Monday's Report: Upson-Lee's Walker ready, Russell Henley, Bacon/Bananas, Mercer/MLB; Braves, Falcons, UGA; Bill Russell, MLB, NASCAR, golf, NFL/Watson, more

August 1, 2022 Central Georgia Sports Report

Sunday'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.

📰S📰C📰O📰R📰E📰B📰O📰A📰R📰D

Coastal Plain

Savannah 8, Macon 3

Pro

MLB

Atlanta 1, Arizona 0

📰C📰O📰V📰E📰R📰A📰G📰E📰

NBA legend Bill Russell passes away, at 88

‘Greatest champion in all of team sports’

Memories of Russell

An understated civil rights hero

A legend on many levels, a life like few others

‘Truly a titan of our game’

Column: Not supposed to be in awe of subjects, but …

More to come Tuesday

Signings

Honor Roll

Alumni Update

Upson-Lee grad Walker ready to hit

Around/About Central Georgia

Henley stays warm, gets top-10 finish

Nobody was going to catch Tony Finau once he got going on Sunday, including Russell Henley.

Henley’s likely goal was to just stay consistent and not lose ground, and he pretty much accomplished that at the Rocket Mortgage in Detroit.

The Stratford grad finished tied for 10th with a 16-under 272, going 4 under for the day. It was his third-best to-par tournament of the year, behind the Sony Open (23 under) and CJ Cup at Summit (17 under).

Henley opened the tournament ranked 44th in the FedEx Cup rankings and 56th in the Official World Golf Rankings, closed to where he ended last season, 57th in the World and 56th in FedEx.

He continued his sizzling play of the first three rounds with four birdies to open the final round, jumping into a tie for fifth while waiting for the leaders to tie off. By the time co-leaders Taylor Pendrith and Tony Finau started, Henley was tied for fourth, 4 under for the day and five shots back.

The streak ended with a par on No. 5, but he got another one after two straight pars.

His first bogey came on No. 8 when his second shot went into the left rough just off the green and his third boomed over the hole into the right rough, also just off the green. He limited the damage with a good shot that left him less than five feet from the cup.

Henley finished the front nine at a 4-under 32, and tied for seventh, six back.

A bogey on 12 interrupted a par streak, and he birdied 14 and 17 before finding some water for a tournament-ending bogey on 18.

Henley finished with 46 pars and 21 birdies to only five bogeys. Up next is the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, where Henley has two straight top-10 finishes.

Savannah overcomes good Macon start to win

Macon took a 3-1 lead after an inning, but that was it for the Bacon, who watched Savannah score in the next four innings en route to an 8-3 win in the opener of their Pettit Cup Playoff series.

The second game is Monday night at Luther Williams Field.

Savannah tied it after single runs in the second and third innings, then scored two in the fourth and three in the fifth.

Mason Minzey had three of Macon’s seven hits (all singles) while Carter Sanford had two.

Savannah pitching had nine strikeouts and one walk, to four strikeouts and seven walks for Macon hurlers.

Former Mercer players sign after MLB draft

The four former Mercer players who were picked in the major-league baseball draft are getting their next assignments.

Colby Thomas went in the third round to Oakland, and signed for almost $100,000 more than what was slotted for that pick.

Collin Price was Houston’s sixth-round pick, and signed for $122,500, less than the pick value of $257,500.

Bill Knight was picked by Seattle in the 10th round, and signed for about $100,000 less than expected.

Jackson Kelley remains unsigned after going in the 12th round to Texas.

The state had 20 players with high school or college connections picked in the 20-round draft. As per MLB.com on Sunday, all but six had signed, including No. 2 pick Druw Jones of Wesleyan and No. 11 pick Kevin Parada of Georgia Tech.

Georgia pitcher Jonathan Cannon signed for more than $300,000 above the slot value, going in the third round to the Chicago White Sox.

Around/About Georgia/Southeast

Riley drills game-winning double in ninth

Braves have signed all draft picks

Falcons put quality competitive practice in the books

A practice ended early after some scrums

Atlanta signs rookie Shaffer from UGA

Pees stern on changing defensive culture

Lanning, Ducks amped for Bulldogs

Baseball/MLB

Deadline approaches: who’s buying, selling, getting Soto

Vaccination status adds twist to deadline