Tuesday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

 

 

UGA's Crean has a full plate

          Tom Crean met with UGA beat reporters, and discussed staff, family, recruiting, personnel, and other stuff

           And his players talked, too, about the new coach and old coach

 

Mercer assistant Eaker taking over at Hoffman's alma mater

          Oklahoma Baptist giveth, and taketh away.

          Mercer head men's basketball coach Bob Hoffman was a legendary player and coach at Oklahoma Baptist, and now the school has another Mercer connection with new head coach Jason Eaker, who takes over after joining Mercer and Hoffman in 2013.

          Eaker also played at OBU, albeit for one season. His dad is a Hall of Famer at the school.

 

College Baseball: Georgia Tech breaks Mercer's in-state streak

          Little went right for Mercer, from timely hitting to consistent pitching to solid defense, and the result was predictable.

          Georgia Tech took advantage of four errors and scored four unearned runs in beating Mercer 16-8 at OrthoGeorgia Park to even the season series.

          It was Mercer's first loss against an in-state team this season, and the Bears went through eight pitchers in the process, giving up five Tech homers.

College Baseball: Georgia picks up quality non-conference win vs. Clemson

          The Bulldogs and Tigers played at the brand new SRP Park in North Augusta, and No. 18 Georgia topped No. 8 Clemson 6-3 in front of 5,801.

 

College Baseball: Kennesaw State tops Georgia Southern on the road

          Kennesaw State put six up in the fourth and rolled to a 12-3 win at Georgia Southern.

 

College Golf: Mercer finishes fifth at Brickyard

          Mercer gave back 14 strokes on the final round, but was able to maintain and finish fifth in the Brickyard Collegiate.

          The Bears shot a 906, 7 strokes better than Troy and 11 behind Virginia Tech. Vanderbilt was first, followed by Old Dominion and Kennesaw State.

          Mercer's Payton Schanen finished ninth.

 

MLB: Braves rally comes up short against Nationals

          A night after Max Scherzer had Atlanta's number, it was Stephen Strasburg's turn, and the Nationals took a 4-1 win over the Braves.

 

 

Chipper takes a tour of the Hall of Fame

          And the Braves legend was taken aback at the experience.

 

Daily Scoreboard is posted

 

This Week's Signings

          Tattnall girls basketball standout I'Uana Slaughter has signed with Southern Crescent Tech. She helped the Trojans to 83 games in four years, averaging 11.2 points as a senior. ...

          Houston County girls soccer player Marissa Molnar has signed to continue her career not far from home, at Wesleyan. ...

          A pair of Houston County golfers will sign on Wednesday, Hilton Beck with Georgia College and Brent Hamm with Troy.

 

This Week's Honor Roll

          Central Georgia Tech men's basketball player Mike Laster was named to the NJCAA All-America second team. The freshman from New York averaged 14.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in helping the Titans reach the national tournament. ...

          Outfielder Sarah Couch of Georgia College is the  Peach Belt Conference freshman of the week.

          Couch hit .500 in four conference games last week with a double and five RBIs. ...

          Junior MJ Rookard of Middle Georgia State is the Southern States Athletic Conference player of the week, for the second time this season.

          He helped the No. 17 Knights to a 3-1 week, hitting .500 with a .714 slugging percentage and 4 RBI. Rookard is batting .379 with 5 homers and 26 RBI.

 

This Week's Poll Watch

          Georgia College stayed at 13th in the latest Collegiate Baseball Division II poll, five spots behind Columbus State. ...

          Georgia is No. 18 in the latest D1Baseball.com and USA Today/Coaches poll, 21st in Baseball America, and 25th in Perfect Game. The Bulldogs fell out of the Collegiate Baseball poll.