No. 1 seed Bryan has AAC player, pitcher of year
After being picked to the All-Appalachian Athletic Conference baseball first team for 2018, Bryan College senior outfielder Fernando Garcia and junior newcomer of the year Stephen Chamblee were honored further as the league’s player of the year and pitcher of the year. And Chamblee was the winning pitcher with Garcia one of two mult-hit Lions in Thursday night’s 3-1 win over Point University in the league tournament in Kingsport, Tenn. Garcia was 2-for-4 and Wade Weinburger was 2-for-4 with the three-run eighth-inning home run that decided the game. Chamblee allowed five hits and an unearned run in eight innings, with six strikeouts, and Brandon Marklund got the last three outs for the save. Top-seeded Bryan is 40-13. No. 2 seed Tennessee Wesleyan edged third seed Reinhardt 8-6 in the other winners-bracket game Thursday, as Braden Mosley
was 4-for-4 and Alfred Cruz
2-for-4 with two RBIs apiece and five runs scored between them. Cruz doubled twice and Malik Stephens was 2-for-4 with an RBI for TWU (36-18).
› Chattanooga State is hosting the 2018 TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII baseball and softball tournaments starting Sunday, and the baseball Tigers are set to face Roane State at 3 p.m. that first day. Cleveland State’s baseball team plays Dyersburg State at 10 a.m. Monday, and nationally No. 1-ranked Walters State plays at 1 p.m. Monday against Sunday’s winner between Jackson State and Southwest Tennessee. The double-elimination baseball tournament is scheduled to end Thursday or Friday. The softball event is set to end Wednesday. Cleveland State meets Motlow State at 3 p.m. Sunday, and top-seeded Chattanooga State — ranked No. 12 in NJCAA Division I — plays Roane or Jackson State at 10 a.m. Monday.
› Eighth-seeded Lee University lost 8-0 to nationally fourth-ranked North Alabama (43-5) and pitcher Laken Distefano as the Gulf South Conference softball tournament began Thursday at Florence, Ala. Lee (27-28) plays Montevallo today in its double-elimination bracket. Lee sophomore first baseman Taylor Moran from Silverdale Baptist Academy, who was 1-for-2, made the All-GSC first team after batting .446 with 13 home runs, 125 total bases, 34 walks and a league-high 62 RBIs in the regular season. She also led the GSC with an on-base percentage of .574.
› Senior Katie Pritchett from Heritage High School in Ringgold was one of four Carson-Newman softball players named to the Southern Atlantic Conference all-tournament team after the Eagles’ championship last weekend. Pritchett hit a grand slam and a three-run double at key moments, and those seven RBIs were the most for anyone in the tournament.
GOLF
› Tim Jackson of Williston, Tenn., and Danny Green
of Jackson, who between them have won nearly 40 Tennessee Golf Association championships, individually will take on Knoxville-area brothers Jeff and Steve Golliher in the 2018 Senior Match Play semifinals this morning at The Club at Fairvue Plantation at Gallatin, while Brian Schnabel of Gallatin faces Doug Ryerson of Mount Juliet in the Super Senior final. Losses by Chattanooga-area players Thursday were Tom Baird, 1 up to Jackson; Stewart Lawwill, 4 and 3 to Jeff Golliher; Tom Schreiner, 1 up to Doug Salyers; Bob Rice, 2 and 1 to Ted Fellman; Mike Poe, 3 and 2 to Tom Paulsen; Larry McGill, 1 up to Schnabel; and Ronnie Law, 4 and 3 to Jack Ramsey.
› Homegrown Sewanee sophomore Tommy Oliver
was one of the 30 semifinalists announced Thursday by the Golf Coaches Association of America for the NCAA Division III Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year. Only repeat nominee Jacob Arnett of Oglethorpe joined him on the list from the Southern Athletic Association. Oliver averaged 73.25 strokes per round for the 2017-18 year, tied for sixth in the league tournament and was SAA co-player of the year with Arnett. Division III finalists will be announced May 15. S.M. Lee and P.J. Shields of Dalton State previously were announced as semifinalists for the NAIA award.
GENERAL
› A benefit chili supper for East Ridge recreation director Marvin “Stump” Martin and his wife, Deb, will be held Tuesday at the East Ridge Community Center, beginning at 6:30 p.m. It is sponsored by the East Ridge Optimist Club. Martin, a longtime local media personality and youth coach, “has been in the hospital several times lately for serious health issues,” club president John Tilley said in an announcement. “Let’s show the Martin family what an impact they have made on so many by helping them in this time of need.” Tilley added that people can stop by the center and make donations even if they don’t buy chili.