Tuesday's Central Georgia Daily News 'n Notes: Mercer BKB signing, big MGSU baseball honors, Stratford milestone, Tech/UGA recruiting, and more
Tuesday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
The full Scoreboard is in The Latest Coverage, along with a master playoff schedule.
Another Honor Roll/Signings update will be posted late Wednesday morning, with plenty.
Mercer’s Miami Christian pipeline continues to flow
Mercer men’s basketball has its fourth connection to Miami Christian High in place with the transfer of Felipe Haase from South Carolina.
He played for Mercer assistant Juan Gardona at Miami Christian, which is also sending Neftali Alvarez and Diego Rivera to the Bears.
Haase becomes the second transfer from South Carolina in recent years, joining forward Desmond Ringer, who played at Mercer for three seasons, his Bear career ending in 2017-18.
Haase, a 6-9 forward from Chile, played for two seasons, 65 games, under head coach Frank Martin. He’ll have two years of eligibility left.
“Felipe has a great basketball IQ and is very skilled for a guy his size,” Mercer head coach Greg Gary said in a release. “He possesses the ability to stretch defenses and post up as well. We’re excited to have Felipe join our Mercer Family.”
Haase averaged 6.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and an assist in 21.5 minutes a game in two seasons. He started eight games, and had one double-double and four double-digit scoring games in two seasons.
A three-star recruit (ESPN.com and 247Sports.com), Haase was a high school teammate of Alvarez, who is transferring in from Fairfield. Haase averaged 19.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 6.3 assists as a senior.
Braves Report
Another night of the bullpen holding firm, but pitching getting little offensive help as San Diego nipped Atlanta 4-3.
Around/about Central Georgia
Kaplan picks up milestone win at Stratford
The Stratford boys tennis team needed less than an hour to get a big win for its coach.
Stratford's semifinal win Tuesday over Wesleyan improved Jaime Kaplan's record at the school to 400-57.
Video: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com
The Eagles’ 3-0 win – in barely 50 minutes in the GHSA Class A Private semifinal – gave Jaime Kaplan her 400th career win as the school’s boys and girls coach. She is now 400-57, and entering yet another championship match, on Saturday against Paideia.
On Campus
Middle Georgia State cleans up in conference baseball awards
Zach Cornell was named the Southern States Athletic Conference baseball co-player of the year Tuesday night, leading a parade of honors for Middle Georgia State.
He shared the honor with Faulkner’s Max Guzman.
Cornell also picked up a Gold Glove, all-academic, and was named the team’s Champions of Character winner. He’s in the top four in the SSAC in average (.430) slugging (.733), runs (54), and RBI (57), among other categories.
Joining him on the all-conference first team: Houston County alum Blake Jackson, Trent Nash, and Jacob Durant. Jackson leads the Knights with 13 homers and 61 runs and is second with 54 RBI.
Veterans grad Preston Spark (5-3, 3.64 ERA) and center fielder MJ Rookard made the second team.
Sparks and Cornell were joined by Perry grad Drew Martens, Jason Gifford, Alex Snider, Tyler Goddard, and Tyler Flood on the all-academic team.
Tenth-ranked MGSU opens the SSAC tournament at 5 p.m. Wednesday against Martin Methodist in Montgomery, Ala.
Georgia College set for Peach Belt softball tournament
Georgia College is the fifth seed in the Peach Belt Conference softball tournament that begins Friday.
The 34-17 Bobcats play Flagler at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, with the winner of North Georgia and UNC Pembroke waiting. Flagler swept Georgia College 3-0 and 4-2 a few weeks ago.
Top seed North Georgia is the tournament host.
Mercer baseball adds transfer from Sante Fe College
Around/About Georgia
Tech topping Georgia in football recruiting: for how long?
New/upgraded offensive line a key to Falcons’ resurgence
Vince Carter to return to the NBA, but where?