Coffee County baseball needed an extra inning to keep its winning streak intact Thursday evening. Taking on Upperman at Tullahoma High School, the Red Raiders were able to overcome an early push from the Bees for a 7-6 victory.

The win was Coffee County’s sixth straight.

“A couple of weeks ago, I talked about them being gritty. That was a prime example right there,” Coffee County coach Jerry Pruitt said. “There’s a lot of grit in this team.”

The Red Raiders got on the board first with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Upperman did not wait long to respond, taking control with four runs in the bottom of the inning to make it a 4-2 game.

Still trailing by two runs in the top of the fourth inning, Matt Moore doubled on a fly ball out to right field to bring Jaxon Pruitt home from second and cut the Upperman lead to one. The Bees once again answered in the bottom of the inning, adding two more runs to put Coffee County in a 6-3 hole.

After a scoreless fifth inning, the Red Raiders’ offense got rolling early in the top of the sixth with a triple from Preston Steele. Pruitt followed with a triple of his own to bring Steele home and cut the Upperman lead to two.

Grayson Sadler proceeded to come to the plate on the next at-bat and knocked a sacrifice fly out to left field, bringing home Pruitt to make it a 6-5 ballgame.

After preventing Upperman from adding any runs in the bottom of the inning, Coffee County opened the top of the seventh with a leadoff triple from Gipson. Vernon went on to knock the ball out to right field for a sacrifice fly, sending Gipson home for the tying run.

Needing to keep Upperman off the board to preserve a chance at winning, pitcher Kasen Shores struck out all three batters in the bottom of the inning to force extras.

Coffee County went on to open the eighth inning with a leadoff walk for Steele, with Leiton Yancer in as his pinch runner. Two at-bats later, Yancer stole his way to third base before a line drive from Sadler got him home for the go-ahead run.

The Red Raiders went on to keep Upperman from scoring in the bottom of the eighth to complete the comeback.

“I think for today, it’s really good,” Pruitt said of his group’s ability to get the win. “We’ll see what happens (Friday) against Tullahoma.’

Coffee County finished the game with 13 hits, led by Pruitt with three. Steele, Sadler and Moore followed with two hits each. Gipson, Boone Floyd and Elijah Vernon each had one hit.

Sadler connected on two of the team’s six RBI. Vernon, Steele, Pruitt and Moore all had one RBI each.

Isaiah Deadman pitched the first three innings, striking out four and finishing with seven hits, six runs and two walks. Xander Meeks took his place, adding two strikeouts, two hits and one walk until coming off in the bottom of the sixth inning. Shores closed it out from there, striking out four more Upperman batters through the game’s remainder.

The win put Coffee County at 6-3 on the season.

CHS takes down Moore

Coffee County baseball made it five in a row Wednesday.

Traveling to Lynchburg for a game against Moore County, a four-run top of the second inning broke a 1-1 tie for the Red Raiders on the way to a 7-2 victory.

Landan Abellana knocked two home runs out of the park for two of Coffee County’s eight hits. Abellana’s first home run came in the top of the third inning and the second followed in the top of the seventh.

Gipson, Vernon, Floyd, McKenzie, Steele and Chase Leonard had one hit each.

Abellana came away with two of the team’s seven RBI. Gipson, Vernon, Floyd, McKenzie and Leonard each had one.

Moore got it started on the mound, coming off with eight strikeouts, five hits and two runs after six innings. Shores followed for the bottom of the seventh, adding two strikeouts through the game’s conclusion.

Raiders blank Tipton Christian

Coffee County needed just four innings to open its week with a victory last Tuesday evening.

Taking on Tipton Christian at Shelbyville Central High School, the Red Raiders jumped out for five runs in the bottom of the first on the way to a 16-0 routing. This was also Coffee County’s fourth straight win after opening the season with a trio of losses.

The team finished with 13 hits, led by McKenzie and Floyd with three each. Steele and Jaxon Pruitt followed with two each, with one of Steele’s coming as a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Gipson, Vernon and Moore each had one hit.

Steele was credited with four of Coffee County’s 13 RBI. Floyd followed with three, finishing just ahead of McKenzie with two. Gipson, Pruitt, Moore and Abellana had one RBI each.

On the mound, Yancer struck out eight and held Tipton Christian to one hit across all four innings.