Category: Sports

The Coffee County Lady Raider basketball team completed a remarkable 6 and 1 performance at the Lincoln Memorial team camp with a pair of wins on Tuesday. The Lady Raiders got wins over Pineville and North Floville, both out of Kentucky. The JV Lady Raiders were 1 and 1 on the day with an impressive comeback win in their second game of the day.
Coffee County returns home for Friday night’s 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.
The Red Raiders went 1 and 2 on the day at their team camp at MTSU. The varsity Raiders dropped decisions to South Doyle and Gilmer before beating Greene in the nightcap. Stephen Sullivan led the Raiders in the nightcap. The JV team got wins over South Greene and Blackman in their first 2 games on Tuesday.
The Red Raider teams will each have 3 games on Wednesday to conclude the MTSU team camp. The varsity has games at 11 AM, 1 PM and 9 PM. The JV team will play at 9 AM, 12 PM and 4

Jay Bruce’s three-run home run off Julio Teheran in the first inning proved to be enough for Brandon Finnegan, as the Reds claimed a 3-1 win over the Braves on Tuesday night at Turner Field.

Bruce’s 15th homer of the season provided some early comfort for Finnegan, who scattered four hits and pitched around three walks to allow just one run over six innings. The Reds’ southpaw has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of his first 14 starts this season.
“It really is the tale of that first inning,” Reds manager Bryan Price said, “And Joey [Votto] grinding out a great at-bat to get a walk, Brandon [Phillips] in another great at-bat lines a single to left, and then Jay getting the one really costly mistake Teheran made tonight for a three-run homer. After that, he just simply shut us down.”
Teheran allowed just three hits and three runs while recording eight strikeouts over seven innings. The right-hander was nearly flawless after allowing his sixth home run in a 12-inning span, dating back to the fourth inning of his June 3 start against the Dodgers. But for the 13th time in 14 starts this season, the Braves provided their ace three runs or fewer of support.
With closer Tony Cingrani unavailable after appearing in four of the Reds’ last five games, the Braves loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth against Blake Wood, who notched his only previous save in 2011. Wood was able to escape when A.J. Pierzynski struck out and Mallex Smith grounded into a game-ending double play to drop Atlanta’s batting average with the bases loaded to .211 (11-for-52).
“It’s just a tough stretch for everybody, because everybody wants to come through,” Smith said. “All the pitchers are doing everything to keep us in games. But sometimes, that’s just how the cookie crumbles in baseball.”
One day after giving his team a 1-0 lead with a first-inning triple, Bruce set the tone once again on Tuesday, this time with a three-run homer to right-center field. The home run marked his sixth in his past 14 games. During that stretch, the right fielder is batting .308 (16-for-52) with 18 RBIs and 12 extra-base hits.
“We used to talk about when Jay gets on one of those hot streaks, and he’d go for 10-14 days just tearing the cover off the ball, hitting homers and doubles, and really wreaking havoc,” Price said. “And then he’d have a down spell and come back up. Here it’s just been more of a consistent player offensively. His defense has been good, he’s throwing extremely well.
“But from an offensive standpoint, he’s given us good at-bats, not swinging at a lot of pitches outside the zone. And when he gets a mistake, he’s doing some damage.”
If in the first you don’t succeed…: Teheran retired 20 of the final 22 batters he faced and didn’t allow the Reds to produce a baserunner after the first inning until Kyle Waldrop recorded his first career double with one out in the seventh inning. But the Braves right-hander, who has now produced a 2.13 ERA over his past 11 starts, ended up paying for the walk and single he surrendered in the first inning ahead of the home run Bruce hit after falling behind with a 0-2 count.
“[Teheran] settled in and was outstanding,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He had two strikes on the two guys that got on base before [Bruce] hit the homer. But after that, God almighty, he was nails. … We just couldn’t get the big hit.”
The Braves threatened to cut into the Reds’ 3-0 lead in the third inning after Finnegan surrendered a one-out walk to Chase d’Arnaud and hit Freddie Freeman with a 90-mph sinker on the ensuing pitch. Jeff Francoeur advanced both runners into scoring position with his groundout to short, but Finnegan escaped the inning unscathed after inducing a groundout by Nick Markakis. Opposing teams are batting .211 (15-for-71) against Finnegan with runners in scoring position.
“You’re not always going to have your best stuff and your arm’s not always going to feel the best, but the big part is to go out there and battle,” Finnegan said. “That’s what we as a staff want to do every time we go out there, is just keep us in the game. Luckily, I was able to do that tonight.”
Minimal opportunities: The Braves stranded five runners through the first three innings before getting on the board in the fourth. Adonis Garcia singled, stole second base and raced home when the Reds threw to first base on Teheran’s sacrifice bunt. Freeman was hit by a pitch twice for the third time in his career. The second instance led off the bottom of the eighth, but Francoeur followed it up by grounding into a double play.
“Maybe [Finnegan] was effectively wild,” Snitker said. “It’s just a hit here or there in the last three, four or five games. We get guys on and just can’t pierce a gap and make something really good happen.”

Bud Norris will attempt to extend his unexpected success as of late, as he matches up against Anthony DeSclafani on Wednesday. Norris spent a month in the bullpen after producing an 8.74 ERA over five April starts, but the veteran right-hander has bounced back, allowing just two runs over the 12 innings he’s totaled in starts against the Dodgers and Cubs this month.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of the game beginning at 6 PM as part of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.

Kolton Wong hit two home runs including a tenth inning solo blast to lead the Memphis Redbirds to a 7-4 win over the Nashville Sounds in front of 5,475 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.

The center fielder hit the second pitch he saw from J.B. Wendelken into The Band Box to break a 4-4 tie in extra innings.

The solo blast came just moments after the Sounds squandered a golden opportunity in the bottom of the ninth inning. With the game even at 4-4, Arismendy Alcantara sent a one-out triple into the left field corner to put the winning run 90 feet away.

Chad Pinder walked and moved to second on defensive indifference before Miguel Socolovich struck out Renato Nunez for the second out. Memphis intentionally walked Ryon Healy to load the bases and the move paid off when Socolovich struck out Colin Walsh to end the inning.

The Sounds scored a pair of runs in the first inning and extended the lead to 3-0 on Walsh’s sacrifice fly in the third.

Starter Angel Castro was cruising along until Wong crushed a three-run homer to deep right field to even the game at 3-3 in the fifth.

Pinder wasted little time getting the lead back for the Sounds in the home half of the fifth. The drilled the first pitch from Mike Mayers into the right field seats for his sixth home run of the season. He finished the night 3-for-4 with three runs scored.

Trailing 4-3 in the seventh, Memphis put runners at the corners with one out for Wong. He hit a ground ball to Alcantara at second. Nashville turned a 4-3-6 double play but not before Matt Williams came in to score.

The Sounds put runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings but couldn’t push across any runs, setting the stage for Memphis to take control.

The back-to-back losses are the first for the Sounds since they dropped two straight on May 5 & 6. The second loss in that sequence was also to Memphis. The streak of seven consecutive winning series also comes to an end with just two games left in the four-game set.

Game three of the four-game series is set for Wednesday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Left-hander Dillon Overton (6-4, 3.63) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Arturo Reyes (5-3, 4.41) for the Redbirds. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.

Monday was a great day for the basketball teams of Coffee County Central as the varsity teams combined for a 7 and 1 record on the day. The Red Raiders are in a team camp at MTSU until Wednesday. The Lady Raiders are in a team camp at Lincoln Memorial in Harrogate.
The Red Raiders had a perfect 3 and 0 day with wins over Huntland, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee and Tallulah Falls, GA. Coffee County beat Huntland by 20 points as Garrett Eldridge and A.J. Rollman had strong games for the Raiders. In Game #2, Coffee County held St. Andrew’s to 11 points in a 33 point win and in the nightcap, Coffee County dumped Tallulah Falls, GA 75 to 38. Dearron Rozier had the hot hand in the last game as Eldridge had another strong showing. The JV team was 1 and 2 on the day. On Tuesday, the varsity squad has 3 games beginning at 10 AM. The JV team is scheduled for 4 games beginning at 11 AM. The team camp concludes on Wednesday.
The Lady Raiders were 4 and 1 on the day in a team camp at Lincoln Memorial. The JV Lady Raiders struggled in their 3 games. Coffee County will have a pair of games on Tuesday to close out the camp. The Lady Raiders will return to Manchester on Thursday to prepare for Friday night’s Alumni Game. The Alumni Game will get underway at 6 PM at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.

A wacky, eventful game played between two last-place teams was decided when Arodys Vizcaino issued a two-out bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning to give the Reds a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in Monday night’s 9-8 win over the Braves at Turner Field.

After allowing six runs through the first six innings, the Braves received scoreless innings from Casey Kelly and Jim Johnson. But after Adonis Garcia provided a game-tying homer in the eighth, Vizcaino surrendered a leadoff double to Joey Votto in the ninth and then issued a one-out intentional walk to Jay Bruce. The Braves’ closer proceeded to walk two of the next three batters he faced, including Tyler Holt with the bases loaded.
“It was a little ugly there on both sides in the early going, and neither starter was really able to get into a groove, keep the game rolling and get some early contact,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “So it ended up turning into somewhat of a slugfest, even though a catalyst for a lot of scoring opportunities, at least for us, were the base on balls.”
Vizcaino has issued four unintentional walks over his past 3 1/3 innings dating back to the blown save he suffered against the Padres on June 7. He had issued just six unintentional walks in the 23 1/3 innings completed this season before this span.
“I felt like the strike zone kinda got tight on me,” Vizcaino said through an interpreter. “I was getting some pitches and didn’t get some others. I was just trying to maneuver and navigate my way through it. But what can you do?”
The tone was set as the Reds produced three runs in both the first and third innings against Braves starter Aaron Blair, who surrendered six runs over five innings. Blair’s ugly outing would have been more glaring had the Braves not tallied five runs over three innings against Reds right-hander Daniel Wright. Freddie Freeman drilled a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth, but that lead was short-lived, as Atlanta reliever Ryan Weber surrendered two more runs in the sixth.
“It’s tough because of the way the guys played and came back and stayed after it,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s just one of those you’d like to come back and win.”
As Freeman finished a triple shy of the cycle and notched his third three-hit game of the season, he played a key role in Atlanta’s comeback. The first baseman produced an RBI single in a two-run first inning and notched a two-out double to spark a two-run third inning. His go-ahead home run in the fifth inning provided him his first multi-RBI game at home this season. He had totaled just eight RBIs through the previous 32 games at Turner Field.
The Reds jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first behind big swings from Bruce and Adam Duvall. Zack Cozart drew a walk to open the game and later scored on Bruce’s two-out triple, his league-leading sixth of the season. Duvall came to the plate next and hit a 2-2 pitch off the top of the left-field foul pole for his 18th home run. He’s now homered 11 times over the past 21 games.
Walks hurt: After recovering from a three-run first inning with a perfect second inning, Blair surrendered a single and issued three consecutive walks before notching his first outs of the third inning with consecutive sacrifice flies. He retired nine of the 10 batters he faced after issuing those three walks, but by that point, the damage had already done by the rookie right-hander, who has allowed at least six runs in three of his past five starts.
While Blair could benefit from some time with Triple-A Gwinnett, Snitker said Blair will make at least one more start.
“Today was pretty much just the two innings,” Blair said. “The other three innings, I was aggressive in the strike zone. It’s been kind of a roller coaster from inning to inning. But hopefully in five days, I can make it smooth.”
With the score tied at 8 in the bottom of the eighth, the Braves loaded the bases with one out against Ross Ohlendorf, who surrendered a game-tying home run to Garcia to open the frame. The right-hander buckled down, though, and retired the final two batters of the inning on a line drive to Brandon Phillips and a groundout to third.
“It was an easy cave situation if he wasn’t a little bit mentally stronger,” Price said of Ohlendorf. “He had to make pitches, and he fell behind in a couple of those at-bats with runners on and was still able to come back and make pitches. It took him and [catcher] Tucker [Barnhart] a little while to figure out the recipe to get it done, but they did, and it was big.”
Julio Teheran will take the mound when this four-game series resumes on Tuesday at 6:10 p.m. ET. Teheran has surrendered five solo home runs over the course of his past two starts, but he has a 1.94 ERA over his past 10 outings.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast on the Braves Radio Network beginning at 6 PM.

The Memphis Redbirds used a nine-strikeout performance from starter Alex Reyes on their way to a 4-3 win over the Nashville Sounds in front of 5,369 fans at First Tennessee Park Monday night.

Reyes’ solid outing started early as he struck out the side in the first inning. The top prospect in the Cardinals organization, according to Baseball America, allowed one run on two hits in his second win of the season.

While Reyes was keeping the Sounds off the bases, Jesse Hahn was struggling to find the strike zone for Nashville.

The right-hander walked a pair in the first but got out of the jam with no runs across. He walked three in the second, including Matt Williams with the bases loaded to force in the game’s first run.

Hahn ended up issuing a career-high seven walks. He allowed three runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings and was tagged with the loss.

Nashville cut the deficit to two runs on two separate occasions, and then drew even closer in the ninth. Arismendy Alcantara launched a solo homer into The Band Box in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 3-1 game.

After Memphis scored a run against Liam Hendriks in the seventh, a run-scoring groundout by Renato Nunez trimmed the deficit to 4-2.

Memphis turned to reliever Sam Tuivailala for the ninth. Matt Olson greeted the right-hander by sending a triple down the right field line. Colin Walsh followed with a single to make it a 4-3 game.

Tuivailala bucked down and struck out the next three batters in order to earn his sixth save of the year.

The Redbirds out-hit the Sounds, 8-6, drew nine walks and stole five bases but went just 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Angel Castro (0-3, 6.06) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Mike Mayers (1-1, 2.12) for the Redbirds. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Ashley Gilliam with her School Days plaque. (Photo provided by Marshall Gilliam)

Entering the final hole of match play, Coffee County rising sophomore Ashley Gilliam got an eagle on the 18th hole to win the Tennessean/Metro Parks School Days Golf Tournament on Thursday. The win by Gilliam, a Mississippi State commitment, came after Gilliam erased a 2 hole deficit on the front nine in the 92nd annual tournament. The School Days is the state’s longest continuous golf tournament and the most prestigious junior amateur tournament in Tennessee.
Gilliam shot a 6 under par 66 in Tuesday’s qualifying round to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinals and guarantee herself a medal. In Thursday’s match play quarterfinal, Ashley won 7 and 6 in the morning match before an 8 and 6 win in the semifinal match. Both matches were ended after 12 holes.
Gilliam used a pair of birdies on holes 8 and 9 to draw even against Angelina Chan in the finals. Chan regained a 1 stroke lead through 15 holes before Gilliam tied the match again with a par putt on 16. The pair remained tied heading to 18 where Gilliam drove the par 5 in 2 to give her an eagle putt for the championship.

CHS rising senior Garrett Eldridge (Photo provided by Ben Holl)

The Coffee County Central High School Red Raider basketball team spilt a pair of games on Friday to conclude play in the Ravenwood team camp. In the first game of the day, the Raiders dropped a decision to Antioch. Garrett Eldridge led Coffee County in scoring with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Tyreese McGee had 8 points and 4 rebounds. In the nightcap, the Raiders got a 5 point win over LEAD Academy. Eldridge, Grant Sadler and Garrett Booth had great games in the win.
The Raiders will travel to MTSU for a team camp this week. The Raiders first game will be at 1 PM on Monday as they will take on Huntland in the Alumni Gym. The JV team will take on South Doyle at 1 pm at the Recreation Center. The varsity will also have games at 4 PM against St. Andrew’s and at 7 PM at Tallulah Falls. The JV will take on Austin at 3 PM and Sylvania at 8 PM. The Raiders and JV Raiders will both have games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Jon Lester stymied the Braves and drove in a run, Anthony Rizzo collected three RBIs and Javier Baez belted a three-run homer to lead the Cubs to a sloppy, 13-2 victory on Sunday in Chicago’s final game at Turner Field.

The Cubs are 43-18, 25 games over .500 before they have lost 25 games. This is their best 61-game start since the 1907 Cubs began 47-14.
“I have goals — that was 25 over today,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “If I have any short-term goals, it’s to increase increments of five, and that’s what I focus on more than anything.”
Lester has given up two earned runs over 30 1/3 innings in his last four starts, and he lowered his ERA for the season to 1.89. The lefty shrugged off four errors in the game, and the Cubs have won 10 of his 13 starts this year.
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“You can’t really worry about it — I know guys are not trying to make errors,” Lester said. “My job is to pick them up. They pick me up more times than not with diving plays and unreal stuff they do out there for all of us.”
Rizzo moved past teammate Kris Bryant for second in the National League in RBIs (47) after hitting a one-out RBI double in the first, a one-out RBI single in the seventh and another one-out RBI single in the eighth. Baez’s home run highlighted a six-run eighth.
“[Bryant] sets the pace, then I set the pace,” Rizzo said of the RBI race. “Hopefully, we keep staying with each other all the way.”
Braves rookie John Gant, making his first big league start, took the loss, serving up three runs (two earned) over 4 1/3 innings. Atlanta dropped to 7-25 at Turner Field.
“There’s a reason they’ve won 43 games at this point,” Braves left fielder Jeff Francoeur said. “They’re a great team. We got Friday night’s game, and we knew we were going to have our hands full yesterday and today. We were in this game, and then it just kind of got out of hand.
A pair of one-out walks plagued Gant in the first when he surrendered an RBI double to Rizzo for the first run of the game. But with runners on second and third, the right-hander struck out back-to-back hitters to limit the damage. Gant held his own against the Cubs’ potent lineup over the next two innings, allowing only one hit, before Chicago struck for two runs in the fourth.
“He kept the game manageable, which is the biggest thing,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He didn’t let it get out [of hand]. It was still manageable, and we had enough innings to come back. He did a good job, battled through a lot and did a good job of keeping the game there against one of the best teams in baseball.”
The Cubs had a runner at first with one out in the fourth when Baez hit a grounder to Adonis Garcia at third. Baez was originally called out, but after a review, the call was overturned. David Ross then blooped a single to right and Chris Coghlan scored as Nick Markakis’ relay sailed for an error. Baez scored on Lester’s squeeze, which first baseman Freddie Freeman fielded, but he opted to throw to Chase d’Arnaud covering at first. It was Lester’s second RBI of the season.
The Braves tied the game at 1 in the first after d’Arnaud scored on a double steal and a throwing error by Ross. Freeman, who advanced to third on the play, represented the go-ahead run, but he was stranded after Francoeur struck out and Markakis grounded out to second. Atlanta ultimately finished 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Over their past 23 games, the Braves are hitting .168 (32-for-190) in such situations.
This wasn’t the cleanest series defensively. On Saturday, the Cubs were charged with three errors, and on Sunday, they committed four more. Garcia reached on second baseman Ben Zobrist’s first error of the season, a wild throw, which catcher Ross recovered but then threw into center field for another error in the second. Ross also made a throwing error in the first. Garcia did reach third, but he was later caught in a 5-2-6-1 rundown that ended with Lester applying the tag and then tumbling onto the grass. Dexter Fowler was charged with another error in the fourth.
“We were uncharacteristic today,” Maddon said. “We made some mistakes, no question. But at no time did I feel it got to us or dragged us down. We were ready to come back the entire game. A big part of it was because Jon was so good.”
In the fourth, the Cubs had a runner at first with one out when Baez hit a grounder to third baseman Garcia. Baez was called out at first, but after a review, the call was overturned and Baez was credited with an infield hit.
Aaron Blair will take the mound for Atlanta when it opens a four-game home series against the Reds on Monday. The right-hander is 0-3 with a 6.08 ERA in five starts at Turner Field and has made it through the fifth inning just once in his past five outings. First pitch is set for 6:10 p.m. CT and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast beginning at 6 PM as part of the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.

The Nashville Sounds rallied for three runs in the ninth to win their seventh consecutive series with a 7-4 win against the Oklahoma City Dodgers Sunday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Colin Walsh walked to lead off the ninth for the Sounds and was followed by a double by Joey Wendle. After a Bruce Maxwell fly out, Jaycob Brugman came to bat with one out in the inning and the go ahead run just 90 feet away.

Brugman then showed his heroics once again as he delivered a one-out two-run single to left field scoring Walsh and Wendle to give the Sounds a 6-4 lead. Brugman then advanced to third on a fielding error by Dodgers left fielder James Ramsey. The Sounds added another run as the newest Nashville Sound Arismendy Alcantara delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Sounds a 7-4 win.

Brugman and Alcantara reached on back-to-back walks to begin the game for the Sounds in the top of the first. Two baters later Ryon Healy launched a two-out three-run home run to left center field to give the Sounds an early 3-0 lead after one.

The Dodgers returned the favor with a three-run home run in the third to take a 4-3. With the bases loaded, a wild pitch allowed James Ramsey to score from third to make it 3-1 Sounds. Rob Segedin then launched a three-run home run to left to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead after three.

Sounds starter Chris Smith recollected himself and retired nine out of his next 10 batters to keep the Sounds within a run. Smith went six innings allowing four runs on three hits. Before giving way to Aaron Kurcz out of the bullpen, Smith struck out his ninth and final batter in Corey Brown to end the sixth.

The Sounds tied the game in the top of the eighth on a bases loaded sacrifice fly to right by Ryon Healy scoring Brugman from third. The sacrifice fly gave Healy his fourth RBI of the night to tie the game at 4-4 after eight.

Then magic struck in the top of the ninth as the Sounds rallied for three runs to take the lead 7-4.

Sounds Manager Steve Scarsone then called on Nashville native Andrew Triggs in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the Sounds win. After hitting Segedin to lead off the inning, Triggs retired the next three batters including striking out the final two batters of the game to record his second save for the Sounds. Tucker Healy who pitched an inning and struck out two got his second win of the season.

The Sounds know return to First Tennessee Park Monday night for a nine-game eight-day homestand with the first four games coming against their in-state rival Memphis Redbirds. The Sounds will send right-hander Jesse Hahn (1-1, 1.93) and the Redbirds will counter with right-hander Alex Reyes (1-0, 3.78). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.