Friday's Report: FPD, Gatewood ⚾, Signings: Baldwin/Lamar County, Macon's Olson, Stratford, Houston County, Mercer, Henley; Falcons, UGA, Dream; College ⚾; NFL, MLB, NBA, colleges, Olympics, TV, ⛳🎾⚽
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High Schools
GIAA Championships
Class 4A
Brookstone 7, FPD 3, Game 1
Class AA
Gatewood 8, Edmund Burke 4, Game 1
Colleges
Links may include game story as well as box
⚾ ⚾ ⚾Baseball⚾ ⚾ ⚾
App State 6, Georgia Southern 5; Georgia Southern 14, App State 4
Florida State 8, Georgia Tech 3
Georgia College 9, North Greenville, 5; NCAA Division II Southeast Regional 2; Next: Friday, 6 p.m., vs. Mount Olive
Kennesaw State 6, Lipscomb 2; Kennesaw State 7, Lipscomb 0
Old Dominion 6, Georgia State 4
Tampa 16, Savannah State 7, NCAA Division II Tournament, South Regional No. 2
UNC Pembroke 8, Young Harris 7; Young Harris 5, Catwaba 3; NCAA Division II Tournament, Southeast Regional No. 1
Tennis
W-Xavier 4, Middle Georgia State 1, NAIA national tournament quarterfinals
M-Keiser 4, Middle Georgia State 0, NAIA national tournament quarterfinals
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Signings
Baldwin standouts Madison Ruff and Zykeria Paschal have signed, Ruff with Mount St. Mary’s and Paschal with Paine.
Lamar County had a pair of football players sign, Noah Maurice with Erskine and Clint Williamson with Point.
Alumni Update
Houston County’s Burress a Dick Howser semifinalist, lone freshman
Bills release Stratford grad Cephus
Around/About Central Georgia
Macon’s Olson tapped for Knight Commission spot
BSB-Big inning lifts Georgia College to NCAA Tournament win
Henley opens PGA Championship under par
As has been the case more often than he’d like, Russell Henley’s first hole of a tournament was a bogey.
And it was followed by another one.
But Henley straightened things out with three birdies in his final 10 holes for a 1-under 70 first round of the PGA Championship in Louisville.
Henley was in a group with Stephan Jaeger, Corey Conners, Hideki Matsuyama, and Patrick Cantlay, among others, all tied for 47th.
Henley began on No. 10, and promptly found the right rough, and then a bunker two shots later. His 24-foot par putt missed, leaving him a two-footer for bogey.
Four holes later, he three-putted for his second bogey. But he birdied the par-5 18 and then par-4 No. 1, adding a birdie on No. 5 to get under par, finishing with pars.
He tees off Friday at 1:07 p.m., with ESPN picking up the broadcast at noon.
BSB-Mercer nips The Citadel in series opener
Some spring football game dates
Friday: Washington County at Baldwin, 7 p.m.; Central at Sumter County, 7:30 p.m.; Southwest vs. Rutland, 5:30 p.m., Ed DeFore; Houston County, intrasquad, 6:30 p.m.; East Laurens, intersquad, 7 p.m.
May 21: Dublin at Jeff Davis, 6:30 p.m.
May 24: Screven County at Macon County
Schools can email dates to centralgasports@gmail.com for future postings.
Around/About Georgia/Southeast
That Falcons opener will be mighty interesting
Column: Michael Penix Jr.'s injury history actually could serve Falcons well
CPJ heads new class of Georgia Tech Hall of Fame
Official: Georgia State to get baseball home at Georgia State
Atlanta Dream moving two games vs Caitlin Clark-led Fever to NBA arena
BSB-Condon vs. Cags: The subplot to this weekend's big series
BSB-Georgia opens series with W over Florida
NBA/Basketball
The Celtics are in a good headspace as they head to a 3rd consecutive Eastern Conference finals
Timberwolves force Game 7 by demolishing Nuggets by 45
WNBA
Clark’s WNBA debut helps ESPN set viewership record for league game on network
Expecting Caitlin Clark to walk in and dominate the WNBA was borderline disrespectful
Stewart ruins Clark’s home debut by leading Liberty past Fever
MLB/Baseball
Washington makes first return to Texas as an opposing manager with fond memories
Dodgers’ first Shohei Ohtani bobblehead giveaway creates ‘a stir’ and snarls stadium traffic
Golf
Schauffele gets another major scoring record and sets the pace at PGA Championship
Rahm's frustration boils over before he gets it back together to salvage first round
McIlroy loves life inside the ropes, shoots 66 on first day at PGA
Zhang withdraws from this week’s LPGA tournament because of illness after playing three holes
Ex-Augusta National employee pleads guilty to stealing millions in Masters memorabilia
College Sports
UNC creates commotion at ACC Meetings & the latest NCAA settlement update
North Carolina trustees critical of Cunningham, to review athletic department amid budget concerns
ACC falling apart? 'The SEC and Big Ten have cut us open'
Broadcast
Joint streaming venture involving ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery will be called Venu Sports
College Basketball
Jensen’s loyalty and patience pay off with her promotion to Iowa women’s head coach
Green Bay’s Gottlieb believes he can balance his new coaching job with his national radio show
Why FSU coach Hamilton coach wants a 128-team NCAA Tournament
College Football
EA Sports College Football 25 comes out on July 19. Edwards, Ewers, Hunter are on standard cover
Michigan beginning alcohol sales at football games following successful rollouts at its other venues
NFL/ Football
NFL distances itself from Butker’s comments during commencement speech
What makes these play-callers in new places – including Arthur Smith - most intriguing
Olympic Sports
Biles is stepping into the Olympic spotlight again. She is better prepared for the pressure
Tennis
Paul feels right at home on European clay. Swiatek to play Sabalenka in Italian Open final
Top tennis players say they’re playing too much because the tournaments are too long
Soccer
Nashville SC fires coach Gary Smith after 3-4-5 start in seventh season
Messi’s $20.4 million compensation with Miami exceeds all but 3 other MLS teams
NHL/Hockey
Marchand may return from injury for Game 6, says part of playoff hockey is ‘trying to hurt someone’
Boxing UFC/WWE/MMA
Boxing announcer Hennessey retires after naming wrong winner: 'No longer the world's punching bag'
Scoreboard