S

On Monday night, the Red Raider Baseball Team played host to Riverdale in their home opener at Powers Field, but the Warriors proved to be too much, leaving Manchester with the win.

The game was scoreless in the first inning, then Riverdale exploded for five runs in the top of the second.

Coffee County would get on the board in the bottom of the second inning, as Colter Neel scored a run off of a Brady Daugherty single which Daugherty turned into a double on a fielder error.

Riverdale would add three more runs in the third inning, and one more in the fourth inning making the score 9-1 through four and a half innings played. 

The Red Raiders would show some signs of life in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Cole Pippenger doubled on a line drive that sent Trevor Jesse and Jayden Fellers home to make the score 9-3.

Pippenger would reach home himself after Colter Neel hit a fly ball that was mishandled, and Neel would score again after stealing home, making the score 9-5 through five innings.

However, the Warriors would outscore the Red Raiders 6-1 in the final two innings, winning the game, 15-6.

“Riverdale is a very good baseball team,” said Red Raider Coach Kyle Douglas. “We knew that coming into this one and we wanted to play a good team to see where we were at. Tonight, I thought some of those effort based intangibles were lacking a little bit. We have an opportunity to get better and tonight shouldn’t define this season, but the season goes in the direction that we choose to take it from this point. If we respond well to it, it will be a great night and if we don’t take it well in stride, it could be a very bad night. So, how we respond in the next one is very important.”

The Red Raiders will get a chance to respond on Thursday, March 7 at 6:00 pm on the road at Siegel.