Thursday's Report: State baseball; Upson-Lee's Walker, Bleckley County's Taylor, Middle Georgia State, Mercer; Braves, United, NCAA golf (UGA/Tech); NBA, NFL, MLB, golf, colleges, NASCAR, NHL
In Coverage: Houston County set for championship rematch; John Milledge, Gatewood start finals series
Coming every day: The only place in Central Georgia with daily high school scores in basketball, soccer, baseball, tennis, and the only place with college – Mercer, FVSU, Georgia College, CGTC, MGSU, GMC, Wesleyan – coverage (when info is offered).
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Golf
NCAA Auburn Regional, Augusta U., Mercer’s Jonsson
MCAA Michigan Regional, Georgia
NCAA Salem, S.C. Regional, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern
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MLS
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Honor Roll/Alumni Update
Upson-Lee to retire Walker’s jersey Friday
Matthews Field will host Upson-Lee’s spring game against Westside on Friday, and a little bit more.
The No. 44 jersey of Travon Walker will be retired at halftime on – as proclaimed by superintendent Dr. Larry Derico, mayor Jhn David Stallings, board of commissioners Norman Allen – … Fans are encourages to wear Upson-Lee, Georgia, and Jacksonville attire or colors.
Commemorative t-shirts will be sold. A Jaguars film crew will be on hand for the halftime ceremony. Tickets are $5.
Walker was the first pick of the 2022 draft by Jacksonville. He started 14 of 15 games, and was ninth – fourth among linebackers – with 49 tackles, fourth with 3.5 sacks and with 10 quarterback hurries.
Bleckley County alum signs with NFL team
Jacksonville has its second Central Georgia high school football product.
Joining Upson-Lee grad Travon Walker is Bleckley County’s Willie Taylor III, whose signing with the Jaguars was released Wednesday.
The 6-4, 246-pounder was a defensive lineman and linebacker for XFL champion Arlington. He had 16 tackles and an interception in 12 games. He started his college career at Washington State and had 67 tackles in 42 games in four seasons, and finished at Eastern Kentucky in 2022, with 37 tackles.
He’ll get to work a little bit with another Central Georgian. Central grad Tony Gilbert is the Jaguars’ inside linebackers coach. Taylor is an outside linebacker.
Jacksonville starts organized team activities on Monday.
Honor Roll
SB-National scholar-athlete honor roll, S-A of the year, Middle Georgia State
Around/About Central Georgia
BSB-Regular-season title on the line as Samford visits Mercer
MGLF-Mercer’ Jonsson with top-20 regional finish
Around/About Georgia/Southeast
Arcia HR in ninth lifts Braves, avoid sweep
MGLF-Tech rolls to regional win
MGLF-Georgia tops Illinois in regional
WTEN-Georgia advances to NCAA semifinals for 15th time
Nine former UGA players in PGA Championship
NBA/Basketball/WNBA
Heat ride Butler’s 35 to rally past Celtics in opener
The best coach to never win COTY is back in conference finals
Bulls All-Star: players are ‘sorry mother-------‘
As changes mount, lack of job security concerns rise
Kerr addresses The Punch, GS needs Green
Dallas fined $750,000 for tanking
Racism part of Williams’ firing in Phoenix?
MLB/Baseball
League warns batters about tricking into clock violations
Toronto’s Jackson says he might’ve been tipping pitches
Sanchez – won title with Nats – retiring after 16 years
NFL/USFL/Football
How one SB loss helped define Ryan’s legacy
Burrow focused on keeping Higgins and Chase
Golf
Strong course for strong PGA field
Macon’s Russell Henley tees off Thursday at 2:09 p.m. with Alex Smalley and Mito Pereira, among the final two dozen to get started.
Koepka getting past ‘choking’ at the Masters
Support for Mickelson remains strong
Judge rules Woods’ ex-girlfriend must abide by non-disclosure agreement
College Sports
ACC leadership touts progress in addressing financial gaps
NCAA softball tournament starts Friday
EA sports letting FBS players opt in to 2024 game
College Football
The SEC’s most annoying head football coach?
Auto Racing
Busch calls Byron a ‘rare talent
Hockey/NHL
Former division rivals Carolina, Florida clash in East final
Tempe voters reject arena deal for Coyotes
Scoreboard