Rebels drop close district game at Coffee County
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The Franklin County Rebels lost to the Coffee County Raiders 5-3 on the road Tuesday for their third loss of the season.
The score was close throughout with the Raiders scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth to break a tie and give the Rebels a loss in the district contest.
Franklin County head baseball coach Mike Crossland said he was proud of his team’s turnaround from a blowout loss to Coffee County the day before, but he added that unproductive at-bats with runners in scoring position and untimely errors proved costly on Tuesday.
“Tonight, I thought we fought. We just didn’t capitalize on a lot of the opportunities,” he said. “We felt like we gave one away tonight. We had opportunity after opportunity, and, if nothing else, this should be a stepping stone for our club letting them know that we can play with anybody.”
The Rebels were the first team on the board as Wyatt Lowe hit a leadoff single in the top of the third, moved to second on an error on the same play, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Sam Vincent and ran home following a throwing error on a pickoff attempt to give Franklin County a 1-0 lead.
However, the Raiders put up a pair of runs in the bottom half of the third to flip the scoreboard in their favor.
The Rebels were able to tie the score in the top of the fifth on a two-out RBI double by Gus Gardner to bring Austin Roberts around to score from first base.
However, the Raiders scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to break the tie with all of the scoring for the frame resulting from errors with two outs.
The Rebels put runners at the corners with two outs in the top of the seventh, and lead runner Payton Miller was able to score from third base when Gavin Sells reached base on a dropped third strike to put the score at 5-3.
However, Sells and new lead runner Brayden Henley would both be stranded on the basepaths as the Rebels lost by two.
Josiah Cullins pitched the first 5 2-3 innings for the Rebels with six strikeouts, five hits, two earned runs and three unearned runs allowed.
Casen Gilliam recorded one out in relief which was a strikeout.
With the loss, the Rebels moved to 3-3 on the season and 0-2 in district play.
They will next play Thursday at home against Tullahoma High School. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

