Coffee Middle’s Red Raider baseball team pushed 3 runs across the plate in the first inning Thursday afternoon against Stewarts Creek. But it was the runs that didn’t score that cost CMS.
The Raiders stranded 12 runners on base, including three innings where they left the bases loaded, in a 5-3 loss to visiting Stewarts Creek – a game you heard broadcast live on Thunder Radio as part of the Peoples Bank & Trust Hometown Sports Series.
Everything looked good for the Raiders early. Landon Abellana drove in Tatsuki Aso and Cole Pippenger with 2-RBI single. That was followed by an RBI single from Jace Cashion to send Evan Kirby across the plate.
But the Raiders left the bases loaded to close the first, then loaded them up again in the second and couldn’t push across a single run. CHS stranded one in scoring position in the fourth inning after Cole Pippenger singled and stole second. Then the Raiders loaded the bases in the fifth with one out and could not score. Two runners reached in the sixth with no outs, but Stewarts Creek again pitched out of trouble.
Meanwhile, Stewarts Creek got an unearned run across in the third and eventually took the lead with a 3-run fifth, powered by a 2-run home run by Tyler Huskey. SCMS added a run in the seventh.
CMS was pitcher by committee – getting 2 innings out of starter Colter Neel, 2 from Aso, 1.2 from Keaton Rowe and 1.1 from Caleb Crouch.
Jeff Moran picked up the win on the mound for Stewarts Creek – not allowing a single run in relief while pitching out of a bases loaded jam in the second and sixth.
It is the first loss of the season for the Raiders, who are now 4-1. They will host Harris Middle on Monday, March 15.
Caleb Crouch 
Evan Kirby 
Cole Pippenger 
Landon Abellana
