Area fans of the Atlanta Braves can see some of the team's top young stars on Feb. 9 when the annual Braves Caravan makes a visit to the downtown Taco Mac. The team announced Thursday that outfielder Jason Heyward, first baseman Freddie Freeman, pitcher Cory Gearrin and new hitting coach Greg Walker will be at the restaurant on Market Street for a lunchtime question-and-answer session and to sign autographs for local fans. Gearrin is a former Rhea County High School standout who made his major league debut last season. Walker was named in October as the new hitting coach in Atlanta after working in the same role for the Chicago White Sox for nine seasons.
Tennis
• Claire Mulyadi has come from Indonesia to join the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team. She will join the Lady Mocs right away, beginning with their spring-semester opener Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. at the Racquet Club in Hixson. Mulyadi is a 2011 graduate of Karangturi National Senior High School and one of the top-ranked players in Indonesia. Her coach there is Paul Sindhunatha, a former exchange student at Baylor School. "We are excited to have Claire join our program," Lady Mocs coach Jeff Clark said in a UTC release. "She has years of international experience on her resume and will definitely bolster our already strong lineup."
• The UTC men's tennis team will begin its 2012 schedule at 6 p.m. today at the Racquet Club against Radford, which is ranked 71st by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association but lost 5-2 at North Florida on Monday. The Highlanders return five starters from the most successful team in the program's history and were picked to win the Big South Conference. UTC also plays Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Racquet Club against Tennessee Tech. The Mocs, coached for the 11th year by Carlos Garcia, also return five singles starters, including two-time All-Southern Conference player Roberto Vieira from South Africa. They went 8-16 last year and were 7-7 midway through March before slumping in the wake of injuries. UTC has no seniors but a big junior group including Vieira, Ankit Chopra from India, Manuel Barroetavena from Argentina, Sam Parfitt from England, Jackson Tresnan from Apopka, Fla., Stephen Crofford from Franklin, Tenn., and Hixson resident William Disterdick from McCallie School. Another local, Orlando Lourenco, and Jordan Faith of Denver are sophomores; Pavels Grigorjevs of Latvia is a freshman.
Basketball
• Ish Sanders from Cleveland scored 16 points in Carson-Newman's 99-73 South Atlantic Conference basketball victory Wednesday night against Mars Hill in Jefferson City, Tenn.