Raiders ride hot start in win over Lincoln
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Coffee County baseball wasted no time building an early lead Monday night.
Hosting Lincoln County to kick off a district home-and-away series, the Red Raiders put up five runs in the bottom of the first inning on the way to a 6-2 victory.
Coffee County got it started when Davis McKenzie got home from third base on a sacrifice fly from Boone Floyd. After Landan Abellana advanced to third on the next at-bat with the bases loaded, he went on to cross the plate when Jaxon Pruitt was hit by a pitch.
Up next at the plate was Grayson Sadler, who brought Preston Steele in from third on a ground out to second base to make it a 3-0 game. Chase Leonard followed with a hard grounder out to right field for a single, bringing home Carter Bell and Pruitt in the process to put Coffee County up by five.
After being kept off the board in the second inning, Lincoln County brought in a pair of runs in the top of the third on a line drive single from Rhett Persell. Coffee County responded in the bottom of the fourth inning with a triple from Abellana to get McKenzie across home plate.
The Red Raiders kept the Falcons off the board from there to finish the game up by four.
Coffee County wrapped up the evening with nine hits, including two each for McKenzie, Abellana and Leonard. Steele, Pruitt and Matt Moore each had one hit.
Leonard was credited with two of the team’s six RBI. Abellana, Floyd, Pruitt and Sadler had one RBI each.
McKenzie pitched a complete game, closing it out with eight strikeouts, seven hits, two runs and one walk on the way to securing the win.
Coffee County (17-11, 4-3 district) travels to Fayetteville for a rematch with Lincoln County Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
