Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Lee University senior pitcher Shay Crawford and Tennessee Wesleyan junior designated hitter David Bergin were named Monday as NAIA baseball All-Americans for 2011, joining Cumberland University pitcher Aaron Wilkerson, who had made the second team as a junior last year. Wesleyan senior outfielder Jon Smith was a second-team choice this season, and Lee's Chris Grayson received honorable mention. Crawford, from Bartlett, Tenn., transferred to Lee from NCAA Division I school UAB and went 11-2 with a 1.22 earned run average this year. He had two sterling outings in the NAIA World Series, where the Flames finished third. Grayson hit .364 with 27 extra-base hits, 51 RBIs, 45 runs scored and 17 stolen bases in 20 attempts. Bergin, from Tampa, Fla., led the Bulldogs - who also went to the World Series - with a .430 average, 23 home runs and 69 RBIs and also had 12 doubles and scored 48 times. He was 9-2 as a pitcher with a 3.63 ERA. Smith, from Niagara Falls, N.Y., hit .340 with 23 extra-base hits, 49 RBIs and 64 runs.
• The Chattanooga Cyclones K baseball team went 3-1 this past weekend at the Troy University Southern Wood Bat Tournament. The Cyclones beat the OTC White 11-0 behind Kegan Frederick's pitching and offense led by James Fowlkes, Drew Toth and Bobby Towne. Toth had three hits and scored twice, Towne drove in two runs and Fowlkes had three RBIs and two runs with two hits. Patrick Parris got the pitching win in a 2-1 defeat of the Wiregrass Cardinals, when T.J. Binder had two hits and scored a run, Fowlkes tripled and scored, Jeff Burke had two hits and an RBI and Shelden Brogden doubled and had the other RBI. Brad Dotson got the win and Ryan Johnson a save in a 6-4 victory over the Huntsville Green Wave, when Fowlkes scored twice, Binder had a two-run double, Zach McKelvey had two hits and a run and Randall Coley doubled and scored. Binder doubled and scored on Fowlkes' RBI in a 6-1 loss to OTC Black. Another Cyclones team went 2-2 at Troy, including a Logan Baldwin no-hitter in a 5-1 win over OTC White when Logan Fugate had two hits and two RBIs and Brody Binder had two hits, a run and an RBI. Lee Gibson had a three-run triple and Baldwin had two hits in one of the losses, and those two each had two hits, a run and an RBI in a 10-4 defeat of the Wiregrass Cardinals 17s.
• Tom Neubert of Corryton, Tenn., won the Heads-Up 4.70 class and $5,000 Saturday night at the Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip. He won with a 4.70-second run in his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air with a modified 706-cubic-inch Chevy engine using injected alcohol and nitrous oxide assist. Stacy Roderick of Charleston, Tenn., was second in his 1990 Corvette with a 632 Chevy motor, and David Solomon of Spencer was third. Mark Miles of Flintstone, Ga., won both the 5.70 class (with Michael Davis of Cleveland second) and the 6.00 class (with Justin Dempsey of Whitwell second, followed by Russ Hood and Rick Millard). Ricky Millard of Rossville won the 7.00 class with Madisonville's Jeff Moses second. Ringgold's Ricky Barnes won the Foot Brake class with Steve Holloway second.
• Brett Patterson from McMinnville, Tenn., who just finished his freshman year at Middle Tennessee State, qualified Monday for the U.S. Open by following a 70 for his first 18 holes with a 62 at Hawks Ridge Golf Club at Ball Ground, Ga. Recent University of Georgia graduate Russell Henley also was one of the three qualifiers in that sectional with an 11-under-par 133, but Dalton's Matt Hughes and The Honors Course head professional Henrik Simonsen did not make it with their 139 and 140 scores. Former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer Derek Rende shot an 8-over 151 on the two courses at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J., and likewise did not advance.
• The Chattanooga Steam 15-under boys' basketball team wrapped up a 29-4 season by finishing second in the YOBA state tournament this past weekend in Nashville. The Steam went 4-1 before losing 60-55 to the Tri-City Tarheels, whom they had defeated earlier in the tournament and in previous competition. Kile Sholl led them with an average of 14 points a game, while Ben Snider averaged 12 and Lance Estus averaged nine in the tournament. The Steam, coached by Mike Sholl, qualified for the YBOA nationals next month in Florida but will not go, largely because of several players' involvement in football.