Category: Sports

Joey Wendle raced home with the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Nashville Sounds a thrilling 5-4 win over the Round Rock Express in front of a sell-out crowd of 11,119 fans at First Tennessee Park Friday night.

With the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the tenth, Colin Walsh ripped a one-out double to the right-center gap to put a runner in scoring position. Walsh was hurt on the play rounding second and was replaced by pinch-runner Joey Wendle.

With an 0-2 count, Express pitcher Carlos Fisher uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Wendle to get to third. Three pitches later, Fisher unleashed another wild pitch. This one went to the backstop and Wendle raced home with the winning run.

With the win, the Sounds improved to 41-27 and extended their lead over Round Rock to four games in the American Southern Division.

Both starters were long gone when the game came to its dramatic ending. Chris Smith for Nashville, and Austin Bibens-Dirkx for Round Rock, kept the other team off the scoreboard for the first three innings.

The Sounds got on the board first when Colin Walsh sent a single to right-center that scored Chad Pinder in the fourth inning.

Jaycob Brugman started the bottom of the fifth with a double down the right field line. After a single from Arismendy Alcantara put Brugman at third, he came in to score on a sac fly by Pinder to make it 2-0.

Trouble found Smith in the sixth when Round Rock started the inning with four consecutive hits to plate three runs. Jared Hoying’s RBI triple gave the Express their first run of the game and Drew Robinson followed with a single to score Hoying.

After Pedro Ciriaco singled, James Jones lifted a fly ball to center field deep enough to bring in Robinson to give Round Rock at 3-2 lead.

Nashville came right back in the home half with a pair of runs to take the lead. Matt McBride drew a bases loaded walk and Brugman plated Ravelo with a sacrifice fly.

Round Rock answered immediately and tied the game at 4-4 when Doug Bernier scored on a dropped fly ball by Brugman in shallow center.

Sounds relievers Patrick Schuster, Tucker Healy and Ryan Brasier kept the game knotted at 4-4 in the late innings.

Walsh went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Brugman finished the night 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Brasier was credited with the win and Fisher was hit with the loss.

The series continues Saturday night at First Tennessee Park in game two of the five-game set. Right-hander Henderson Alvarez (1-0, 3.45) makes an MLB rehab start for the Sounds against right-hander Kyle Lohse (2-3, 5.35) for the Express. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

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A 4 run outburst by Lincoln County dropped the Coffee County Red Raider baseball team in a 6 to 5 decision on Thursday.  The afternoon contest was the opening game of the 2016 Crethan Hansert Memorial Baseball Tournament

Coffee County jumped out to a 3 to 0 lead in the first inning thanks to 3 walks, a pair of Falcon errors and a 2 RBI single from Davis Green.  Nathaniel Tate also logged an RBI on a fielder’s choice.  Coffee County added a run in the 4^th inning on an RBI sacrifice fly from Jacob Duncan to score Grant Sadler.  Coffee County tried to rally from a 2 run deficit in the last inning as Jacob Langham scored on a double steal before Lincoln County shut down the rally.

Davis Green led the Raiders in hitting with a pair of singles in 2 at bats and a pair of RBI.  Langham had 2 walks, 3 stolen bases and 2 runs scored.  Grant Sadler had a pair of walks and scored once.

Coffee County is back in action on Friday when they take on Warren Co at 12:30.  On Saturday, Coffee County takes on Central Magnet at 11 AM and Grundy County at 6:30 PM.

Scott Hansert will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show as he will talk about the tournament.  The Coffee Coaches Show is heard each Saturday morning at 10 AM and is broadcast live from Al White Ford/Lincoln in Manchester.

The Red Raider Skills Camp is scheduled for next week at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  The camp will be hosted by the Coffee County Red Raider basketball team. The Skills Camp is open to Boys and Girls grades 3rd-8th!! Brochures and registration links are below explaining all dates, times, and costs. Please fill out the online registration form and camp fees are due on the first day of camp!! If you have any questions please contact Head Coach Micah Williams at williamsm@k12coffee.net or Assistant Coach Benjamin Holl at hollb@k12coffee.net
The signup link for the Red Raider Skills Camp is:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kphKoH4ehsrhQIlnQh7GNs1DJleVaRIlSClO9cP7o1w/viewform
This year our new CCHS A/V Production class will also be filming all 4 days of camp, including instruction and all the fun. For $15.00 you and your player can take home a DVD for Instruction on demand, from former Professional Micah Williams and his staff at CCHS. You can relive the greatest moments of the Red Raider Skills Academy 2016. Information on DVD’s is also below. DVD Proceeds assist the A/V Production classes and students!

Freddie Freeman’s two-run home run in the third gave the Braves a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, as Atlanta received a solid start from Matt Wisler and defeated the Reds, 7-2, on Thursday to split the four-game series at Turner Field.

“It’s huge,” Freeman said. “Definitely when you’re at home you want to go out and win again, and Matt really picked us up today and gave us 6 2/3 of strong baseball.”
Cincinnati jumped out to a first-inning lead for the third time during the series when Brandon Phillips drove in Zack Cozart with an RBI single. The Reds stretched their lead to 2-0 in the third, as Adam Duvall hit his 19th home run of the season.
Chase d’Arnaud led off the bottom of the third with a double down the left-field line and later scored the Braves’ first run of the game on Mallex Smith’s RBI single. Two batters later, Freeman blasted his third homer of the series to hand his team a 3-2 lead.
“Whoever else is coming into town or wherever they’re going, they might be in trouble because he’s some kind of hot right now and we couldn’t figure him out,” Reds manager Bryan Price said of Freeman. “We thought we had a bead on him, and he’s warm — he’s more than warm, he’s real hot.”
Atlanta chased Dan Straily during a three-run fifth inning and added one more run in the seventh, as Wisler shook off the seventh home run he’s surrendered over his past three starts and earned his first win at Turner Field since beating the Cardinals on Oct. 4, 2015.
Wisler settled in after giving up runs in the first and third innings en route to his first win after dropping his last four starts. The righty went 6 2/3 innings, yielding two runs on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts. More >
Straily had thrown 73 pitches through four innings, and his 28-pitch fifth brought his outing to an abrupt conclusion. The right-hander opened the frame with a pair of walks before surrendering a two-run double to Nick Markakis. He was pulled from the game after giving up a single to Adonis Garcia in the ensuing at-bat, ending his day after just 4 1/3 innings. Reds starting pitchers have lasted through the fifth inning just one time in the past five games.
“I’ve got some guys down there [in the bullpen] who are willing to take the ball when they’re out of gas and they’ll continue to come out and pitch, but that’s just not the way you compete,” Price said. “You don’t want to get into situations where you’re finishing a game with your backend bullpen pieces that are already tired, just simply as to finish a game.”
Freeman followed up Wednesday’s performance in which he hit for the cycle with three more hits. He singled in the first inning before hitting a two-run homer to right-center in the third. Freeman singled again in the seventh.
Wisler erased Joey Votto’s leadoff single in the third with a double play, but Duvall made the right-hander pay when he hit a home run in the next at-bat. With his 1-for-3 performance on Thursday, the left fielder is slugging .673 with six homers, 17 RBIs and 12 runs scored over his past 14 games.
Before this series, Freeman had recorded just seven extra-base hits and eight RBIs in his first 32 home games. The first baseman almost matched both of those marks in four games against the Reds, as he finished the series with six extra-base hits and six RBIs.
Rookie right-hander John Gant will take the mound as the Braves open a three-game series against the Mets at Citi Field on Friday. Gant went 4 1/3 innings on Sunday in his first career start, giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts in Atlanta’s loss to the Cubs. The Mets will counter with Matt Harvey. First pitch is set for 6:10 p.m.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast at 6 PM as part of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.

The Memphis Redbirds used a solid start from veteran right-hander Jerome Williams to top the Nashville Sounds, 5-2, in front of a sell-out crowd of 10,092 Thursday night at First Tennessee Park.

Memphis took the first two games of the series and the Thursday’s finale to take three of four from Nashville. The series loss is the first for the Sounds since May 2-5 against the Iowa Cubs.

The 34-year-old Williams went six innings and allowed just one run in the process. The lone run was a solo blast off the bat of Ryon Healy in the sixth inning.

The Redbirds gave Williams a lead before he had to throw a pitch. Kolten Wong was hit by the first pitch thrown by Nashville’s Chris Jensen to start the game. The right-hander was making his Sounds and Triple-A debut.

Wong moved to second on a groundout, swiped third base, and then scored on a fielder’s choice by Tommy Pham to make it 1-0 going into the bottom of the first.

Pham was back at it again in the third when he launched a two-run homer to deep left field to give Memphis a 3-0 advantage.

Another run batted in by Pham made it 4-0 in the fifth. Wong reached on a one-out bunt single and moved around to third on a pair of wild pitches before Pham’s base hit to right brought him in. Pham finished the night 2-for-4 with four RBI and Wong went 2-for-4 with three runs scored.

Healy got the Sounds on the board in the sixth with a towering homer to straightaway center field. It’s his fifth home run with Nashville and 13th overall this year.

After Memphis added another run in the eighth, Chad Pinder cut into the deficit with Nashville’s second homer of the night. He hit a solo blast off reliever Ryan Sheriff to make it a 5-2 game. It was Pinder’s eighth home run of the season and third in as many days.

That’s as close as they’d get as Miguel Socolovich worked a perfect ninth inning to close the win for the Redbirds.

Jensen was tagged with the loss in his debut and Williams earned the win to improve to 2-1.

The Sounds welcome the Round Rock Express to First Tennessee Park for a four-day, five-game series set to begin Friday night. Right-hander Chris Smith (4-5, 4.36) starts for the Sounds while the Express have not announced a starter. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

The Coffee County Red Raider basketball team completed play in the MTSU team camp on Wednesday. Coffee County had 3 varsity and 3 JV games on the day. The Varsity team was 1 and 1 in their first 2 games with a win over MBA and a loss to Guntersville, AL. The Raiders finished the night with a late night game with Sylvania, AL. The JV team was 3 and 0 on the day with wins over Geraldine, AL, Campbellsville, KY and Clarkrange.
The Lady Raider basketball team will next be in action on Friday when they host the annual Alumni Game. The Alumni Game will feature the current Lady Raiders taking on a team of Lady Raider alumni. Tip-off is set for 6 PM at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gymnasium.

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The schedule for the 2016 Crethan Hansert Memorial was released on Wednesday as Coffee County will host the summer high school tournament. Seven teams in all will participate in the 4 day tournament at Powers Field. The 7 teams will play pool games on Thursday thru Saturday with the top 4 teams battling for the tournament title on Sunday.
Coffee County will play the first game of the day and the last game of pool play on Saturday. The Raiders open with Lincoln County at 3 PM on Thursday. The Raiders take on Warren Co at 12:30 on Friday. On Saturday, Coffee County takes on Central Magnet at 11 AM and Grundy County at 6:30 PM.
Scott Hansert will be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show as he will talk about the tournament. The Coffee Coaches Show is heard each Saturday morning at 10 AM and is broadcast live from Al White Ford/Lincoln in Manchester.

Freddie Freeman hit the first cycle of the 2016 season on Wednesday night, and Chase d’Arnaud sealed the win with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 13th inning to help the Braves outlast the Reds, 9-8, at Turner Field.

The Braves jumped on Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani early, taking a 1-0 lead in the first before adding three unearned runs in the third. The right-hander labored through his second start of the season, throwing 76 pitches in just 2 2/3 innings.
Bud Norris, meanwhile, didn’t surrender a hit until Brandon Phillips registered a single during the Reds’ three-run fourth. The right-hander ultimately allowed three hits and three runs while issuing two walks and striking out seven batters over five innings. Since returning to Atlanta’s starting rotation on June 4, Norris has posted a 2.65 ERA over three starts.
The Braves’ bullpen couldn’t back up Norris, however, as Casey Kelly entered the game in the sixth and surrendered three more to hand the Reds a 6-5 lead, but Freeman’s home run in the bottom of the frame tied the game at 6.
Neither team managed to break the tie over the next six innings, until Reds shortstop Jose Peraza drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the 13th. Joey Votto gave Cincinnati a two-run cushion with an RBI single in the ensuing at-bat, but an RBI double by Jace Peterson and an RBI single by Tyler Flowers in the bottom of the frame set the stage for the Braves’ second walk-off win of the season.
The Braves chased DeSclafani with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Peterson hit a grounder to first that allowed Freeman to score on Votto’s errant throw home. One out later, Erick Aybar cracked a two-run double to center to give the Braves a 4-0 lead. DeSclafani was lifted after walking the next batter, Norris.
Breaking through: Leading off the top of the sixth, Phillips made his way to second on a single and a throwing error by Adonis Garcia. The Reds capitalized on the mistake, as Jay Bruce singled to bring in Phillips and cut the Braves’ lead to 5-4. After Adam Duvall doubled, Ivan De Jesus Jr. gave the Reds their first lead on a two-run single, picking up his second and third RBIs of the game

The Nashville Sounds scored eight runs in the third inning on their way to a 16-3 blowout win over the Memphis Redbirds in front of 5,016 fans Wednesday afternoon at First Tennessee Park.

13 batters went to the plate in the huge inning. The eight runs scored in the frame are the most since the Sounds scored nine runs in the sixth inning back on April 12, 2015 at Colorado Springs.

Andrew Lambo and Ryon Healy both had a pair of hits in the inning. Their four hits combined to drive in five of the eight runs.

Other hits in the frame came from Rangel Ravelo, Joey Wendle and Jaycob Brugman. Chad Pinder drew a walk and was hit by a pitch and scored runs on both occasions.

The eight-run outburst came after the Sounds had already built a 4-0 lead. Lambo got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly in the first inning.

Ravelo blasted a two-run homer in the second off Memphis starter Arturo Reyes who lasted just two-plus innings. He was charged with eight earned runs in the loss.

The beneficiary of the offensive support was Nashville starter Dillon Overton. The southpaw worked seven strong innings and allowed two unearned runs on just four hits. Overton issued one walk and struck out six.

Over his last six starts, he is 6-0 with a 1.67 ERA. He joins Zach Neal as Nashville starters who have won six straight decisions this season.

The Sounds pounded out 18 hits, just one shy of their season-high 19 on May 26 in Las Vegas. Lambo led the charge with a season-high four hits and five RBI. Wendle and Pinder had three hits apiece and six different players racked up multi-hit games. Five different players recorded at least two runs batted in.

Pinder homered for the second time in as many days and scored four times.

With the win, the Sounds are 40-26 on the season. They’re the first Triple-A team to the 40-win mark in 2016. Last year’s Sounds team didn’t get to 40 wins until July 9.

The series finale is set for Thursday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Chris Jensen makes the first Triple-A start of his career against right-hander Jerome Williams (1-1, 1.93). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

A four run outburst in the 8th inning by the bottom of the Red Raider batting order led Coffee County to an 8 to 6 win over Riverdale in a 9 inning summer league contest at Powers Field on Tuesday night. The Red Raiders banged out 10 hits on the night and overcame 5 costly errors to capture the win.
After giving up 3 unearned runs in the top of the 8th inning, Coffee County used a pair of hits and a pair of Riverdale errors to plate the tying and winning runs. The Raiders also benefited from 2 walks and a hit batter in the decisive inning. Hunter Courtoy get the win on the mound for Coffee County. Cade Giles came on to pitch the 9th inning and retired Riverdale in order and capture the save.
Colton Kerber had a pair of singles for Coffee County including a lead-off single in the 8th.  Blanton Brown had a pair of singles including an RBI single in the 8th inning. Jacob Langham had a triple and 2 walks and scored the game’s first run in the 1st inning on a Nathaniel Tate sacrifice fly. Giles added a triple and a walk.
The Red Raiders will be back in action this weekend in the Annual Crethan Hansert Memorial Tournament at Powers Field. The tournament gets underway on Thursday and will conclude on Sunday. Thunder Radio will have the schedule posted on Thursday.  Scott Hansert will also be a guest on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show as he will talk about the tournament.  The Coffee Coaches Show is heard each Saturday morning at 10 AM and is broadcast live from Al White Ford/Lincoln in Manchester.