Central Georgia Sports ReportApril 18, 2025Comment

Friday’s Report: Scores, Mercer, Georgia College, GMC JC, Russell Henley, Dublin; Falcons, Braves, UGA, Tech; MLB, NBA, NFL, tennis, golf, college landscape, WNBA, NHL, soccer

Central Georgia Sports ReportApril 18, 2025Comment

📰S📰C📰O📰R📰E📰B📰O📰A📰R📰D
High Schools
⚾ ⚾ ⚾ Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

ACE Charter 6, Lake Oconee 5

Bleckley County 11, Fitzgerald 1, 5 inn.

Central Georgia Arts 10, Covenant 2

Citizens Christian 14, Trinity Christian 4

FPD 10, St. Anne-Pacelli 5
Keon Johnson’s 2 homers led FPD to the road win.

Gatewood 1, Pinewood Christian 0

Johnson County 10, GMC 5

John Milledge 5, Tattnall 4

Mary Persons 4, Upson-Lee 3

Perry 11, Warner Robins 2

Piedmont 9, Stratford 2

Rock Springs 13, CFCA 7

Rutland 5, Southwest 1

Washington County 8, Thomson 0

Westfield 11, Strong Rock 6; Strong Rock 5, Westfield 4

West Laurens 9, Baldwin 1

Wilcox County 14, Crawford County 11

⚽ ⚽ ⚽ Soccer ⚽ ⚽ ⚽

G-ACE Charter 10, Dublin 0

B-ACE Charter 3, Dublin 0

B-Baldwin 3, Howard 1

G-CFCA 10, Windsor 0

B-CFCA 0, Sherwood 0

G-Creekside Christian 5, Jasper County 0

G-Gatewood 1, St. George’s 0

G-GMC Prep 3, Dooly County 0

B-GMC Prep 5, Dooly County 1

G-FPD 7, Upson-Lee 1
Bowen Matthews knocked in 5 goals and Katelynn Jackson 2 for the Vikings.

G-Jackson 1, Rutland 0

B-Jackson 8, Rutland 0

B-Jefferson County 6, Washington 1

G-John Milledge 10, Piedmont 0

B-John Milledge 8, Piedmont 1

G-Peach County 9, Monroe 0

B-Putnam County 6, Prince Avenue 2

B-Stratford 4, Tattnall 0

G-Tattnall 5, Piedmont 1

B-Upson-Lee 5, FPD 1

B-Veterans 55, Tift County 0

G-Warner Robins 6, Northside 0

G-West Laurens 2, Aquinas 1

🎾 🎾 🎾Tennis 🎾 🎾 🎾

G-Jones County 3, Flowery Branch 2

🥎 🥎 🥎Slow-pitch softball 🥎 🥎 🥎

Richmond Hill 8, West Laurens 6
The Raiders fell on a seventh-inning home run in the slow-pitch state championship. West Laurens beat Cherokee 8-1 and Haralson County 10-0 before falling 10-3 to Sequoyah. The Raiders knocked off Elbert County 12-2, Jefferson 17-3, and Sequoyah 7-5 in the loser’s bracket to reach the championship. East Laurens went 1-2.

🏫🏫🏫College🏫🏫🏫
⚾ ⚾ ⚾ Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Columbus State 6, GCSU 1

Mercer 5, ETSU 1

🥎 🥎 🥎Softball 🥎 🥎 🥎

GMC JC 1, Georgia Highlands 0: Georgia Highlands 9, GMC 6
Alyssa Jones sat down 8 in the opener.

Middle Georgia State 8, Point 0; MGSU 13, Point 4

📰C📰O📰V📰E📰R📰A📰G📰E📰

Around/About Central Georgia

Dublin to break ground on baseball/multi-purpose facility

BSB-Power and pitching lift Mercer to series-opening win

Henley off to good start at Heritage

This Thursday bore no resemblance to last Thursday for Russell Henley.

This one has him among the leaders.

Henley turned a birdie-heavy bogey-free round to open the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town with his second-best round of the season.

The Stratford and Georgia grad sits tied for second place after his 7-under 64. Sitting next to him is Scottie Scheffler, the duo behind Justin Thomas, among the early players who finished with a 10-under 61, thanks to an amazing 11 birdies more than countering a bogey.

The last two rounds have been quite the change from the Masters’ opener.

“Last week on the first day, I really was thinking too much technically about my swing,” he said. “I had a couple things I was working on, and instead of going and playing golf, I kind of carried that into the round, and that's never worked for me.

“I don't make that mistake very often, but I did last week. Friday I played a lot better and a lot more free. Really not free, just more clear-headed and less thoughts in my head. Yeah, I feel like my game has been there. Sometimes we can get in our own way a little bit.”

Henley’s previous best at Harbour Town was a 66, which he shot three times, including back to back rounds in 2023 when he finished tied for 19th.

He came up with a solid escape from the native area on No. 6 to get a birdie, just missing a 10-footer to settle for par on No. 9.

“I had a couple good breaks, but I putted great, had a couple good saves,” Henley said. “The first hole I made a great save for par. Kind of a sloppy tee shot. If I hit it in trouble, I managed to make a par.

“(I’m) just going to try to clean up the driver just a little bit and just continue to putt like that would be great.”

Henley’s short game was much better than a week ago, with a number of near-misses on birdie tries. He was on the money from 37 feet for a big birdie on No. 14.

That got him on a roll of four birdies on the final four holes for a 31 on the back nine.

He tees off at 1:10 p.m. Friday with Tom Hoge in the seventh-to-last pairing.

Around/About Georgia

Falcons expected to take advantage of NFL draft’s deep pool of edge rushers to boost poor pass rush

Seeking spark in outfield, Braves call up Verdugo

Olson doesn’t hold back

What did we learn from Strider’s season debut?

Braves notes: Strider returns, Olson shares frustration at offensive impotence, more

Braves add veteran OF Alex Verdugo to active roster

How the OLB position became Georgia’s most glaring transfer portal need

New Tech women’s coach starts building staff

Georgia PGA announces “The Drew” golf tournament