Category: Sports

Olson’s Homer Paves Way to Sounds’ Blowout Win

Matt Olson drilled a three-run homer in the eighth and the Sounds scored seven runs over the final two innings to run away with an 11-4 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas Friday night at Southwest University Park.

The two teams had gone back-and-forth before Olson launched his tie-breaking three-run blast off Daniel Moskos to give the Sounds a 7-4 lead in the eighth. The long ball was the 10th of the season for Olson and second in as many games.

Although Moskos’ night was finished after the homer, the Sounds weren’t done scoring in the inning. Michael Dimock came in and retired Bruce Maxwell before allowing three straight hits.

Arismendy Alcantara reached on an infield single, swiped second base, and then scored on Jaycob Brugman’s double to right field. It was the fourth hit of the night for Brugman who singled in three earlier trips to the dish.

Chad Pinder followed Brugman’s double with one of his own to extend the lead to 9-4. Pinder and Brugman were two of five Sounds to have multi-hit games.

Reliever Ryan Brasier made quick work of the Chihuahuas in the eighth. He retired Austin Hedges on a pop up to start the inning before striking out Hector Sanchez and Jabari Blash in consecutive at bats.

For good measure, Nashville tacked on a pair of runs in the ninth with three more hits. Rangel Ravelo and Olson collected one-out singles to put a pair of runners on for Maxwell who drew a walk to load the bases.

Alcantara, who went 3-for-6 with three RBI, delivered Ravelo and Olson with a base hit up the middle to extend the lead to 11-4.

J.B. Wendelken worked the ninth with no problems to close out the win. Starter Jesse Hahn went six innings and turned in his second straight quality start.

In the first two games of the series, the Sounds have outscored the Chihuahuas, 24-7, and have collected a whopping 36 hits. Nashville has won 17 of the 18 games they’ve played against the Pacific Conference this season.

Olson finished the night 3-for-4 with 4 RBI, and Maxwell drilled his sixth homer of the season in the fifth – his second in as many games as well. Ravelo went 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored.

Game three of the four-game series is scheduled for Saturday night at Southwest University Park. Right-hander Chris Smith (5-7, 4.22) starts for Nashville against right-hander Daniel McCutchen (8-5, 5.38). First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. CST.

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.

CHS Football Closes out 1st Week of Summer Workouts

The Coffee County Central High School football team winds down its first week of fall camp as they prepare to begin full contact work later in July. Coach Ryan Sulkowski, and his coaching staff, are seeing the benefits of continuity as the Red Raider staff begins their 3rd season together. “I have a great staff who has really gone above and beyond this summer helping us get to this point” said Sulkowski. “I can tell that our system is in place; our football IQ is definitely up” added Sulkowski
This week has been spend on conditioning, while the Raiders also spent time installing their game plan for their opening game at Tullahoma on August 19th. This week has also given the Red Raider staff time to further evaluate an incoming freshman class who did not participate in spring practice. Coach Sulkowski also had praise for his older players who have taken on a strong leadership role. “I can tell they worked out on their own during the dead period” said Sulkowski. “Our returning players have hit the ground running” added Sulkowski.
As it has been for more than 50 years, Thunder Radio is your home for every game of Red Raider football this fall. Additionally, Coach Sulkowski can be heard weekly exclusively this fall on “The Ryan Sulkowski Show” Live from West Main Brick Oven brought to you by Coffee County Bank. Coach Sulkowski, and members of his staff and players, will come to you each Wednesday night from 6 to 7 PM at West Main Brick Oven. The show begins on August 17th and folks are encouraged to come out to West Main Brick Oven to enjoy and participate in the show.

Sounds Begin Road Trip with Rout over El Paso

A season-high five home runs helped the Nashville Sounds to a series-opening 13-3 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas Thursday night at Southwest University Park.

Renato Nunez, Matt Olson, Joey Wendle, Jaycob Brugman and Bruce Maxwell all clubbed homers as the Sounds pounded out 19 hits in the lopsided win to begin the unofficial start of the second half.

Already with a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Renato Nunez belted the first homer of the game to extend the lead to 3-0. His two-run shot to left scored Max Muncy who knocked in the first run of the game with a base hit to right field.

Leading 4-1 in the top of the fourth, Matt Olson drilled a solo shot – his ninth of the season to give the Sounds (50-42) a 5-1 lead.

Wendle got in on the fun in the fifth when he launched a two-run shot of his own to extend the lead to 7-1. Like Olson, the long ball was number nine on the season for Wendle.

Sounds starter Nick Tepesch used the run support to his advantage. He worked five innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits. The right-hander benefitted from double plays to end the fourth and fifth innings to avoid major damage and pick up his first win with Nashville.

El Paso (53-38) starter Bryan Rodriguez was charged with five earned runs on nine hits and was tagged with the loss. It didn’t get any better for Eric Yardley who allowed six runs in just one inning of work.

Jaycob Brugman broke the game open with a three-run smash off Yardley in the sixth. It’s was the fifth of the season for Brugman who plated Maxwell and Arismendy Alcantara with the homer.

Maxwell’s blast came in the top of the ninth inning. It was a run-shot shot to give the Sounds a 13-3 lead.

Maxwell and Alcantara paced the offense with four hits apiece. Ryon Healy, Muncy, Wendle and Olson had multi-hit games as well. Every player in the lineup had at least one hit to contribute to the 19 hits which matched a season-high.

The bullpen combination of Ryan Doolittle, Daniel Coulombe, Aaron Kurz and Tucker Healy combined to allow one run over the final four innings.

With the win, Nashville is now 16-1 against the Pacific Conference.

Game two of the four-game series is set for Friday night at Southwest University Park. Right-hander Jesse Hahn (1-5, 3.60) starts for Nashville against right-hander Carlos Pimentel (9-4, 5.94) for El Paso. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. CST.

Pinder and the Pacific Coast League Fall to the International League

The International League All-Stars topped the Pacific Coast League All-Stars, 4-2, in the Triple-A All-Star Game Wednesday night at BB&T Ballpark.

Sounds shortstop Chad Pinder started for the PCL and went 0-for-2 in the showcase. He played five innings before being lifted amongst a number of substitutions.

The Sounds begin play in the unofficial second half of the season in El Paso, Texas Thursday night when they open a four-game series against the Pacific Southern-leading Chihuahuas. Right-hander Nick Tepesch (7-3, 4.07) starts for Nashville against right-hander Edwin Jackson (0-1, 7.11) for El Paso. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. CST.

Westwood Football Hits the Gridiron

The Westwood Rockets line up for the “Oklahoma Drill” at Wednesday’s practice(Photo by Chad Dyer)

Westwood football is close to completing their first week in pads as Coach Chad Dyer tries to ready his team for another grueling Duck River Valley Conference schedule. The Rockets, who return only 1 starter, have had some spirited competition in battles for the starting fullback and interior lineman positions in fall camp thus far. Coach Dyer went on to say that he was “pleased with the kids who are committed and haven’t missed a workout or practice.”

The young Rocket squad has close to 30 kids out for football this year and Coach Dyer is pleased with some of the speed he will have at the skill positions. The Rockets are however lacking a lot of size depth among the interior linemen. The Rockets will continue to work through preseason camp in the mornings at the Westwood practice field. Coach Dyer was also appreciative of Brandon Imhoff and Brian Turner and the crew from Premier Lawn Care for their generous donation of over $5000 toward an irrigation system for the practice field. “(Those) guys have been working their tails off for these boys to have a nice practice field” added Dyer.

Westwood will host its annual Blue/White Game on August 4^th at 7 PM at Dyer-Bouldin Field. The Rockets will participate in the Cascade Jamboree on Friday, August 5^th at 6:30 PM when they will take on Middle Tennessee Christian. The Rockets open the season at home on August 11^th as they host the Rockets of Forrest. Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of our Hometown Tuesday Series. Coach Chad Dyer will be a guest on the Coffee Coaches Show on July 23rd to talk about the upcoming season.

Prep Volleyball Teams Begin Preseason Workouts

Members of the CHS and CCMS Volleyball teams listen in at a team camp on Monday

The Coffee County Central High and the Coffee County Middle School volleyball teams just completed their first 3 days of preseason workouts with a skills camp at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. Both teams underwent 6 hours of instruction each day from Monday through Wednesday from former MTSU assistant and current Legacy volleyball club director Paul McCormack.
The middle school Lady Raiders will take the weekend off before resuming practice next week at CCMS. Coach Malaysha Pack will have 3 days of workouts next week as they prepare for a preseason playday on August 6th. The Lady Raiders will begin their season at Flintville on Tuesday, August 9th. Coach Pack will be a guest on the Coffee Coaches Show on July 30th to talk about the upcoming season.
The high school Lady Raiders will return to the court on Thursday as they prepare for a preseason tournament at Eagleville next week. Lady Raiders begin tournament play at Eagleville High School on Wednesday. Coffee County will take on Eagleville at 9 AM, Loretto at 10:30 and Grundy County at noon. Coffee County opens the season at Warren County on August 9th when they take on Warren County and Van Buren County. Coach Taylor will be a guest on the Coffee Coaches Show this Saturday to talk about the upcoming season.

Prep Soccer Teams Begin Preseason Practice

The CHS Soccer team works on dribbling at practice on July 12th(Photo by Kandy Shemwell)

The fall season means girls prep soccer at Coffee County Central High School and Coffee County and Westwood middle schools. Here at Thunder Radio will keep you up to date on their successes all season long. On Tuesday all three local teams hit the pitch in preparation for the upcoming season.

The Lady Raiders of CCMS work on passing on July 12th(Photo by Travis O’Kelley)

At the Raider soccer field behind the Raider Academy, the CHS Lady Raider soccer team went through a series of workouts in the morning from 8 to 10. The Lady Raiders travel to a team camp at Lee University on Wednesday through Saturday. Coach David Amado’s team will have individual skill workouts in the morning and afternoon with the Lee coaching staff before playing scrimmage games in the evening. The Lady Raiders open the season on August 16th at home against Smyrna.

Out at Coffee County Middle School, the defending CTC conference champion Lady Raiders held their second practice of the preseason under head coach Travis O’Kelley. The Lady Raiders are set to open their season at Warren County on August 16th. The first regular season home match for the Lady Raiders is set for August 25^th.

The Lady Rockets of WMS work on footwork on July 12th(Photo by Rob Clutter)

Westwood begin their preseason practices on Tuesday as Coach Donna Burdine prepares her team for their second straight Conference tournament finals appearance. The Lady Rockets, who finished the season as a regular-season conference champions last year, opened the preseason with the team camp hosted Westwood athletic director Johnathan Graf. The Lady Rockets open their season at Cascade on August 18^th. The first home match will be held on August 23^rd when Westwood hosts Fayetteville at Dyer-Bouldin Field.

For the third year in a row you will be able to hear girls prep soccer here on Thunder Radio as part of our Hometown Tuesday series. This season, all 3 home openers for the soccer teams will be broadcast as part of our lineup. Here is a complete look at the Hometown Tuesday lineup:

Date Time Sport Opponent

8/11/16 6:30 PM WMS Football Forrest

8/16/16 5:30 PM CHS Girls Soccer Smyrna

8/23/16 6:00 PM WMS Girls Soccer Fayetteville

8/25/16 5:00 PM CCMS Girls Soccer Harris

8/30/16 6:00 PM CHS Volleyball Columbia

9/6/16 5:00 PM CCMS Girls Soccer Tullahoma

9/8/16 6:30 PM WMS Football Moore County

9/13/16 6:30 PM CCMS Football North Franklin

9/15/16 7:00 PM CHS Girls Soccer Shelbyville

9/20/16 4:30 PM CCMS Volleyball Warren Co

9/27/16 6:30 PM CCMS Football White Co

10/6/16 TBD CHS Volleyball Dist Tourn

CCMS Begins Preseason Football Practice

Coach Bryan Morgan(far left) looks on as his quarterbacks throw to receivers during Monday’s practice session

The Bryan Morgan reign as head football coach at Coffee County Middle School began on Monday evening with the Red Raiders first practice. Wearing shorts and helmets, the young Raider squad worked on basic offensive and defensive fundamentals along with tackling and blocking techniques. Coach Morgan also addressed the parents following the practice in a parents’ meeting stressing his expectations for the season. Missing a few players due to injury and vacation, Coach Morgan is looking to replace a large majority of the starting lineup from last season’s CTC conference co-championship team.
Coffee County is looking to finalize their schedule in the coming days and set up a scrimmage plus a jamboree appearance prior to the start of the season. The Raiders are tentatively scheduled to open the season on August 23rd when they play host to Tullahoma at Carden-Jarrell Field. Thunder Radio will be on hand for a pair of September games of the Raiders as part of our Hometown Tuesday series. The Red Raiders will continue practicing from 8 to 10 each morning the rest of the week.

Local Prep Teams Get to Work After 2 Week Dead Period

Monday ends the 2 week dead period for prep sports in local area schools. The local fall sports teams will resume conditioning and begin practices in some cases.
The CHS golf team will once again tee off the fall season as they open with their first official practice at 11 AM at Willowbrook. The Raider linksters, who return 3 golfers that participated in last season’s state tournament, will open their season on August 2nd in Cookeville after a preseason tournament in Tullahoma on July 21st.
The CHS Red Raider football team will resume summer conditioning on Monday at 9 AM as the football players will return to the weight room. Coffee County will don the pads on July 25th as they prepare to open the season on August 19th at Tullahoma.
The CHS volleyball team will get their preseason underway as they will host a skills camp at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym from 9 to 3 each day this week. The Lady Raiders, who will also host the middle school team, will get instruction from a former volleyball coach at MTSU.
The Lady Raider soccer team will hit the pitch bright and early at 8 AM for their first official practice. The Lady Raiders will be traveling to Cleveland, Tennessee on Wednesday for a team camp at Lee University. The Lady Raiders open the regular season on August 16th when they play host to Smyrna.
The CHS Red Raider soccer team will be holding tryouts on Monday and Tuesday night from 7 to 9 PM at the Raider soccer field. This tryout is for new players and incoming freshmen. The Red Raiders will also get in a few summer session practices on Wednesday through Friday.
Out at Coffee County Middle school, the football team will have their first practice beginning at 5 PM on Monday night at the CCMS practice field. Coach Bryan Morgan begins his first season at the helm of the Red Raider program. He will also host a parents’ meeting immediately following practice. The Red Raiders will practice from 8 to 10 each morning the rest of the week.
The Coffee County Middle School Lady Raider soccer team will hit the pitch from 8:30 – 10 on Monday. The defending CTC champions will open their regular season on August the 16th in McMinnville. Coffee County will host a scrimmage playday on Saturday August 13th.
Brock Freeze will hold a voluntary baseball practice on Tuesday afternoon at 5:30 PM. Coach Freeze begins his first season at the helm of the CCMS baseball team as he is seeking to get in a scrimmage game late in the week.
The CCMS Volleyball opens their preseason practices as they will join the high school team for a skills camp at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. The Lady Raiders will be under the direction of new head coach Malaysha Hickerson Pack and new assistant coach Tori Taylor. Coach Pack will be a guest on the Coffee Coaches Show later in the month of July.
At Westwood, the Rocket football team will don the pads on Monday morning beginning at 8 AM for a full contact workout. Coach Chad Dyer is looking to review practice and safety procedures with his young Rocket squad while beginning to implement Westwood’s offensive and defensive schemes. The Rockets will host their annual Blue/White game on Thursday, August 4th. The Rockets open the season at home on August 11th against the Forrest Rockets.
The Westwood Lady Rocket soccer team will begin workouts on Tuesday as they prepare to defend their regular season conference championship from 2015. Coach Donna Burdine will begin the preseason practices with a skills camp hosted by Johnathan Graf. The camp action begins on Tuesday and will go through Thursday. The Lady Rockets open their season on August 18th when they travel to Cascade.
The cross country teams from Westwood, Coffee Middle and Central High will all begin official practices later in the month.

Foltynewicz overpowers White Sox

Mike Foltynewicz became the local-kid-done-good story Sunday afternoon, as he shut out the White Sox over seven innings during the Braves’ 2-0 victory at U.S. Cellular Field. The victory for Atlanta ended the White Sox stretch of series victories at five straight.

Foltynewicz, who hails from Minooka, Ill., a southwest suburb of Chicago, struck out a career-high 10 and yielded five hits among his 106 pitches. Atlanta catcher and former White Sox backstop Tyler Flowers spoke Friday about the excellence of Foltynewicz’s raw stuff, and he proved that point true when he concluded his outing with three strikeouts during a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
“This is a really aggressive-hitting team and with it being a day game, I thought they might be swinging even more,” Foltynewicz said. “I just let the defense do the work. When I got ahead, I finally put them away today.”
“He was fantastic. He has great stuff,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Foltynewicz. “The velocity, the control that he had and a good breaking pitch. It was tough. Our guys just couldn’t get on it and any time we got something going, he snuffed it out.”
James Shields took the loss, but certainly pitched well enough to win. The right-hander gave up two runs on six hits over 7 2/3 innings, striking out two and walking two. The lone runs coming against Shields among his 93 pitches were solo home runs by Jeff Francoeur in the second and Jace Peterson in the third.
Jim Johnson worked a scoreless ninth inning to get the save for the Braves, who won three of four in Chicago, including Thursday’s makeup game against the Cubs. Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said he stayed away from Arodys Vizcaino in the ninth because of an irritation on his right elbow. Johnson got a double-play to end the game.
“We felt good and we put good swings on the ball,” Francoeur said. “I definitely didn’t think just a couple solo shots would be enough, but it was. Good for us.”
“I was being aggressive in the zone, attacking the hitters with the fastball early, trying to keep ahead in the count,” Shields said. “I got behind in the count with a few hitters there, but really I only made two bad pitches today, and unfortunately we lost the game.”
The Braves rank last in the Majors in home runs, but they took advantage of their surroundings as they belted eight home runs this weekend, marking the first time since their 2009 season-opening series in Philadelphia that they recorded this many home runs in a three-game set. Francoeur tallied his second homer of this series with one out in the second and Peterson added to Shields’ frustration when he tallied his third homer since June 28 with a two-out solo shot in the third.
“We swung the bats well,” Snitker said. “Chicago was good to us this trip. It was one of those series when every time the ball went up in the air, it was either going to pierce a gap or go over the wall. Our guys swung the bat well. We played a really good series.”
It took Tim Anderson two at-bats Sunday to produce his 14th multihit game among 28 played for the White Sox. Anderson singled in the first but was caught stealing and singled again in the third. Anderson also turned an unassisted double play in the eighth to help keep the deficit at two.
“You are looking at a kid that has improved so much over the course of time we have had him,” said Ventura of Anderson. “Now he has the talent to stick here. He has the talent to do some special things. You are starting to see some of it and just range and also just his character. That’s another thing that is very good for our team that we’ve been able to add him.”
Atlanta had chances to extend their lead in the fifth and the sixth, but Shields shut them down both times. A.J. Pierzynski doubled and moved to third on Brett Lawrie’s error with one out in the fifth, only to have Erick Aybar hit into a double play. Shields walked two in the sixth, with the runners advancing to second and third with one out on a wild pitch. But Shields retired Nick Markakis on a grounder to first baseman Jose Abreu and struck out Francoeur.
“I just go start-by-start, honestly. I don’t put too much emphasis on any start,” Shields said. “Even when I was struggling, I wasn’t putting too much emphasis on any start. Being consistent and being on the same page as Navi (Dioner Navarro) back there, it has been great.”
Pierzynski’s fifth inning double was the 400th of his career, allowing him to join Pudge Rodriguez, Ted Simmons and Carlton Fisk as the only catchers to ever reach this milestone. This might have been the final game the 39-year-old catcher played at U.S. Cellular Field. He recorded 198 doubles while playing for the White Sox from 2005-12.
Before Pierzynski caught Anderson attempting to swipe second base in the first inning, opponents had been successful with 32 consecutive stolen base attempts against Braves’ catchers dating back to May 26. Opponents have been successful with 66 of 73 stolen base attempts against Atlanta’s catchers. .
The White Sox ended the first half at 45-43, marking the first time they were over .500 at this point since 2012 (47-38).
Atlanta will begin the second half of the season on Friday night, when it welcomes Colorado to Turner Field for the start of a three-game series. The Braves will not announce Friday’s starting pitcher until they see whether Julio Teheran pitches in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast on Friday as part of the Braves Radio Network.