Chattanooga State makes its first appearance in the NJCAA Division I baseball World Series in the first game of the 2010 tournament Saturday at 11 a.m. EDT against Hutchinson (Kan.). While the Tigers are 37-14 after rallying past Gordon College for the East Central District championship last weekend, Hutchinson is 37-22. The loser of their game plays again Sunday at noon EDT; the winner waits till Monday. In either case the Tigers will play San Jacinto (Texas) or State College of Florida. As a player in 1982 and '83, Chattanooga State coach Greg Dennis helped McLennan finish third and first in the Juco World Series; he was all-tournament the championship year. "It's very gratifying and exciting to see our players and their parents and know what they're about to experience," Dennis said Tuesday before the team's departure. "In junior college this is what you shoot for."
* Three Tennessee colleges -- No. 2 seed Cumberland, No. 4 Lee and No. 10 Tennessee Wesleyan -- are among the 10 baseball teams in this year's NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, after winning Opening Round mini-tournaments. First-time participant TWC (46-16) opens the Series at 11:30 a.m. EDT Friday against seventh-seeded Embry-Riddle (44-17) from Florida, and the winner plays Cumberland (53-9) at 6 p.m. Saturday. Lee (49-11) takes on fifth-seeded and defending champion Lubbock (Texas) Christian (46-14) at 6 p.m. EDT Friday, and that winner doesn't play again until Monday, probably against top-seeded host Lewis-Clark State (47-3), which has won the World Series 16 times, including 2007 and '08.
* Sewanee's Taylor Irwin from Brentwood, Tenn., has been named to the American Baseball Coaches Association All-South baseball team for NCAA Division III, and fellow junior outfielder Joe Reilly from Milton, Ga., was selected to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference all-sportsmanship team. Irwin hit .406 with a .677 slugging percentage and 36 RBIs in 2010. "He works hard to be an outstanding hitter, and it is great to see him receive such an honor," Sewanee coach Scott Baker said. "More importantly, he is one of the best people I have had the pleasure to coach." Reilly started all 31 games for the Tigers and batted .303 with 23 runs scored. "Joe is a competitor who plays the game the right away," Baker said. "We look for Joe to be one of the leaders of our team next year."
Soccer
* Sewanee women's soccer coach and former Duke University All-American Patrick Johnson has been hired as director of coaching for the Chattanooga United Futbol Club, which includes 11 boys' teams and 10 girls' sides going into its second year of existence. "There were hardships, but as my fellow board members and I look back upon the (first) season, we are very pleased with what has come about," CUFC president Trevin Bernarding said in a club release. "One thing we realized we needed to move forward was to bring in somebody who not only knows the game but, more importantly, knows what it takes to build a club and facilitate the best learning environment for players of ambition. ... And Pat is the answer." Johnston was a four-year starter at Duke and played professionally in the United States and internationally in the 1980s and '90s. He has coached in numerous youth programs and what is now the D2 pro league. He was a Region III Olympic Development Program staff coach from 1995 to '98 and has had numerous articles published about player development.
Tennis
* Junior tennis players Annie Green and Gordon Rudell were the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's recipients of the 2010 Coleman Lew & Associates awards presented by the Southern Conference for leadership and academic and athletic achievement in and beyond the college environment. Athletic directors and representatives of the Coleman Lew company conducted interviews with the finalists before determining the winners from the league's 12 member schools. Green is a communications major from Atlanta; Rudell is a biology major from Knoxville.
Softball
* DECATUR, Ala. -- After defeating Trevecca Nazarene 3-1 late Monday night in the beginning of double-elimination play in the NAIA national softball tournament, Shorter College was booted Tuesday by losing 1-0 to Simon Fraser and 3-2 to defending champion California Baptist. Charlsie Broome was 2-for-4 and scored a run and her LaFayette High School teammate Emily Clements had a hit and an RBI in the last game for the Lady Hawks (51-16). Trevecca, which wiped out a four-run deficit to edge second-ranked Lee for a spot in the final eight, exited with a 5-3 loss to Belhaven.
Staff Reports