Raiders top White County for first win of the season

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Coffee County baseball opened its week with a home victory Monday evening.

Welcoming White County after a three-game skid to open the season the week before, the Red Raiders took care of business on the way to a 2-0 victory over the Warriors.

“I just liked the fight. We’ve played good enough to win a couple of these baseball games, we just had some bad innings,” Coffee County coach Jerry Pruitt said. “Tonight, I felt like we played seven full innings.”

Scoreless through the first three innings, Davis McKenzie came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth with one out and Landan Abellana on first base. McKenzie proceeded to knock a fly ball out to left field for a double, bringing Abellana home in the process to put Coffee County on the board.

Still leading by a run in the bottom of the fifth, the Red Raiders added to their tally when pinch runner Parker Daniel stole third and went home from there to make it a 2-0 game.

Pitcher Leiton Yancer, who had been on the mound since the top of the first inning, went on to strike out three White County batters in the top of the sixth to keep the Warriors scoreless.

Still up by a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, the first two White County at-bats ended in fly outs to center field and left field, respectively. After a double put the tying run for the Warriors at the plate, Yancer closed it out with one more strikeout to seal the win.

“I think it helps them sleep better at night, but this group’s pretty gritty. They don’t get too high or too low.,” Pruitt said of the team’s mindset after getting its first win of the season. “This is a really good group. They can do a lot of things as the season plays on, we’ve just got to stick together when stuff is hard.”

Coffee County finished the game with five hits, with one each for McKenzie, Jaxon Pruitt, Boone Floyd, Matt Moore and Preston Steele. McKenzie was credited with the team’s lone RBI.

Yancer pitched a complete game, striking out seven White County batters while holding the Warriors to five hits across all seven innings.

Coffee County (1-3) returns to the road to take on Rockvale Friday night. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.