Griffin Meeker shall now be known as Mr. Clutch.
The senior right-hander etched himself into Red Raider baseball lore on Monday night when he took the ball in an elimination game and tossed a four-hit, complete game shutout against cross-county rival Tullahoma to lead the Red Raiders to a 4-0 win and extend their season. Tullahoma had swept Coffee County when the two teams met in March.
Monday in Shelbyville, Meeker went seven innings and needed just 91 pitches to do it. He allowed four hits and walked 2 while striking out 5. He avoided trouble most of the night, except the bottom of the sixth when the Wildcats got the tying run on second base with one out. Meeker responded with a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat.
THIS GAME WAS BROADCAST LIVE ON THUNDER RADIO. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE REPLAY.
At the plate, Coffee County broke the scoreless tie with a run in the fourth inning and never looked back. A ground ball on the infield hit by Hayden Hullett allowed Nolan Jernigan to scamper home to take a 1-0 lead. A Jacob Holder double off the fence in the sixth inning sent Carter McKenzie across the plate to extend the Raider lead to 2-0.
The Raiders added some insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Meeker singled in a run, then Nolan Jernigan doubled after his line drive snuck over the head of Jacob Dixon to score Meeker.
Meeker’s performance on the mound makes it 14 consecutive shutout innings for the senior in the District 8-AAA tournament.
The win improves the Raiders to 21-10 on the season. CHS needs to win one more game to reach the district championship and lock up a spot in the Region 4-AAA semi-finals. The Raiders will play Lawrence County Tuesday night in Shelbyville at 6 p.m. The loser’s season is over. CHS hasn’t played for a district championship since 2011 – which was their third title in a three-peat run.
Tullahoma’s season ends with the loss.
Griffin Meeker 
Nolan Jernigan 
Nolan Jernigan 
Lane Spry 
Carter McKenzie 
Nolan Jernigan 
Brady Nugent 
Nolan Jernigan 
Griffin Meeker and Nolan Jernigan
Preds close season with blowout win over Hurricanes
Pekka Rinne made 30 saves for his 369th NHL win for the Nashville Predators, 5-0 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday.
Rinne tied Tom Barrasso for 19th place in NHL history. He has two shutouts this season, 60 in the NHL, which is 19th all time.
Matt Duchene scored two goals and Tanner Jeannot and Ryan Johansen each had a goal and an assist for the Predators (31-23-2), who swept the two-game set to end the regular season.
Nashville finished fourth in the Discover Central Division and Carolina finished first. They will play each other in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
You can hear the Nashville Predators on Thunder Radio – presented locally by Charlie Gonzales with Weichert Realtors, Joe Orr and Associates.
GOLF: Westwood beats Harris to advance to championship
Westwood Middle School golf defeated Harris 6.5 to 5.5 flags on Monday at WillowBrook Golf Course. The win advances Westwood to the championship.
For the Rockets, the team of Jack Stowe and Leah Kate Sullivan picked up 1 flag. Meanwhile, the team of Landon Collins, Ziya Dillard an Peyton Evans notched 2.5 flags. Thompson Lowe, Alyssa Harvey and Colin Bryant cleaned up, claiming 3 of 3 flags to give Westwood the advantage.
The Rockets will take on Tullahoma in the Championship on Tuesday at Lakewood Country Club.
TRACK & FIELD: 4 from Coffee Co. qualify for state meet
The Coffee County Central Track & Field team had four athletes to qualify for the TSSAA state meet at Friday’s sectinal event.
Kelvin Verge took second place in boys high jump, Travis Martin 2nd in pole vault, Ethan Welch 3rd in pole vault and Jacob Rutledge 4th in the 1600 meter run – all qualifying for the state meet that will be May 27 at Rockvale High School.
BASEBALL: Raiders advance in District tournament with 9-6 win over Shelbyville
While baseball certainly wasn’t on the front of everyone’s mind Sunday, there was still a game to be played.
And Coffee County played it well.
Tied 3-3 entering the 5th inning, the CHS Red Raiders plated 6 runs over two innings to beat Shelbyville 9-6 and advance deeper into the District 8-AAA baseball tournament. The loss ends the season for Shelbyville.
Sunday’s game was a continuation of what began on Saturday. With both teams tied at 3-3 at the end of four innings on Saturday, home plate umpire Gerald Tidwell collapsed on the field and passed away. He was 54-years old.
“Our boys were pretty shaken by all of that,” said Coffee County head coach David Martin. “I’ve been shaken by all of that. I’ve known Gerald for a long time and the kids have been around him a lot. It was just really hard on them seeing all of that.”
Sunday afternoon, Shelbyville scored quickly in the top of the 5th to take a 4-3 lead thanks to a Raider error. But CHS answered quickly. In the bottom of the 5th, Lane Spry and Nolan Jernigan each singled to setup Jacob Holder, who blasted his 4th home run of the season over the left-field fence to put the Raiders up 6-4. They would never relinquish the lead.
CHS added three more in the sixth. Nolan Jernigan worked a bases loaded walk and Holder was hit with the bases loaded. Griffin Meeker scored on a wild pitch.
The Eagles cut the lead to 9-6 and had the bases loaded in the top of the 7th, but Carter McKenzie came out of the bullpen and slammed the door. McKenzie got Aiden Edwards to flyout to center and Raine Sims popped up on the infield to end the game.
The loss ends the season for Shelbyville. The Raiders had to win to continue their season after a 7-5 loss to Lawrence County on Thursday. The tournament is double-elimination.
Brady Nugent earned the win on the mound for the Raiders – allowing 2 earned runs over 2 innings. McKenzie is credited with the save.
Holder was named Mid Tenn Turf Player of the Game by Thunder Radio after his 5 RBI performance.
The win moves CHS to 20-10 on the season and marks the Raiders first 20-win season since 2010, the last time the Raider baseball team made a state tournament appearance.
The Raiders still have work to do, though. They are scheduled to play the winner of Tullahoma and Columbia at 6:30 p.m. Monday (in Shelbyville). A win in that game would put the Raiders one win away from reaching the District championship game and getting a Region 4-AAA tournament spot. Monday’s game will be broadcast live on Thunder Radio, weather permitting.
Predators reach playoffs for 17th straight season
They’re in.
Luke Kunin scored twice, and Juuse Saros made 21 saves to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes to clinch their spot in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. Nashville’s victory is their first in seven tries against their first-round postseason opponent – the Hurricanes – on the campaign, and the triumph couldn’t have come at a better time.
After being 10 points out of a playoff spot two months ago, the Predators have clinched a postseason berth for the seventh consecutive season – tied for the second-longest active run in the NHL – and on this night, there’s no better feeling than being playoff bound.
You can listen to the Nashville Predators on Thunder Radio – presented by Charlie Gonzales with Weichert Realtors, Joe Orr & Associates. We are your exclusive home for the Predators in Coffee County.
Munn tosses perfect game as Lady Raiders open District tournament with win
Keri Munn was perfect Friday. And the Coffee County offense was nearly perfect, too.
Munn tossed a perfect game and the Lady Raiders ripped 15 hits and plated 10 runs to blowout Shelbyville 10-0 in six innings Friday night in Manchester.
The win advances Coffee County to the winner’s bracket finals of the District 8-AAA tournament – which will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday night against Lawrence County. That game will be played at Lincoln County, this year’s tournament host site. A win in that game would put CHS in the district championship game.
THIS GAME WAS BROADCAST LIVE ON THUNDER RADIO. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE REPLAY.
Friday night in Manchester, Munn was literally unhittable in the circle for CHS. She struck out 12 batters in six innings. She only progressed to a 3-ball count three times.
Meanwhile, the Lady Raiders punished Shelbyville at the plate.
Haidyn Campbell had 2 doubles, Emily Schuster doubled and Kiya Ferrell also had a double. Ferrell finished with 3 RBIs. Madison Pruitt added 3 hits – all singles – and a pair of RBIs. Chesnie Cox added 2 hits and an RBI, Justus Turner had an RBI on a bunt, Schuster knocked in one and Campbell sent one across the plate on her first double of the game.
CHS improves to 26-4-1 on the season with the win.
BASEBALL: Raiders open District tournament with shutout win
It appears that the Coffee County Central Red Raider baseball team is playing its best baseball when it matters the most.
Coffee County’s baseball team began its quest for the program’s first district championship in 10 years with a 3-0 shutout win over Columbia Thursday afternoon in Manchester – a game you heard live on Thunder Radio. It was the Raiders’ sixth win in their past seven games.
Coffee County rode the right arm of senior Griffin Meeker to the win. Meeker was brilliant, going the distance and picking up the shutout. He scattered six hits, walked one and struck out 8 Lion batters. The biggest trouble came in the first when Columbia picked up three of its six hits and loaded the bases, but Meeker picked up a strikeout to kill the threat.
Coffee County pushed all of its runs across in the third. Meeker started the rally with a single and scored on a double by Lane Spry. Jacob Holder later doubled home Mays Snipes (running for Spry) to push the lead to 2-0. Holder scored when Columbia catcher Gage Bolton had to throw a dropped third strike to first base.
The win improves the Raiders to 19-9 overall and now they will play Lawrence County in Lawrenceburg at 6 p.m. Friday. With a win the Raiders would advance to the winner’s bracket finals on Monday in Shelbyville.
Coffee County last won a district championship in 2011 – the third in the span of three years at the time. If Coffee County can at least advance to the district championship game, they will be guaranteed a spot in the Region 4-AAA semi-finals.
GOLF: Coffee Middle eliminated from postseason
Coffee Middle School’s golf team was eliminated from the postseason tournament with a loss to Tullahoma Thursday at Lakewood Country Club.
CMS lost 9.5 to 2.5 flags (middle school scoring is kept by winning a flag. A flag is awarded by the team that does the best on each 3-hole segment).
The CMS pairing of Tallan Crosslin and Cade Williams was able to pick up 2.5 flags for CMS. But that was all the Raiders could muster as a team. Crosslin and Williams won their pairing 2.5 to 0.5.
Raider soccer shocks Tullahoma, wins Coffee Cup in 5-3 shootout
Coffee County’s defense held Tullahoma without a goal for two halves Wednesday night in Tullahoma.
Then the Raiders took advantage in a shootout, outscoring the Wildcats 5-3 to get the win and win the coveted “Coffee Cup” trophy.
After each team traded goals a few times in the shootout, Tullahoma missed its third shot. With a 4-3 advantage, Raider freshman Izick Sierra stepped up and nailed his shot to give the Raiders the win. Emilio Contreras, Breyton Anderson, Aiden Abellana and John Martinez also scored during the shootout.
Meanwhile, not to be forgotten, Bodey Todd was stellar in goal for Coffee County to preserve the shutout throughout.
The Raiders now move on to postseason play.