Thursday's Report: College b; State HS FB HoF’s Central Georgians, Paul Brooks set for retirement, Mercer wins, Macon Bacon; Falcons, Braves, UGA; NBA/WNBA, MLB, college ⚾🏈🏀📰N, NFL, HS,🏒🎾🏁
In Coverage: John Milledge pays tribute to Paul Brooks after 47 years of teaching and coaching; Ballard-Hudson, Mount de Sales, West Laurens alums into state HS football Hall of Fame
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🏫🏫🏫College🏫🏫🏫
Links may include game story as well as box
⚾ ⚾ ⚾Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
Georgia Southern 12, James Madison 4; Sun Belt Tournament
Kennesaw State 4, Florida Gulf Coast 3
Mercer 19, VMI 14; Southern Conference Tournament
Virginia 13, Georgia Tech 0; ACC Tournament, Georgia Tech eliminated
Pro
⚾ ⚾ ⚾MLB ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
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Around/About Central Georgia
BSB-Mercer survives 33-run slugfest to open SoCon
Macon Bacon open season on road Thursday
The 2024 season for the Macon Bacon gets going Thursday when they visit Forest City for a 7 p.m. game.
After a visit to Lexington County, they welcome Forest City in the home opener on Saturday at 7 p.m., with fireworks to follow.
They visit HP-Thomasville on Sunday, and return home Wednesday and Thursday against Florence and Lexington County.
As of 1 a.m. Thursday morning, the team had no roster posted on its website, listing only manager Easton Waterman and assistants Derek Ornorff and Daniel Duarte. A list on the Coastal Plain League had only 11 players, including Andrew Lowery and Jalen Hudson from Middle Georgia State.
Around/About Georgia
Cousins: If the Super Bowl were today, I'm playing
Falcons sign WRs Daylen Baldwin, OJ Hiliare
Fried pitches a 3-hitter and Ozuna homers to help the Braves beat the Cubs
Rams G.M. breaks silence on ex-UGA QB Bennett, beneficial time away from football
NBA/Basketball
Doncic leads strong close by Mavericks for win in Game 1 of West finals
James extends his All-NBA appearance record, while Doncic, Gilgeous-Alexander set for supermax deals
Jokic, Doncic on All-NBA first team. LeBron on third team
Ex-NBA referee calls CP3 'one of the biggest a--holes'
Brunson has surgery to repair broken left hand, and Knicks say Bogdanovic also underwent procedure
WNBA
Clark marketing boom is celebrated but also draws questions of race and equity
Clark, Reese and Brink have already been a huge boon for WNBA with high attendance and ratings
MLB/Baseball
MLB, MLBPA announce expanded financial assistance programs for former Negro Leagues players
Harper, Sosa, Realmuto homer to lead Phillies past Rangers and to best start in team history
Orioles get swept for first time in 107 series as incredible streak comes to an end
College Baseball
Messina drives in 5, including go-ahead home run in 9th, and South Carolina tops Arkansas 6-5
Wake Forest rides early home runs by Houston, Reinisch past Pittsburgh
Espinal has 5 RBIs and Vanderbilt scores 13 runs on 15 hits in win over the Vols
NC State bangs out 20 hits, has two 6-run innings to roll Virginia Tech
Vidourek, Cross help Cincinnati build lead that eliminates Texas in Big 12 Tournament
Davis joins Gray as the only Sooners to throw a complete-game shutout in Big 12 tourney
College Football
Suspect arrested in Florida shooting that injured Auburn RB Battie and killed his brother
TNT will begin airing College Football Playoff games through sublicense with ESPN
New Big Ten schools will make at least 1 appearance on Fox’s Friday night college football package
Inside the college football NIL market: How much players at each position are actually getting paid
Dabo was the college coaching ideal, until he wasn't
College Basketball
Auburn has to ‘own’ loss to Yale in NCAA Tournament
College Sports
A fall review of House vs. NCAA
NCAA approves $2.8B settlement in landmark agreement
As NCAA moves toward $2.8 billion settlement, whether Colorado case is part of deal is uncertain
Small conferences feeling squeezed by $2.8 billion settlement
Stanford beats UCLA to capture 3rd NCAA women’s golf title
NFL/XFL/USFL/CFL/Football
Chiefs’ Mahomes: Butker entitled to his beliefs, even though the QB doesn’t always agree with him
Time’s up after 3 hours as NFL limits interviews for coaches still busy in playoffs
Super Bowl champion Chiefs dive into voluntary workouts amid an offseason full of distractions
Allen is all smiles and on board with the Washington Commanders’ new regime
Ravens’ Jackson hopes dropping a few pounds will make him even more agile this upcoming season
High Schools
Tennessee is the latest state to mandate automatic defibrillators at high schools
Tennis
Saudi Arabia is going to sponsor the WTA women’s tennis rankings under a new partnership
Djokovic beats Hanfmann to reach Geneva Open quarterfinals on his 37th birthday
Auto Racing
NASCAR star Kyle Larson is embracing his Indianapolis 500 debut, right down to milking a cow
Stenhouse fined $75,000 by NASCAR, Busch avoids penalty for post All-Star race fight
NHL/Hockey
Bobrovsky makes 23 saves for first shutout of the postseason, Panthers beat Rangers 3-0 in Game 1
Scoreboard