Central Georgia Sports ReportJuly 20, 2022Comment

Wednesday's Report: Cephus/Wisconsin/suit, Mercer MLB draft; UGA/Smart, new Tech unis, Hawks, Dream; All-Star Game, MLB, NASCAR, colleges, soccer

Central Georgia Sports ReportJuly 20, 2022Comment

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

In Coverage: The SEC spectrum at Media Days, from Saban to Leach to Beamer to Lea

📰S📰C📰O📰R📰E📰B📰O📰A📰R📰D📰

WNBA

Atlanta 92, Las Vegas 76

📰C📰O📰V📰E📰R📰A📰G📰E📰

College Realignment

MSU AD: not over ‘by any stretch of the imagination’

Column: Why Florida State is more attractive than believed

Or Miami and Florida State nearing irrelevance?

No more Big12/Pac-12 talks

Virginia Tech AD looking over shoulder

Alumni Update

Judge dismisses suit vs. Wisconsin over Cephus reinstatement

Around/About Central Georgia

Kelley the fourth Mercer player picked

The player Mercer head coach Craig Gibson said was “One of the greatest if not the BEST competitor I have ever coached” was the fourth member of the Bears’ 2022 team to be picked in the MLB draft.

Pitcher Jackson Kelley went Tuesday in the 12th round to Texas. He joined outfielder Colby Thomas, catcher Collin Price, and outfielder Bill Knight, who went Monday.

The junior from Marietta was 7-0 with a 1.35 ERA last spring, whiffing 82 in 60 innings and earning all-conference honors. He’s a finalist for the second straight year for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s top stopper award.

The end of the draft brought good news to Texas Tech, South Florida, and Northwest Florida State. Those are the college destinations for Houston County’s Gage Harrelson, Mary Persons’ Eric Snow, and Westfield’s Grey Brannen.

They were listed as prospects by MLB.com, and went undrafted, so they’ll be headed to college. Snow was the No. 178 prospect.

UGA had four players picked Tuesday and six overall. Georgia Tech finished with eight players selected, two on Tuesday.

Georgia high school and college players picked on Tuesday: Georgia Tech pitcher Marquis Grissom Jr., 13th round, Washington; Georgia pitcher Dylan Ross, 13th, NY Mets; Georgia pitcher Shane Marshall, 14th, Chicago Cubs; Walker shortstop Omari Daniel, 14th, Minnesota; Tech shortstop Tim Borden II, 16th, to Houston; Georgia pitcher Garrett Brown, 18th, to Chicago Cubs; Dutchtown outfielder Christian Jackson, 19th, to Atlanta; and Georgia pitcher Jack Gowen, 20th, to Seattle.

Around/About Georgia/Southeast

Smart: ‘I was ready to step down and resign. I was done.’

Well, what he meant was …

Druw Jones gets record deal for high-schooler

Falcons sign Ridder to rookie deal

And get retirement notice from Goldman

Atlanta’s All-Stars made a little noise in quiet game

Ronald Acuna led off for the National League with a double and scored in the first inning, and Austin Riley had a hit later.

But that was it for Atlanta’s all-stars. William Contreras and Dansby Swanson went 0 for 2 and Travis D’Arnaud drew a walk.

Max Fried made the team and was on hand but unavailable after pitching seven innings over the weekend.

Contreras brother enjoying special ASG experience

Tech to break out new unis