Chatt State sets baseball fall league
Chattanooga State is starting a new baseball fall league for grades 9-12 players, from Sept. 3 to Oct. 10, with the emphasis on teaching fundamentals. It is set up for three sessions a week, except for two the first and the last, with one evening for practice, one for machine-pitch games and one for live-pitch games. The Chatt State league can handle 50 players. The cost is $250 with $15 off for each sibling “We ask that only serious players plan on attending, as we are gearing this toward young men that truly want to challenge themselves and learn about the game. We are NOT asking that they be of a specific skill level, just that they have a serious desire to get better and learn,” Tigers coach Greg Dennis said. “Our desire is for this to be a fun league but also a strongly instructional league.” Email Greg.Dennis@chattanoogastate.edu if interested.
GOLF
› In Thursday’s second qualifying round for the 2019 Tennessee Match Play golf tournament at Oak Ridge Country Club, defending champion Oliver Simonsen from Ooltewah and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga shot a 7-under-par 65 for fourth place at 135, one behind fellow Baylor School alumnus Chase Roswall of Bristol. Ben Rebne of Ringgold and Dalton State also made today’s 16-man match-play field at 137, with a second-round 66, and Tullahoma’s Jack Uselton was in a six-way tie at 139 for the last two spots, requiring a playoff at 7:15 this morning. Brentwood’s Nolan Ray won the qualifying at 127 (64-63). UTC’s Alex Cobb from Brentwood shot a 66 and tied for 25th at 141, along with Chattanoogan Hayden Hunneke and Crossville’s Zachary Young.
GENERAL
› Bryan College has announced the promotion of Sean Shelton to director of sports medicine as part of the renaming of the athletic training area. Shelton, an Anderson University graduate who got a master’s degree in athletic training from UTC, has worked since 2016 with highly regarded Bryan head trainer T.J. Zinke, who is shifting now to teach in the Exercise and Health Science Department. Zinke was voted the Appalachian Athletic Conference athletic trainer of the year for 2016-17. Athletic director Mike Keen sees similar skill and devotion in Shelton. “Sean is passionate about our Savior, has a servant’s heart for our student-athletes and accurately models our Sports Medicine’s mission to provide elite care to our athletes while striving to create an atmosphere that correctly reflects the love and service of Jesus Christ,” Keen said in a release this week.
› Covenant College has hired UTC graduate Ryan Clark as head athletic trainer and Samford grad Lydia McGee as assistant athletic trainer. Clark has been the head trainer at Christ Presbyterian for five years and also helped tend to Tennessee Titans for four. He previously served an internship with the Detroit Lions. “His background in the NFL, along with serving as a head trainer for the last five years at CPA, make him well equipped to pursue excellence in this role,” athletic director Tim Sceggel said in a Covenant release. “His professional qualifications combined with his heart for the Lord make him a great fit in our department. I’m also very excited that Lydia McGee is joining the training room as she comes in highly recommended to us, and with clear gifts in both athletic training in discipleship.” McGee played basketball at Samford, where she got a bachelor’s degree in 2016 and a master’s in 2018, and worked with Bulldogs football in 2017 after helping with the UAB baseball and softball teams that spring. She spent the past year as a Summit Physical Therapy athletic trainer.