Thursday's Report: HS playoffs, Positive Athlete honors, Signings (Central), Middle Georgia State, Georgia College, Mercer; Braves, Falcons, UGA; NBA/WNBA, MLB, college 🏈/🏀, NFL,🏇🏼,🏎️
In Coverage: Central Georgians honored by Positive Athlete; GHSA, GISA pairings
Coming Thursday: Latest coaches carousel
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High School
⚾ ⚾ ⚾Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
GHSA Playoffs
Class 6A
Houston County 12, Evans 1, 5 inn.; Houston County 10, Evans 3
The bats traveled well for the Bears in the convincing road sweep. A 4-run second put the Bears in control in the opener, which they sealed with 6 in the fourth. Leading the 14-hit parade: Ethan Buffone, who went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI. Eli Stephens, Troy Carpenter, and Isaiah Galason added 2 hits and 2 RBI each, and Caleb Adkison swiped two bases. Will Allen fanned 7 with a walk in the 5-inning complete game. The Knights went up 3-2 in the top of the fourth only for a 5-run explosion in the bottom half to put Houston County back in charge. Vick Gann, Stephens, and Carpenter each had 2 hits, Stephens and Carpenter with 2 RBI each. Kendall Jackson stole 4 bases, Adkison and Christian Wahiwe 2 each.
Class 4A
West Laurens 6, Troup 4; Troup 4, West Laurens 2; Game 3, Thursday, 5:30 p.m., at West Laurens
Parker Bryant whiffed 13 while walking 1 in the complete-game 4-hitter for the Raiders, adding 2 hits. West Laurens won it with 2 in the bottom of the sixth, on a bases-loaded walk to Jordan Hall and run-scoring single by Reid McFadden, but wasted chances at more runs, all that coming with no outs. Bryant retired Troup in order in the seventh. Troup’s 3-run fifth was enough in the second game, thanks in part to 2 Raider errors and 3 unearned runs.
Whitewater 18, Perry 8; Perry 3, Whitewater 2; Game 3, Thursday, 5:30 p.m., at Perry
The Panthers went from a 6-2 first-inning lead to way in a hole after Whitewater’s 9-run sixth, with a 3-run knockout in the seventh, Perry kicking it around for 5 errors and 6 unearned runs. Perry trailed 2-0 after one in the nightcap, but took the lead for good with 2 in the fifth. Colter Ginn had 2 of Perry’s 5 hits to help winning pitcher Miles Jones, who struck out 9 with 3 walks in the complete-game 4-hitter.
Class AA
Toombs County 6, Washington County 1; Toombs County 7, Washington County 0
⚽ ⚽ ⚽Soccer ⚽ ⚽ ⚽
GIAA Playoffs
Boys
Class 4A
Bulloch 3, Mount de Sales 1
🏫🏫🏫College🏫🏫🏫
Links may include game story as well as box
⚾ ⚾ ⚾Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
Middle Georgia State 15, Point 4, SSAC Tournament
Pro
⚾ ⚾ ⚾MLB ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
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Signings
Central had five players sign Wednesday for women’s college basketball, with Talladega getting Tayelor Davis, Taliah Grier, and Alaya Grane, Maya Crawford heading to Reinhardt and Aniya Dugger to Central Georgia Tech.
Honor Roll
SSAC baseball: Middle Georgia State puts 6 on all-conference team, plus other honorees
List includes Veterans grad Jacob Pierce.
Around/About Central Georgia
New Mercer women’s staff loses assistant to head coaching job
But Bears pick up transfer from New Mexico
BSB-Georgia State storms back from 8-1 deficit to take down Mercer
BSB-Belcher gets 100th win as Georgia College nips Newberry on bellflower (John Milledge) walkoff
Around/About Georgia/Southeast
Sale tosses 5 strong innings, Braves avoid sweep
Frustrating series finale for Seattle
"Same page" comments from Cousins in March feel much different now
Despite the criticism, Falcons deserve some credit for drafting Penix
Falcons talked trade at 10 with Jets
The Falcons' rationale for the Penix Jr. pick is sadly flawed
Three ex-UGA players among ‘What went wrong for the seven undrafted five-stars’
Power booster/power broker in UGA athletics Leebern dead at 85
NBA/Basketball
Celtics hammer short-handed Heat and advance
Doncic scores 35 points, leads Mavericks to win, 3-2 lead
Timberwolves’ Mike Conley wins the NBA Teammate of the Year award for a 2nd time
NBA admits missing Tyrese Maxey's travel before four-point play against Knicks
WNBA
Clark attendance boon: Some WNBA teams look for bigger arenas when the Fever come to town
MLB/Baseball
Brewers’ Uribe suspended 6 games for brawl, Peralta 5 and Murphy 2 while Rays’ Siri penalized 3
Reds' Elly De La Cruz on pace for historic season, and his MVP odds are dropping
Why Posey is ‘jealous' of today's players in pitch-clock era
Trout’s sublime talent defined his first decade in baseball. Injuries are the story now
Phillies strike out 18 times, but beat Angels
College Football
Ex-FSU QB Outzen, who started in 1999 championship game, dies Tuesday
U. of Houston blowing off NFL's cease-and-desist about Oilers-like uniform: 'We're doing it'
Pac-12 posts an impressive haul in the NFL draft before the conference breaks up
Swapping Saban for DeBoer should help Alabama’s Milroe
College Basketball
UNC’s Davis is returning for a 5th season, was AP 1st-team All-American last year
Longtime Missouri coach Stewart entered into the Hall of Famous Missourians
UConn, Kentucky among those with big changes through transfers in portal window
National 3-point shooting leader Brea becomes the 5th transfer this week to land at Kentucky
College Sports
New Big 12 out to prove bigger bank accounts don’t always mean better football teams in 12-team CFP
NFL/XFL/USFL/Football
Browns seek half of $2.4 bil for new stadium, or $1 bil for upgrades
Elliott believes he can still carry the load at running back in return to Cowboys
Jaguars cut WR Zay Jones, clearing a path to potentially sign five-time Pro Bowler Jarvis Landry
'OK, he's really different': Seven stories that explain Bears QB Williams
Golf
Defending champ Day, hometown favorite Spieth headline Byron Nelson
PGA Tour goes to Dallas for same course and new title. LIV Golf plays in Singapore
Tennis
Alcaraz’s quest to win third consecutive Madrid Open title ends with loss to Rublev in quarterfinals
Top-seeded Jannik Sinner withdraws from Madrid Open because of hip injury
Auto Racing
Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams ahead of Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway
F1 champion Ayrton Senna remembered on Imola track 30 years after his death during the San Marino GP
Horse Racing
A year later, racing is still trying to make sense of Churchill Downs deaths
NHL/Hockey
Scoreboard