Thursday's Daily News 'n Notes: Tech legend Rodgers dies; Mercer, Georgia College baseball honored; Honor Roll; returning to campus? and more
Thursday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media. Updates will be noted, so check back.
The top baseball program in the Southern Conference the last five years? Wears orange and black
Riverside Military Academy cancels the fall seasons
There will be no football at Riverside Military Academy for the first time in more than a century this fall.
The school emailed parents of returning cadets on Thursday with the announcement, based on the uncertainty regarding COVID-19.
“The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) governs interscholastic athletics (minus JROTC competitions). Currently GHSA has banned interscholastic athletics indefinitely (with no indication of when that may change) because of the pandemic. Having a safe and a healthy fall season requires substantial planning, writing of contracts, and early equipment purchases all of which would be binding even if the season remains banned by GHSA.
“Accordingly, fall interscholastic athletics at RMA are cancelled for the 2020-21 academic year. We are planning for limited winter and spring sports in anticipation that the ban will ease at a point that provides enough time for us to execute appropriately. However, similar to the fall season, if GHSA continues its ban beyond our winter/spring decision points, those seasons may be cancelled as well.
“We plan to move forward with a robust schedule of intramural competition which will give cadets at the middle and high school levels the opportunity to participate in sports, though at an intramural level.”
The school is located in Gainesville and will compete in Region 8-AA in 2020-21. It fields three fall sports, football and cross country and air rifle, and as a boys-only school, doesn’t field fast-pitch softball or volleyball.
Honor Roll
Georgia College put 10 baseball players on the Peach Belt Conference’s Team of Academic Distinction, setting a school record for the second year in a row.
Seniors KC Brown and Harrison Veldsma, juniors Austin Holloway and Bryce Bowen (Elberton) along with sophomores Jay Saunders, Luc Scudellari, Noah Mendlinger, Forrest Wilson, Ashton Sturgell, and Jacob Hester.
Veldsma is a three-time honoree with Holloway making it twice. …
Five of Mercer's 18 athletics programs were recognized by the NCAA with Public Recognition Awards for posting multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all Division I squads in each respective sport.
Baseball, men's cross country, men's golf, men's soccer and women's tennis programs were cited, the Bears tying Furman atop the Southern Conference with five teams each.
APR scores for all Division I teams will be released next week.
The APR measures eligibility, graduation and retention each semester or academic term and provides a clear picture of the ongoing academic performance for each team in every sport.
A minimum score of 930 is needed for postseason qualification, and penalties are assess for poor academic performances.
The latest APR figures are for five academic years, 2015-2019. …
Mercer softball player Allie Jones was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Four first team.
Jones has a 4.0 GPA with the double major of biochemistry and molecular biology. She’s the first Mercer softball player so honored since Natalie Shiver in 2016.
Jones was joined by Southern Conference colleagues from Chattanooga and Western Carolina.
Around/About Georgia
Longtime Georgia Tech mainstay Rodgers dead at 88
Former Bulldog facing multiple charges, including with a firearm
Are UGA coaches candidates for furloughs?
SEC presidents to vote on such things next week
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Around the nation/world
Atlanta is on NASCAR’s updated schedule
Players want money info from MLB owners
Losses for owners could hit how many billion?