Category: Sports

The Coffee County Central High School baseball team will hold tryouts for the 2015-2016 baseball team on Saturday, June 6^th from Noon to 3 PM at Powers Field.  Any student who will be in the 9^th through 12^th grades next school year is invited to tryout.  Those wishing to tryout need to pre-register at the link provided:

CHS Baseball Tryout List

Those wishing to tryout need to bring their own baseball equipment along with a completed TSSAA Physical form

For more information, Contact David Martin at martind15@k12tn.net or Jon Spears at spearsjon@k12coffee.net

Nathaniel Tate delivers a pitch in Sunday’s game at Warren County

A pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the 6th inning spoiled David Martin’s homecoming on Sunday afternoon as the CHS Red Raider baseball team dropped a 5 to 3 decision to the Pioneers. The loss, though disappointing, capped off a productive first weekend of the summer for the Red Raiders. The Raiders finished the weekend tournament with a record of 2 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie earned Coffee County a 2nd place finish in the Tullahoma 17U tournament. After being named head baseball coach on Thursday, Coach Martin has had the opportunity to watch the young team in their last 3 games as he and Coach Jon Spears have worked together extremely well in this transition. “There is a lot to like about this team” said Martin following Sunday’s loss. “I feel good about their talent and their attitude. This is a great group of kids” Martin added. The loss spoiled a wonderful pitching performance by rising sophomore Nathaniel Tate has he pitched 4 2/3 innings of 4 hit ball. Offensively, Coffee County got a pair of singles from Wyatt Day and Alan Rob and an RBI double Cade Giles. The Raiders will take off this weekend as Martin will hold tryouts on Saturday at noon at Powers Field.

Nashville Sounds pitcher Barry Zito delivers a pitch on Sunday at First Tennessee Park

In a much hyped-up pitching matchup, it was Nashville and Barry Zito that outdueled top Mets prospect Steven Matz and the Las Vegas 51s, 1-0, at First Tennessee Park on Sunday afternoon.

Zito faced the minimum through five, pitching eight scoreless innings, the most by a Sounds pitcher this season. The crafty veteran yielded a season-low two hits and struck out a season-high six batters. Twice he got out of jams with inning-ending double plays – including a strikeout, caught stealing in the third inning. He has now thrown 14 scoreless innings dating back to his last start on May 26 at Sacramento.

The Sounds were the only team to input a run on the guitar-shaped scoreboard, doing so in the first inning courtesy of a Nate Freiman opposite field double that scored Ryan Roberts. The run came off Matz who entered the day leading the PCL in ERA (1.99) and wins (6). He took his third loss of the season.

R.J. Alvarez picked up his third save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. With the win, the Sounds have now won seven straight games for the first time since April 23 – 30 of 2010.

The series comes to a close tomorrow night at First Tennessee Park. Looking for the sweep, the Sounds will send Zach Neal to the mound. The right-hander will attempt to secure his fourth win in as many starts with Nashville. Tyler Pill will get the ball for Las Vegas. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Coffee County’s Steven Sullivan(left) goes around a defender at Van Buren County playday on Friday. Photo by Ben Holl

The Coffee County Central High School boys basketball team got their summer scrimmage season underway on Friday with a triple-header at the Van Buren County Playday.  New head coach Micah Williams started his tenure a bit shorthanded due to vacations and other conflicts.  Several players had good performances, but the Raiders dropped all games as Coffee County was missing at least 3 crucial players.

CHS basketball coach Micah Williams talks to his team during a timeout on Friday at Van Buren County. Photo by Ben Holl

Against Van Buren County,  Wyatt Day had 12 points and Garrett Eldridge added 11 points as Coffee County fell 55 to 46.  In Game #2, the Raiders dropped a 54 to 40 contest as they were led in scoring by Day, Silas Vaughn and Steven Sullivan.  In the nightcap, Clay County dropped Coffee County 62 to 51.  Day scored 22 points for Coffee County while Caleb McKenzie added 10.  The Raiders will be back in action on Thursday and Friday as they travel to Murfreesboro for the Oakland team camp.

Westwood first baseman Haley Miller

A pair of Lady Rocket softball players were named to the Duck River Valley Conference All-Conference team for the 2015 season. 8th grade first-baseman Haley Miller and 7th grade catcher/shortstop Sarah West were honored for their outstanding play this season.

Sarah West of Westwood Middle legs out a triple

West led the team in hits with 35 as she batted .648 and an on-base percentage of .683.  Miller finished the year with 23 hits and a batting average of .426.  Her on-base percentage was an impressive .475.  The Lady Rockets are coached by head coach Angela Houck and she is assisted by Jeff Houck.

The Sounds pounded out 14 hits and scored four times in the seventh inning against the Las Vegas 51s on Saturday night at First Tennessee Park to win their sixth straight game by a score of 6-1.

The win bumped Nashville’s record to 22-27 overall and 15-5 when the team plates five or more runs. The season-best win streak moved to six with the victory and the Sounds are now 7-3 in their last 10 games.

The early portions of the game were again highlighted by good pitching and limited offense. Sean Nolin was making his fourth start of the season for Nashville and threw 78 pitches in 4.0 innings of work. The left-hander struggled with control, walking four and hitting a pair, but allowed just one run on three hits. Nolin’s location problems helped Las Vegas produce several base runners, but the hurler left seven of them stranded, including the bags pack to finish his outing.

The 51s sent Duane Below out for his fifth start of 2015 and the southpaw lasted 6.0 innings with two strikeouts. The 29-year old surrendered two runs on seven hits, giving up four doubles to Nashville and suffering a tough-luck loss.

The extra-base hits came off four different Nashville bats. Joey Wendle, Kent Matthes, Jason Pridie and Bryan Anderson all posted a two-bagger off Below. Anderson came around to score the Sounds first run of the contest in the fourth when Anthony Aliotti drove in his seventh run in the team’s last six games. The first baseman’s 21st RBI of the season helped knot the score at 1-1 after four.

Nashville proceeded to jump on top in the sixth and then put four more up in the seventh. Pridie started off the sixth with his double and the outfielder was driven in by third baseman Matt Carson. The Sounds followed in the seventh with five consecutive singles, six in total, and claimed a 6-1 advantage. By the time the four-run seventh had concluded, every Sounds’ player had at least one hit.

Wendle, Matthes and Pridie all ranked among the top 15 PCL players in extra-base hits coming into the game and the trio also collected multi-hit affairs. The 2-3-4 hitters ended the night 6-for-14 with four runs scored.

Ryan Verduo, who pitched 2.1 shutout innings following Nolin, earned his second win of the season. Pat Venditte (1.2 IP) and Ryan Cook (1.0 IP) finished the win for the Sounds. Over their last nine games, Nashville is posting a ridiculous 1.98 ERA (18er/81.2ip).

Game three of the series gets underway Sunday at First Tennessee Park with a 2:05 p.m. start time. In a highly-anticipated pitching matchup, veteran Barry Zito (2-4, 4.72) will go against Mets’ prospect Steven Matz.

New CHS baseball coach David Martin(right) discusses fielding mechanics with Noah Anderson(left) on Friday Night at Powers Field. Looking on in the background is coach Jeff Hinshaw(left) and Alan Rob(right)

With new head coach David Martin watching, the Coffee County CHS summer league baseball team got a pair of victories on Friday night at Powers Field.
In game #1 the Raiders got a 6 inning, 2 hitter from Jacob Langham as they dropped Grundy County 8 to 0. The Raiders broke open a scoreless game in the 4th inning with a 3 run rally with 2 outs. The Raiders got the benefit of 4 unearned runs in the 6th inning to close out the time limit game. Nathaniel Tate and Alan Rob were each 2 for 2 with a walk and an RBI a piece. Zach Wise was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI as Coffee County banged out 9 hits.
After a rocky start in Game #2, A.J. Rollman settled down on the mound to earn the victory for Coffee County. Rollman, who gave up 3 hits in the first, held Central Magnet to 1 hit in the next 4 innings to lead Coffee County to the 10 to 2 win. Deandre Wakefield came on in relief in the 5th inning to earn the save. Nathaniel Tate was the hitting star for the Raiders as he was 3 for 3 with a pair of RBI.

In a game that had just seven hits, Nashville walked away with the series opener against Las Vegas on Friday night at First Tennessee Park, 2-1.

Combining yesterday’s 3-2 victory with tonight’s win marked the first time the Sounds won back-to-back one-run games this season. Nashville moved to 7-10 in one-run affairs and got their 10th win at home.

Nashville’s three hits were a season-low, but the home team got on the scoreboard first with a run in the second inning. With two away, Nate Freiman was hit by a pitch, Bryan Anderson walked and Niuman Romero singled. Anthony Aliotti, who was 8-for-16 during the series in Sacramento, drew a bases loaded walk. Nashville would leave the bags packed to end the frame, but claimed the 1-0 lead.

They carried the momentum to the third and Joey Wendle showed off his speed and aggressiveness. The second baseman singled on a bunt to the left side to start the inning and moved to second after a wild pitch. He proceeded to tag up on a deep fly to left field, barely beating the ball to third base with a late slide. Jason Pridie followed with a sacrifice fly to left, his team-leading 30th RBI of the year, to back starter Chris Bassitt with a 2-0 advantage.

Bassitt had his best stuff in the series opener and was able to notch his second win of the season. While the right-hander struggled with finding his breaking ball early, he located the fastball with ease and ended the night with four strikeouts. The 26-year old finished his night by delivering 5.2 innings with four hits, one run and no walks.

He left with runners at the corners and two away in the sixth, as Jim Fuller entered in relief. The lefty specialist threw just four pitches and concluded the frame with a strikeout. The hurler has started the first Triple-A stint of his career with scoreless outings in nine of his 10 games.

Brock Huntzinger fanned four of his six batters over two scoreless frames. R.J. Alvarez then entered in the ninth and recorded his second save of the year. Nashville’s team ERA dropped to 3.14 in May, while Bassitt’s win improved the starter’s record to 10-8 during the month.

The series continues Saturday night with a 6:35 p.m. contest. The second game of the set will feature a battle of the lefties, as Sean Nolin (0-0, 0.71) and Duane Below will compete at First Tennessee Park.