Category: Sports

The Phillies entered Thursday having lost nine of their past 13 games, while their offense had not scored more than four runs in a game since the All-Star break. But in a 7-5 win over the Braves at Turner Field, the Phillies snapped their recent run-scoring drought, registering a five-run first inning and three homers.

Matt Wisler put Atlanta in a first-inning hole when he allowed a three-run home run to Maikel Franco. Tommy Joseph followed with a solo shot, marking the fourth time this year the Phillies have hit back-to-back homers. Two more batters reached base before Wisler recorded the first out of the game on his 27th pitch.
“That’s what you kind of like to have,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. “When 3-4-5 come up, you hope the other team gets nervous.”
The Braves right-hander settled in after that, retiring 13 of the next 15 batters. But after giving up a two-out single to Joseph in the fifth, Aaron Altherr hit a two-run homer to give Philadelphia a 7-0 lead.
Aaron Nola held Atlanta scoreless until the fifth, when Freddie Freeman sparked a three-run inning with an RBI double. The Braves tallied a run in the sixth and ninth innings, but it wasn’t enough, as they fell to 3-7 against the Phillies this year.
“It’s just hard when you get down,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “The biggest pitch was the two-run homer [Wisler] gave up. You can live with the five [runs in the first inning] and then he settled in, but that was huge right there I thought. Five is doable with all of the at-bats we had left.”
The Phillies expected Altherr to be an everyday outfielder this season, but he tore a tendon in his left wrist in March. He rejoined the Phillies on Thursday and in his first game back, he singled and scored in the first, hit a two-run homer in the fifth and singled in the seventh.
“Definitely, especially sitting around thinking about how that first game’s going to be being back,” Altherr said, asked if this was the perfect season debut. “For it to be like that it was definitely special.”
Wisler surrendered only six home runs in his first 68 1/3 innings this year. But after giving up three homers on Thursday, the right-hander has allowed 16 over his past 53 2/3 innings. With a 7.15 ERA over his past seven starts, the 23-year-old has looked more like the pitcher from late last season than the one that posted a 2.93 ERA through his first nine starts this year. In the wake of Wisler’s struggles, the Braves optioned the right-hander to Triple-A Gwinnett after the game.
“I didn’t pitch very well the last month and a half, so I definitely know I’ve earned the demotion,” Wisler said. “There’s nothing they can do about that. It’s on me. I’ve got to go fight and go back down there and try to earn my way back up.”
Nola continues to search for consistency. He has a 9.82 ERA in his last eight starts after allowing three runs in five innings against the Braves, finding himself in trouble much of the night. In three of his first four innings he retired the first two batters he faced before putting runners on base. Odubel Herrera then lost a ball in the lights to start the fifth, which led to a three-run inning. Still, Nola picked up his first win since June 5.
“He’s not the same guy,” Mackanin said. “He’s just struggling with command once again. He’s not dotting his fastball like he normally does. His curveball is erratic. He needs to get back on track.”
After extending his on-base streak to 18 games when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning, Adonis Garcia later improved his career-best hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI single in the fifth. An inning later, the Atlanta third baseman drove in another run on a double. During his hitting streak, Garcia is batting .415 (17-for-41) with four doubles, three homers and six RBIs.
“He’s just been swinging that bat really well,” Snitker said. “He’s been on fire. He’s real aggressive. He’s not missing his pitch and he’s swinging the bat really well.”
Tyrell Jenkins will look to bounce back from the roughest outing of his young career on Friday in the second game of a four-game series at Turner Field at 6:35 p.m. CT. against the Phillies. The right-hander struggled with his fastball command on Sunday against the Rockies, allowing seven runs on eight hits and five walks in 3 1/3 innings.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as we join the Atlanta Braves Radio Network at 6 PM.

Renato Nunez clubbed his 16th home run of the season and the Nashville Sounds (59-47) defeated the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (49-53) 2-1 before 8,134 at First Tennessee Park Thursday night.

Nunez led off the fourth inning with a monster home run to left field to up the Sounds lead to 2-0.

Sounds starter Chris Smith picked up his sixth win of the season in the Sounds 2-1 win. The veteran right-hander pitched six innings allowing just three hits and struck out three. Smith, who did not allow a run until the sixth inning, retired 11 straight batters from the second inning through the fifth inning.

Three straight singles from Matt Olson, Matt McBride and Arismendy Alcantara led to a early 1-0 Sounds lead. Alcantara extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI single up the middle scoring Matt Olson from second.

Sky Sox center fielder Kyle Wren broke that streak in the top of the sixth inning with a double to left field. Orlando Arcia then responded with another double to plate Wren to put the Sky Sox on the board as they trailed 2-1.

Smith gave way to Sounds reliever and Nashville Native Andrew Triggs in the seventh. After hitting his first batter, Triggs settled into a grove and with help from his defense escaped with the seventh with the lead still in hand.

With Eric Young Jr. at second for the Sky Sox, Yadiel Rivera hit a high chopper to Alcantara. As the ball was fielded by Alcantara, Young attempted to score from second to tie the game but was thrown out by Matt Olson at home to preserve the Sounds lead.

Triggs was sharp in his second major league rehab outing, tossing two scoreless innings and allowing just two hits and struck out a batter.

It was then up to Sounds reliever Tucker Healy to close things down in the ninth for the Sounds. Healy retired the first two batters he saw and capped off the night striking out Eric Young Jr. to end the game and record his sixth save of the season.

The series concludes Friday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Jesse Hahn (1-5, 3.63) starts for the Sounds against left-hander John Hader (0-3, 6.42). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

The much anticipated public/private split in Tennessee for high school athletics never materialized on Wednesday in a special called Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Board of Control meeting. Members of the board of control met at the Hermitage offices of the TSSAA to consider classification for all sports. The Board of Control voted for several new guidelines for the classification period that will begin with the 2017-2018 school year and run through 2020-2

Division I schools (public schools and no financial aid allowed private schools) and Division II schools (schools that offer financial aid) will remain unchanged for classification purposes. Private schools that do not offer financial aid will be classified in Division I using a 1.8 multiplier on enrollment for classification purposes. The Board voted for the state office staff to set District/Regional Alignments and publish them when they are finalized. This will be done prior to the November Board of Control meeting, giving schools an opportunity to appeal if they feel they have a legitimate reason.

In Division I, the classification for each sport will be determined as such:
> Board voted to have six classes in Division I football, split evenly.
> Board voted to have three classes in basketball, baseball, and softball in Division I which is unchanged from the previous system.
> Board voted to have three classes in volleyball, split by participating schools in Division I.
> Board voted to have three classes in soccer, split by participating schools in Division I.
> Board voted to have two classes, split by participating schools (small/large) in cross country, track and field, golf, and tennis in Division I.
> Board voted to have two classes in wrestling, which is unchanged from the previous system.
> Board voted to have one class in bowling in Division I.

Additionally, the TSSAA Board voted to rotate which football championship games are played on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – three games each day – each year. Currently, Division II games are held on Thursday with Classes 1A,3A and 5A held on Friday and classes 2A, 4A and 6A on Saturday. Under the Board’s ruling, Division II will be on Thursday in 2016, Friday in 2017, etc.

Division II football will be divided into three classes. Schools with enrollments up to 265 will be in Class A. Schools with enrollments 266-530 will be in Class AA. Schools with enrollments 531 and above will be in AAA. The sports of wrestling and bowling in Division II will be one class. Classification in Division II for all sports other than football, wrestling, and bowling will be divided into two classes. Schools with enrollments of 450 and below will be in Class A. Schools with enrollments above 450 will be in Class AA.

Thunder Radio spoke to CHS head football coach and athletic director Ryan Sulkowski following the TSSAA meeting. “We will see where our numbers fall (after the fall enrollment) and deal with it at that point” said Sulkowski. “We anticipate that we will remain in the top classification for each sport” added Sulkowski “but it is a strong possibility that some sports will have changes in their district alignments(in the new system).”

The Board voted that the state office to continue to reevaluate every member school’s enrollment figures after two years during the four year classification cycle. Schools that have a 20% decrease/increase in enrollment which causes them to move to another class are moved at that time. The Board also voted to allow school to request to move up in classification on a sport-by-sport basis.

The Twins wanted to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of their dramatic victory over Atlanta in the 1991 World Series, but Freddie Freeman and the Braves decided to crash the party with a 9-7 victory.

Freeman tied career highs with four hits and five RBI as the Braves chased Twins starter Tyler Duffey in the second inning. Atlanta took an early 7-0 lead before holding off a furious Minnesota comeback for a 9-7 victory at Target Field on Wednesday night, winning both games in a short Interleague series.
“That’s why I like scoring all of those runs later in the game, because it doesn’t give them as much time to catch up,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s great to jump out, and [Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz] did a great job early of having the shutdown innings and then was getting two strikes and was having a hard time putting guys away. But we got the win.”
Duffey (5-8) allowed seven of the first eight Braves hitters to reach base in a four-run first inning, punctuated by a two-run homer from Jeff Francoeur, and was pulled after yielding another run in 1 1/3 innings. Freeman added a two-run homer in the fourth, and the Braves tacked on insurance runs in the sixth and the eighth.
“We put up enough runs to win the game, which is really frustrating for me because my job is just to try to get to the fifth, at worst,” Duffey said. “I didn’t do it. We put up plenty of runs, and I ended up hurting us a lot more than me just pitching bad.”
The nine runs were the most scored by Atlanta since an 11-8 victory over the White Sox on July 8.
As it turned out, the Braves needed the offense’s outburst after a forgettable outing for Foltynewicz, who allowed a season-high seven runs (six earned) in 5 1/3 innings. A two-run homer by Kurt Suzuki capped a three-run fourth, and the Twins added a two-run single by Miguel Sano in the fifth and two more in the sixth to keep the game close.
“We pecked away at them and got back into the game,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor. “They added on a couple, which proved to be a difference at the end of the game. We had chances right down to the end, but there’s no question coming back from seven down is a tough task.”
The Twins threatened to tie the game in the eighth, but reliever Chris Withrow struck out Sano with the tying run on second to preserve Atlanta’s lead. Jim Johnson closed it out with a perfect ninth for his fourth save.
When Freeman chased Duffey with his second RBI single of the night, the Braves had recorded eight hits through 11 at-bats. Though Michael Tonkin momentarily silenced Atlanta’s offense, he also was damaged by Freeman, whose two-run home run in the fourth was projected by Statcast™ at 443 feet, a season best for the Braves first baseman. He notched five RBIs for the fifth time (first since Sept. 23 at Citi Field) with his decisive double in the sixth inning.
“It was a nice way to end a road trip,” Freeman said of a 3-6 trip that also included stops in Denver and Cincinnati. “As an offense, we’ve been struggling all year, so it’s nice to put up some runs like we did. Hopefully, we can carry that into the homestand and finish the season strong.”
It’s been two rough starts for Duffey. After allowing six runs on nine hits in 2 1/3 innings against the Red Sox on Thursday, he turned in the shortest outing of his career, recording only four outs. Duffey allowed seven of the first eight hitters to reach base as part of a four-run first and was pulled after yielding two more hits and another run.
“I’m sure he was anxious to pitch after his last outing, maybe to the point where it was detrimental,” Molitor said. “He seemed like he was, from my perspective, overthrowing. He tried to come out and the velocity was up a little early, but that’s not always a good sign.”
After chipping away at the Braves’ lead for most of the game, the Twins had a shot to tie it in the eighth when a fielding error and a walk put runners on first and second with nobody out. Minnesota, down 9-7, elected to have Eduardo Nunez bunt, but Freeman was able to get the forceout at third base. A stellar diving play by Gordon Beckham denied the Twins a run on a sharp grounder by Joe Mauer. Sano then struck out for the third time, stranding the tying run at second base, and showed his displeasure by snapping his bat over his leg.
“The eighth inning turned out to be an inning where I had some options on different things to do, and I elected to play for the tie there,” Molitor said. “We had a tough bunt to read, and we couldn’t get to third. It fizzled from there.”
Foltynewicz scattered three hits over three scoreless innings and then surrendered six hits (including four extra-base hits) within a span of nine at-bats. The right-hander matched a career-high 12 hits allowed when he surrendered three singles during a two-run sixth that concluded with Mauricio Cabrera striking out Sano with a runner at third base. The Braves’ bullpen retired 11 of 14 batters and surrendered just one hit while notching six strikeouts over 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
“I didn’t go six or seven innings tonight, so they had to pick up a good piece for me,” Foltynewicz said. “I tip my hat to them guys. They did a heck of a job and saved me tonight.”
Th e Twins have lost seven straight games to the Braves, their longest active losing streak against any team.
Matt Wisler will take the mound Thursday when Atlanta welcomes Philadelphia to Turner Field to begin a four-game series at 6:10 p.m. ET. Wisler has struggled in each of his past three starts, but he showed encouraging signs during the first five innings of Saturday’s game at Coors Field.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as we join the Atlanta Braves Radio Network at 6 PM.

Raul Alcantara tossed seven shutout innings to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 2-0 win over the Colorado Springs Sky Sox Wednesday afternoon at First Tennessee Park.

Recently promoted from Double-A Midland, Alcantara has started two games with the Sounds and has dazzled in both. He went seven innings against Omaha on July 21 and allowed one unearned run in a no decision. In his seven shutout frames today, he scattered seven hits, didn’t walk anybody, and struck out five.

Alcantara settled in early by retiring the side in order in the first. His counterpart, Aaron Wilkerson, was just as good in the early going as the two exchanged scoreless frames through the first three innings.

Jaycob Brugman helped out his pitcher when he threw out Brandon Macias at the plate to end the top of the third. On a base hit to right by Orlando Arcia, Macias tried to score from second but was gunned down by Brugman on a perfect throw home.

Nashville broke through in the fourth when Billy Burns started the inning with a sharp single to center. The speedster swiped second base and moved to third on a groundout. Renato Nunez hit a fly ball to center field deep enough to score Burns from third to give the Sounds a 1-0 lead.

Pitching with a 1-0 lead in the seventh, the first two Sky Sox batters reached with infield singles off Alcantara. A sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third with one out. Alcantara bounced back with a soft line out and then retired Parker Berberet on a groundout to preserve the shutout.

The Sounds picked up an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning when Brugman started a rally with a single to right field. Renato Nunez added a base hit and Matt McBride knocked in the run with another single to left field.

Relievers Ryan Brasier worked a scoreless eighth and Patrick Schuster tossed a perfect ninth to close out the win.

The win for Alcantara is his first at the Triple-A level. Wilkerson allowed just two runs over six innings but was tagged with the loss.

Game three of the four-game set is scheduled for Thursday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Chris Smith (5-8, 4.25) starts for the Sounds against left-hander Brent Suter (4-4, 3.63). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

Senior Aerial Williams goes up for a spike on Tuesday for the Lady Raider volleyball team.

A late cancellation from Warren County forced the Lady Raider volleyball team to split into 3 teams to compete in Tuesday’s high school volleyball play day tournament at Central High School. The varsity Lady Raiders finished the day with a record of 2 and 1 as all 3 teams played at least 3 matches in the tournament. Coffee County got wins over Shelbyville and Fayetteville after losing the opening match in straight sets to White County.
In the opener, the Lady Raiders had leads in both games before dropping decisions of 24-26 and 23-25 to the Warriorettes. Hitting errors led to the Lady Raiders surrendering leads of 14 to 10 in the first set and 12 to 8 in the second set. Coach Taylor called out Aerial Williams for her strong net play in the first match as she led the team in kills.
In the second match, Bailey Morgan led a strong Lady Raider service game as Coffee County beat Shelbyville 25 – 2 and 25-17. Defensively, the Lady Raiders played better against the Eaglettes and also passed the ball well against the second year program.

Senior Rachel Henley prepares to serve on Tuesday for the Lady Raider volleyball team.

In the final match of the night, Coffee County broke open a tight opening set as Rachel Henley served 16 straight points to close out a 25 to 5 win over Fayetteville. Coach Taylor substituted heavily in the 2nd set as Coffee County closed out the straight set win with a 25 to 15 decision in the 2nd set.
After the matches, Coach Taylor was pleased that he got a lot of playing time for all of his players on the day. The Lady Raiders will go back to work on Wednesday as Coach Taylor completes his final cuts. The Lady Raiders will also work on some defensive adjustments this week as they prepare for their opening matches on August 15th. Thunder Radio is your exclusive source to hear broadcasts of selected Lady Raider volleyball games this fall as part of the First National Bank Hometown Tuesday series.

It was the kind of outing by Ervin Santana that showcased why the Twins have been hesitant to trade the 12-year veteran, as he recorded his second complete game of the year. But the Braves pitched out of several jams and did just enough offensively, led by a solo homer from Adonis Garcia, in a 2-0 win over Minnesota on Tuesday night at Target Field.

Braves right-hander Lucas Harrell, who like Santana has also found himself subject to trade rumors, limited the Twins to four hits and three walks over six scoreless frames to get his second win. Relievers Mauricio Cabrera, Hunter Cervenka, Chris Withrow and closer Jim Johnson combined to throw three scoreless innings to preserve Atlanta’s seventh shutout of the year.
Santana outlasted Harrell and only needed 97 pitches to throw his second complete game this month after throwing a shutout on July 6. But he gave up two runs on seven hits to take the hard-luck loss. Santana wasn’t helped by his offense, as the Twins went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.
Some of those teams that have inquired about acquiring Harrell before Monday’s non-waiver Trade Deadline may have gained more interest in the veteran right-hander, who had been in Triple-A until he was an emergency addition to the rotation in early July. His effort was aided in the third inning when Pierzynski caught Byron Buxton attempting to steal third base, ending a Twins rally that saw two runners on base with one out.
Santana was helped by a couple of solid defensive plays a in 1-2-3 fifth inning. Second baseman Brian Dozier moved to his right to make a nice stop and throw to rob Ender Inciarte of a hit. It was a nearly identical play to the one he made to take away a hit from Nick Markakis an inning earlier. Right fielder Max Kepler got in on the action with a diving catch in right to end the fifth.
Garcia seems to have regained that same unexpected power he produced last year, when he tallied 10 homers in 191 at-bats. His second-inning solo shot was his eighth homer of this season and seventh in a span of 139 at-bats dating back to June 10. .
Santana has been on a roll recently, and he kept it going against his former team. The right-hander has a 2.02 ERA over his last seven starts, lowering his season ERA from 5.10 to 3.78, but he is just 2-2 over that span because of a lack of run support. Twins interim general manager Rob Antony publicly stated again before the game that he believes Santana is the team’s best starting pitcher, and with two years remaining on his contract, plus a team option, he views the veteran right-hander as part of the franchise’s future.
Mike Foltynewicz will take the mound when Atlanta and Minnesota conclude this two-game series on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. cT. Foltynewicz has allowed runs in just two of the 21 innings he has completed over his past three starts. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as we join the Atlanta Braves Radio Network at 6 PM for the pregame show.

The Colorado Springs Sky Sox used a four-run second inning to help them to a series-opening 5-2 win over the Nashville Sounds in front of 6,177 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.

Former Sounds pitcher Wily Peralta went five strong innings against his former team and earned the win. He allowed one run on five hits to go along with four strikeouts.

Nashville starter Chris Jensen wasn’t as sharp as his counterpart. After a 1-2-3 first, Jensen allowed back-to-back singles to Manny Pina and Garrett Cooper to start the second inning.

Jensen came back to retire the next two batters, but a walk and two extra-base hits helped the Sky Sox open a 4-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Yadiel Rivera brought in a pair of runs with a ground-rule double. Kyle Wren immediately followed with a two-run triple to break it open.

The Sounds finally got to Peralta in the fifth when Joey Wendle started a rally with a double to right-center. A fly ball moved Wendle to third, and a groundout by Ladendorf pushed across the first run of the night for Nashville.

Colorado Springs reliever Sam Freeman came on for Peralta in the sixth and kept the Sounds off the board for the next three innings. He allowed only one base runner in the three frames – a two-out single by Rangel Ravelo in the seventh.

Aaron Kurcz did his best to keep the Sounds in the game with three scoreless relief innings of his own.

The ninth came with the Sounds trailing 5-1 but Matt Olson cut into the deficit when he launched his 12th home run of the season – a solo shot to right-center to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Colin Walsh followed with a double down the right field line, but David Goforth retired the next two batters in order to close out the Sky Sox win.

Jensen fell to 1-4 with the loss and Peralta earned his first win to improve to 1-3. Olson was the lone Sounds player with a multi-hit night with a 2-for-4 game.

Game two of the four-game series is set for Wednesday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Raul Alcantara (0-0, 0.00) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Aaron Wilkerson (0-2, 8.03) for the Sky Sox. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.

The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate. Tickets are available now by calling (615) 690-4487 or by visiting www.nashvillesounds.com.

2016 Volleyball Play Day Schedule(Click to enlarge)

A pair of disappointing losses by the Lady Raider volleyball team of Coffee County Central High School ended the Eagleville playday on Friday. Coach Andrew Taylor’s squad came out flat in their 9 AM game as they were dispatched in straight sets by Lincoln County. The Lady Falcons dumped Coffee County 21 to 25 and 18 to 25 as the Lady Raiders could not get any aspect of their game on track.
In the second match of the day, the Lady Raiders were eliminated by Central Magnet 22 to 25 and 21 to 25. A lot of the problems from the 9 AM game were corrected, but Coffee County could not get past the talented Lady Tigers.
Following the match, Coach Taylor stressed that his team must get better in the passing game, specifically on the first pass of each possession. The Lady Raiders will also need to make improvements in their service game as they continue their preseason preparations.
As part of those preparations, the Lady Raiders will host a playday on Tuesday as they welcome 5 of the other 6 District 8AAA teams to the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. Coffee County will have 2 teams playing with games all day long. See the schedule for times and opponents.