Raider offense was able to make some effective offensive attacks but were unable to find the back of the net. Tullahoma was able to add another pair of goals for the win.
The Raiders are back in action on Thursday when they travel to Winchester to take on North Franklin. That match will get underway at 5 PM.
After Austin Hedges quieted SunTrust Park on Monday night, Freddie Freeman capped a memorable two-homer game and Dansby Swanson halted his early-season woes with a two-out, ninth-inning single that gave the Braves a 5-4 win over the Padres.
Swanson’s bases-loaded walk-off single to left field against Brandon Maurer enabled the Braves to open their new stadium with a four-game sweep and even their record to 6-6 with a fifth straight win.
Freeman supplied most of the highlights by collecting four extra-base hits, including a game-tying homer in the eighth. But it was Atlanta’s rookie shortstop, who entered the game hitting .146, who sparked the walk-off celebration.
“It was good to see the guys fight back,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “They never missed a beat after we lost the lead. Freddie had a huge night, and I’m happy for Dansby. He’s been hitting some balls right on the button and he doesn’t get anything for it, but he just keeps grinding away and putting good at-bats up. That was nice for him to be able to feel that.”
Hedges gave the Padres a lead with a two-run homer in the eighth against Arodys Vizcaino, who became the first Atlanta reliever to allow an earned run in 16 1/3 innings. But Freeman answered in the bottom half of the inning when he capped his second two-homer game of the young season with an opposite-field shot against former Braves reliever Ryan Buchter.
“The mantra of this team is to keep coming and keep fighting,” said Freeman, who also had two doubles. “We did that tonight and got the win.”
Padres starter Jered Weaver scattered seven hits over six innings, but his effort was thwarted by Freeman’s two-run homer in the third and shortstop Luis Sardinas’ costly throwing error, which put Brandon Phillips in position to score on Kurt Suzuki’s second-inning groundout. All eight earned runs allowed by Weaver this season — including two on Monday — have come via the long ball.
“I want to keep the ball in the yard,” Weaver said. “Obviously, the home runs have kind of killed me. I felt good overall and was able to pitch out of some situations.”
After beating out a potential double play that extended the third long enough for Freeman to hit his first home run, Swanson took advantage of the ninth-inning opportunity he was given when the Padres loaded the bases by intentionally walking Ender Inciarte, who had already notched his fourth multi-hit game within his past five contests. Swanson looked at two strikes before lacing Maurer’s 1-2, 97.2-mph fastball to left field to end the game.
“It’s one of those things where you just have to stay consistent and stay with what you’re doing,” Swanson said. “[Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer] is really, really good at making sure I stay within myself, and every day we’re working to stay with what I do best. Hopefully, that will propel me to where I need to be.”
The Padres opened the game with three consecutive singles off Braves starter Jaime Garcia, including one from Yangervis Solarte that plated Manuel Margot and gave the Friars an early lead. From there, Garcia found a groove — and he found it rather quickly. He escaped the rest of the frame unscathed and wouldn’t allow another hit until Hedges doubled with two outs in the sixth. Garcia finished with 6 1/3 quality innings, allowing only one other run on Allen Cordoba’s first Major League homer.
Freeman joined Jim Russell (June 7, 1948), Hank Aaron (Sept. 30, 1960), Felipe Alou (April 26, 1966) and Adam LaRoche (Sept. 15, 2009) as the only players in Braves franchise history to have two home runs and two doubles in a game.
Mike Foltynewicz will oppose Max Scherzer when Atlanta begins a three-game series against the Nationals at 6:35 p.m. CT on Tuesday. Because of two off-days last week, Foltynewicz will make his first start since his April 7 season debut in Pittsburgh.
The Red Raider baseball team completed play in the King of the Mountain tournament in Grundy County on Saturday with a win and a loss. The Red Raiders ended the weekend with a record of 3 and 1 heading into a busy week of non-district games. Coffee County opened Saturday with an 11 to 3 win over South Pittsburg before dropping a 12 to 4 decision to Marshall County.
Opening the day against South Pittsburg, Coffee County built a 4 to 0 lead before the Pirates battled back to make it a 4 to 3 game entering the 5th inning. The Raiders sent 12 batters to the plate in the 5th inning to blow the game open. The inning was highlighted by back to back home runs from Nathaniel Tate and Grant Sadler. Tate finished with a double and a single to go with the home run and 4 RBI. Sadler had a single to go with his home run and Cade Giles finished with a double, a single, 2 walks and 3 runs scored.
The Raiders scored 2 runs in the first inning of their game with Marshall County to take an early lead. Marshall County rallied to score 4 runs in the 2nd inning and never gave up the lead. Coffee County was held to 5 hits in the game. Garrett Eldridge finished with a double and a single as the only Red Raider with 2 hits. Nathaniel Tate had a home run for the third game in a row.
The Red Raiders will travel to Chapel Hill on Monday to take on Forrest in the first game of a 2 game series. Forrest will visit Powers Field on Tuesday for game #2 in the series. Both games will begin at 5 PM.
Members of the CCMS Cheer squad following the awards ceremony on Saturday night. [Photo from Facebook]
The Coffee County Middle School cheerleaders captured a 2nd place finish on Saturday at the COA Ultimate Nationals cheer competition in Florida. The CCMS team competed in the intermediate division and was crowned runners-up in the middle school division. The event was held at the Gaylord Palm Resort in Kissimmee and featured teams from across the nation,
The CCMS cheer team is coached by Tami Baumstein Weaver who took her team down to the Orlando area in time for a practice round on Thursday. The team competed in 2 rounds on Friday and Saturday and learned of their accomplishment on Saturday night.
Coach Weaver and members of the CCMS cheerleaders will be guests on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to talk about their trip and share their story. The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast live each Saturday morning at 10 AM from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln and is heard exclusively here on Thunder Radio.
One year ago, former Predators captain Shea Weber surveyed the team’s 2-0 first-round series lead against the Anaheim Ducks, the first such advantage in franchise history.
Two road wins to open the playoffs had to mean something, right?
“Nothing yet, to be honest,” said Weber when asked.
Weber is gone, but his former teammates, who celebrated Nashville’s 5-0 Game 2 victory against the bewildered Blackhawks on Saturday, are in the same position to the surprise of practically everybody.
So let’s ask the same question. What does this mean?
It means that the Predators return to Nashville with history on their side. NHL teams with 2-0 leads in best-of-seven series win them more than 86 percent of the time.
Then again, it won’t mean anything unless the Predators use Bridgestone Arena to their advantage Monday and Thursday. To Weber’s point, the Predators wasted their two-game advantage last season by losing three consecutive games to the Ducks.
Here’s what we do know — Nashville’s execution of its game plan Saturday, combining aggressive offense and smothering defense, was the team’s finest this season.
“The toughest game of the year” is what Predators coach Peter Laviolette prepped his team for. Beware and weather the Blackhawks’ first-period ferocity, he told his players.
Chicago took three shots and hit one post in the opening three minutes, then Nashville jabbed back on defenseman Ryan Ellis’ long-range goal, aided by forward Viktor Arvidsson’s Matrix-like screen.
There would be no repeat of Thursday’s second-period fire drill Saturday. The Predators surged, adding a pair of first-time playoff goals to Ellis’ from the first period.
Blackhawks fans spelled Predators forward Harry Zolnierczyk’s tongue-twisting last name with four-letter unprintable words after his top-corner breakaway tally, then groaned when forward Colton Sissons poked a rebound through Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford.
Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne, apparently figuring that the NHL’s first consecutive shutouts to open a playoff series in seven years weren’t enough, threw in two assists.
The Coffee County baseball team got a great start to the King of the Mountain Tournament on Friday in Grundy County. The Red Raiders opened up with a pair of games in Coalmont taking on Grundy County and Sequatchie County. The Raiders needed a 7th inning rally to drop Grundy County 4 to 2 and scored in every inning to beat Sequatchie County 10 to 5.
In the tournament opener, Coffee County squared off against the host Yellow Jackets of Grundy County. After taking a 1 to 0 lead in the 1st inning, Coffee County gave up the lead in the bottom of the 6th as the Yellow Jackets struck for 2 runs. Garrett Eldridge led off the 7th reaching on an error and scored on a Hayden Skipper double to tie the game. With 2 outs, Jacob Lanham walked and Noah Anderson was hit by a pitch to bring up Cade Giles who ripped a 2 RBI single to give Coffee County the win. Jacob Duncan went 6 innings to get the win and Nathaniel Tate came on to get the save in the 7th. Giles finished the game with a single, a double and 3 RBI. Langham had a single and walked twice in 4 plate appearances.
The Raiders carried that momentum over into the 2nd game as they jumped on Sequatchie County in the bottom of the first. The Raiders scored 2 runs in the first, 3 in the 2nd and 3 more in the 4th inning while adding single runs in the 3rd and 5th. Coffee County hammered out 12 hits including 5 extra base hits in the win. Nathaniel Tate and Jacob Langham each had home runs while Langham added a triple and a single. Tate added a double and a single as the pair of juniors each notched 3 hits. A.J. Rollman added 2 singles and Hayden Skipper had a double. Tate finished with 4 RBI. Skipper got the start on the mound pitching 2 perfect innings to get the win. Garrett Eldridge and Rollman each came on in relief.
The wins improve Coffee County to 11 and 9 on the season. The Red Raiders return to tournament action on Saturday at Grundy County High School. Coffee County squares off against South Pittsburg at 11 and Marshall County at 1:15.
Bartolo Colon surrendered one hit over seven dominant innings and the Braves erased Trevor Cahill’s no-hit bid with a middle-inning offensive flurry that propelled them to Sunday afternoon’s 9-2 win over the Padres at SunTrust Park.
On the way to winning their fourth straight game and remaining undefeated in their new stadium, the Braves saw Colon surrender Ryan Schimpf’s solo homer in the second inning and then retire 16 of the final 17 batters he faced. The 43-year-old right-hander gained his first lead of the day courtesy of Tyler Flowers’ go-ahead, two-run single in the fifth inning.
“Trevor wasn’t making any mistakes the first few innings,” said Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman. “We got a couple guys on and Tyler was able to knock it through. It was a big hit for us, and once he did that, the floodgates opened for us. It took us a bit, but better late than never.”
Cahill, who allowed four runs over 5 2/3 innings while striking out eight, kept the Braves hitless until Brandon Phillips laced a single to left field with one out in the fifth inning. San Diego’s right-hander exited after Phillips extended Atlanta’s lead with a two-run single in the sixth inning. Phillips finished the day with three hits and three RBIs.
“He had the stuff to pitch seven scoreless today,” said Padres manager Andy Green. “His stuff was plenty good enough to continue to mow through the order. Two, in my opinion, really bad pitch selections [to Flowers and Phillips]. Those two pitches came back and honestly bit us.”
The Braves bulllpen’s streak of 13 consecutive scoreless innings was snapped in the eighth inning when Ian Krol issued two walks, surrendered a single to Hunter Renfroe and allowed Schimpf to score on a passed ball.
But the Braves added three more runs in the bottom half of the eighth and further distanced themselves from the 1-6 record they sported before this four-game win streak, which includes victories in each of the three games played thus far in their new stadium.
“The road trip wasn’t good, but we hurt ourselves,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We’re playing better baseball right now.”
After facing the minimum through four, Cahill ran into trouble from the stretch in the fifth. The right-hander bounced three pitches in the dirt, none of which could be handled by catcher Hector Sanchez. Two of the three wild pitches set up Braves runs, as both Phillips and Adonis Garcia reached scoring position on balls in the dirt. Flowers would promptly knock them home with a two-run single.
“I felt like I was one pitch away,” Cahill said. “I made some decent pitches, and they did a good job fouling them off. They kept battling me. I got to two strikes on Adonis and Flowers and was maybe trying too hard to put them away and not give any runs instead of just making a good pitch.”
Ender Inciarte extended Atlanta’s lead in the seventh inning with a solo homer, but the center fielder’s most influential contribution was a sixth-inning leadoff single after his liner deflected off shortstop Erick Aybar’s glove. Dansby Swanson moved Inciarte to second base with a grounder to the right side on a hit-and-run. After Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked, Phillips delivered his decisive two-run single, just his second hit through his first 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“Right now, everybody just wants to win as many games as we can because it will be fun to see us play in October here,” Inciarte said of the atmosphere at SunTrust Park.
In a weekend of firsts at SunTrust Park, Travis Jankowski became the first player to successfully rob a home run at the Braves’ new ballpark. With no outs in the seventh, the Padres left fielder made a brilliant catch at the short wall in front of the Padres’ bullpen, skying to prevent Jace Peterson’s opposite-field smash from clearing the fence.
Jaime Garcia will take the mound when Atlanta and San Diego conclude this four-game set on Monday night. Garcia will be aiming for his first win and looking to rebound after surrendering a pair of home runs to his nemesis Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton his last time out.
The Nashville Sounds managed just four hits as the offensive funk continued in a 5-1 loss to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in front of 6,324 fans at First Tennessee Park on Easter Sunday.
In six games on the current homestand, Nashville (3-8) has scored a total of eight runs as their home record fell to 1-5 with the setback. After topping Oklahoma City in the home opener, the Sounds have lost five straight games.
Sky Sox (7-3) starter Josh Hader was sharp from the start as he retired the first six batters he faced. The 23-year-old allowed one run over six-plus innings and earned his second win of the season.
Veteran Chris Smith tried to match the youngster but was touched up in the fifth for a pair of runs. Back-to-back run-scoring singles by Garrett Cooper and Brett Phillips gave the Sky Sox a 2-0 lead.
Hader walked Chris Parmelee to start the bottom of the seventh and the free passed came back to bite the lefty. Reliever Stephen Kohlscheen got the first two outs in the inning, but consecutive two-out singles from Ryan Lavarnway and Kenny Wilson put the first run on the board for Nashville.
Colorado Springs tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth to push their lead to 4-1. Kyle Wren pitched in with an RBI single, and Nate Orf stole home after a botched pickoff at first base.
Nashville’s Mark Canha doubled to start the home half of the eighth, but Tyler Cravy retired the next three batters he faced to hold the lead.
Rob Scahill worked the ninth and retired the side in order to guarantee the Sky Sox a series win.
The series and homestand finale is scheduled for Monday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Daniel Gossett (0-1, 4.00) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Hiram Burgos (0-1, 9.82) for the Sky Sox. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.
R.A. Dickey overcame back-to-back home runs and benefited from those Brandon Phillips and Adonis Garcia produced as the Braves recorded their third straight victory with Saturday night’s 4-2 win over the Padres at SunTrust Park.
Phillips and Garcia opened the sixth inning with back-to-back homers off Clayton Richard to provide sufficient support to Dickey. The Braves starter surrendered consecutive one-out homers to Hunter Renfroe and Austin Hedges in the second inning before blanking the Padres over the remainder of his six-inning stint.
“There’s a lot of great things going on right now for us,” Dickey said after the Braves improved to 4-6. “We just have to keep the momentum. It’s all about us finding the rhythm early on. Now that we have a little more of a routine and not so many days off to navigate around, our guys are getting in a little bit of a groove and we’re seeing more of what they’re capable of.”
After receiving the early advantage courtesy of the home runs by Renfroe and Hedges, Richard allowed four singles and committed a costly balk during the game-tying two-run third inning produced by the Braves, who have now won the first two games played in their new stadium.
It was a vintage outing from Richard, who recorded 14 groundouts without a single flyout. After he allowed four runs in six innings Saturday, Richard has now picked up 36 outs on the ground this season — and just four in the air.
“His stuff was good, got a ton of ground balls,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “Even the hits, for the most part, until the home runs, were on the ground.”
While keeping the Padres scoreless over the final three innings, the Braves bullpen extended its scoreless streak to 10 consecutive innings. The relievers have allowed just two hits within this span.
Before Nick Markakis delivered the game-tying, two-out single in the third inning, Dansby Swanson put the Braves on the board with an opposite-field single that scored Chase d’Arnaud, who had singled and advanced to second on a potential pickoff that was erased when Richard was charged with a balk. Swanson is batting .159 (7-for-44).
“The kid has confidence, and it wasn’t like he’s been out there striking out a lot,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s had some good at-bats and made solid contact. There’s going to be a learning curve. He’s fine. That was just a really nice stroke he put on it for that RBI.”
After squandering doubles hit by Wil Myers in the fifth inning and Hedges in the sixth inning, the Padres chased Dickey with two on and none out in the seventh. But the potential rally ended when Jose Ramirez induced a Myers grounder that Swanson fielded in front of second base before flipping to Phillips, who made a barehanded grab before bouncing a throw that Freddie Freeman picked just before Myers reached the bag. The Padres challenged the call, but the double play stood after a replay review.
“We’re having fun,” Phillips said. “The [double play] we turned today was very beautiful, and Freddie made a nice pick. That was like a game-changer. So, I’m glad Freddie made us look good.”
Each of the first four starting pitchers within SunTrust Park’s history have recorded a hit. Following the lead Julio Teheran and Jhoulys Chacin provided as they marked in the hit column Friday, Dickey singled in the fourth inning and Richard produced a single in the fifth inning.
Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte’s unexpected homer streak was snapped at two games, but the Gold Glover added yet another defensive gem to his portfolio as he covered 54 feet in 3.6 seconds to make a diving catch of Renfroe’s sinking liner in the fourth inning. Per Statcast™, it was a four-star play that had only a 32 percent catch probability.
Bartolo Colon will make his first home start of the season as he opposes Trevor Cahill when this series resumes Sunday at 12:35 p.m. cT. Colon cruised through his season debut against the Mets, but lasted just four innings in Miami on Tuesday.
The Nashville Sounds’ offensive struggles continued in their 6-1series-opening loss to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in front 11,097 fans, a second consecutive sellout crowd at First Tennessee Park.
The Nashville Sounds found themselves in a 2-0 hole before getting a chance to hit. Lewis Brinson doubled to left field to lead off the game, advanced on a ground out by Kyle Wren, then scored on a passed ball. Designated hitter Ryan Cordell then drilled a 1-2 pitch beyond the fence down the left field line to put the Sky Sox up 2-0.
Paul Blackburn (0-2, 2.25) settled down after the first inning to keep the Sky Sox off the board for the next five innings. The 23-year-old finished with a line of two runs, both earned on five hits while walking two and striking out eight batters.
With two outs in the top of the seventh inning Brinson ripped a line drive to right field that sent Chris Parmelee back to the warning track. Parmelee had the ball but could not maintain control and let the ball fall to the ground allowing Yadiel Rivera to score as Brinson raced to third base. Kyle Wren followed that up with a single in front of Parmelee to drive in the fourth run of the game for Colorado Springs.
The Sky Sox loaded the bases with just one out in the eight and cashed in with one run on a sacrifice fly from Rivera to make it 5-0.Tyler Heineman then hit a hot shot to second baseman Renato Nunez who let the ball get past him and allowed Brett Phillips to come home and make the score 6-0.
Nashville broke through in the eighth inning when Matt McBride hit a bloop single into shallow right field that scored Renato Nunez. The Sounds were able to load the bases but could not cash in and the score remained 6-1 Sky Sox.
The Sounds failed to score a run through seven innings for the fifth time in ten games this season.
Game two of the Sounds’ series against the Colorado Spring Sky Sox is Sunday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Chris Smith (0-1, 1.50) starts for Nashville against left-hander Josh Hader (1-1, 3.38) for Colorado Springs. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.
The Coffee County Middle School soccer team traveled to Tullahoma on Monday for a conference match with the Wildcats. In a match started early due to the threat of bad weather, the Raiders fell by a final score 4 to 0.
