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The Franklin County Rebels lost to the Coffee County Raiders 8-1 on the road Monday for their seventh loss of the season.

The score was kept close for the first half of the game with the Raiders pulling away in the fifth and sixth innings to give the Rebels a district loss.

Franklin County head baseball coach Mike Crossland praised the work of pitcher Casen Gilliam in the contest while pointing to a few key errors as the decisive factor in the game.

“(Gilliam) kept them off-balance for most of the game, a lot of pop-ups and a lot of weak contact, and the same old bug bites us again,” he said, referring to the defensive miscues. “You’ve got to make routine plays, especially against a team like (Coffee County). They’re athletic from top to bottom, and when you make a mistake like that, they’re going to make you pay.”

The Raiders quickly got on the board with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first. An error a few batters later gave Coffee County a baserunner who would later come around to score on a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-0 game.

 The Rebels got their first two baserunners of the contest in the top of the fourth when Austin Roberts walked and Gilliam singled, and Brayden Henley came through with a two-out RBI single to score Roberts and make it a 2-1 game.

The Raiders strung together a few hits in the bottom of the fifth to grow the lead up to 3-1, and a dropped fly ball with two outs in the frame led to another two runs scoring.

The Raiders capitalized on the extra out provided to them with an RBI single by their next batter growing the deficit up to 6-1.

The Raiders tacked on another two runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the Rebels in a seven-run hole late.

The Rebels weren’t able to put up any runs in the final frame as they lost by seven.

Gilliam pitched the first 5 2-3 innings in the game with three strikeouts, six hits, four earned runs and four unearned runs allowed.

Graysen McNeese recorded one out in relief with one hit allowed.

With the loss, the Rebels moved to 8-7 on the season and 3-4 in district play.

They will next play Tuesday at home against Coffee County Central High School. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.