Friday's Report: Henley/Colonial, Mercer/SoCon/staff change, Alums-Bleckley County/Baldwin; UGA, Braves, Tech, Falcons; NBA, MLB, NFL, colleges, tennis, NHL, HS sports
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⚾ ⚾ ⚾Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
Wofford 16, Mercer 14, Southern Conference Tournament
🥎 🥎 🥎Softball 🥎 🥎 🥎
Florida State 8, Georgia 1, Super Regional
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Around/About Central Georgia
Henley off to quality start in Charles Schwab
He couldn’t avoid any bogeys, but Russell Henley is in a tie for 22nd after a round of the Charles Schwab Invitational.
Henley is in a group with K.H. Lee and Rickie Fowler at 2 under, six back of leader Harry Hall.
He countered two bogeys with four birdies for his third-best round this season, and first sub-70 first round in seven tournaments.
The last time Henley played the Colonial course was during the 2017-18 season, finished 58th in the Fort Worth Invitational with a 2-under 278.
BSB-Wofford tops Mercer in pitching-challenged battle of the bats
Mercer cuts loose pitching coach before SoCon tournament
Two years ago, Brent Shade was dismissed as Mercer’s pitching coach shortly after the Bears’ season-ending loss to Wofford in the Southern Conference Tournament in Greenville, S.C.
Apparently, his successor didn’t make it to this year’s conference baseball gathering.
Mercer released Cory Barton on Monday, according to multiple sources, after two seasons in charge of Mercer’s pitchers.
He was hired in the middle of July in 2021, after three seasons at Rice, following stints at Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, and Louisiana-Monroe.
Mercer entered the tournament with the league’s next-to-last ERA at 7.31, and sixth – of eight teams – in conference games at 7.39. The opponents average of .298 in league games ranks fourth, and the Bears are second with 157 strikeouts and first with seven saves.
The Bears gave up 10 runs or more 16 times, including 23 to Rutgers, 18 to UNC Greensboro, 16 and 15 to VMI, 15 to Rhode Island and Western Carolina. In-state opponents Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, and Georgia Tech averaged 9.4 runs in eight games. Samford handed Mercer the rare home sweep over the weekend with the conference regular-season title on the line, belting eight homers in one games and scoring 31 runs in three games.
On the other hand, Mercer gave up only nine runs in sweeping three at Baylor, held Georgia Tech to six runs in both meetings, and allowed but 10 runs in four games in early March to Bellarmine. Mercer’s ERA was 5.13 in last season’s 40-18 year.
Barton was still listed, however, in Mercer’s tournament game notes and on the baseball team’s web pages, as of Thursday night.
Mercer opened the tournament Thursday night with a 16-14 loss to Wofford, which the Bears swept in Spartanburg two weekends ago.
Alumni Update
Bleckley County, Baldwin alums among most underrated at UGA
Around/About Georgia/Southeast
UGA’s Brooks gets raise, extension
Georgia president, AD support Smart’s moves on speeding arrests
News & notes from UGA athletics board meeting: arrests, Jacksonville, baseball, more
Braves come through for big OutKast bobblehead crowd
BSB-Tech will retain Hall, but pitching coach fired
Danny Hall will return as Georgia Tech’s head coach, but pitching coach Danny Borrell has been fired. The only announcement is from a tweet from athletics director J Batt Thursday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets are near the bottom of the ACC in ERA for the third straight year, at 6.99. They lost 11-5 and 15-1 in the ACC Tournament to finish 30-27 (12-20 in the ACC).
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that Hall has now cut loose three pitching coaches in the last 11 years. Borrell came from the New York Yankees as minor-league pitching coordinator.
SB-Florida State brings the O, tops Georgia in Super Regional opener
Ridder using offseason on intricacies, fine tuning
NBA/WNBA/Basketball
Shaq finally served with legal papers in FTX scandal
Baseball/MLB/WBC
Ex-Braves Tehran signs with Milwaukee, set to start
Trea Turner getting booed by, well, Trea Turner’s mom
NFL/USFL/XFL/Football
Reid worries game is becoming flag football
Coaches sound off on new KO rule
New Packers DB, new Simone Biles husband ready to compete
Suspended Detroit WR ‘wasn’t aware’ of NFL’s gambling rules
College Baseball
Player volunteers to work on dugout, dies when it collapses
Cincinnati assistants fired over ‘potential NCAA infractions’ inquiry
College Sports
Toxic atmosphere followed Bohn from Cincinnati to Southern Cal, hired anyway
Tennis
French Open draw: Alcaraz,Dojo on same half, could be Swiatek-Goff quarter
Golf
Block owned PGA, Colonial is owning Block
Auto Racing/NASCAR
Jeff Gordon speaks, on life, secret talents, and Junior
This weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 schedule at Charlotte
Hockey/NHL
Yet another OT game, Dallas tops Las Vegas
Panthers throwing knockout blows to whoever’s in the way
High School/Youth Sports
Fourth OT? Naw, let’s do rock-paper-scissors
Soccer
Four accused of hanging Vinicius Junior effigy released
Scoreboards