Around the Region: Chattanooga State's Greg Dennis reaches 850 college wins

photo Greg Dennis

Two victories over the Covenant College junior varsity on Wednesday got Chattanooga State's Greg Dennis to 850 victories for his 28 years as a junior college baseball head coach. The Tigers' previous game last weekend gave him 500 wins in 14 years at Chattanooga State, where he now is 502-229. Counting his time at Collin County in Plano, Texas, where he started the program, he's 850-644. With six wins in a row, the Tigers take a 19-12 overall record and 7-5 TCCAA mark into this weekend's league series at Southwest Tennessee. Then they play their annual exhibition against the Chattanooga Lookouts next Tuesday at 6:15 at AT&T Field. "We're getting healthy. We've got a couple of pitchers back who were injured," Dennis said Thursday. He admitted being proud of the win milestones. "That's a lot of games at this level," he said, noting that a large group of players and assistant coaches have been involved. "To get 500 here is pretty significant to me. That's about 37 a year. I remember the first one - Truett-McConnell, on February 8, 2004. There have been a lot of good players who have come through here and done a lot of good things. And the college has been very good to us - very supportive. You can't do it without that." Connor Morro is batting .417 with 13 extra-base hits, 21 RBIs and 30 runs scored, while Nico Lares, Tyler Maskill and Brody Thomasson are at .379, .358 and .340 with 32, 27 and 17 RBIs and 26, 28 and 35 runs. Freshman pitchers Joe Dalmolin and Scheldon Paulk are 5-1 and 4-0 with earned run averages of 1.88 and 3.73. The Tigers are third in the TCCAA standings but that really means second place behind nationally No. 1-ranked Dyersburg State because perennial power Walters State is in a one-year postseason suspension.

Boxing

- Chattanooga brothers Joseph Francisco and Roger Hilley both were victorious in their professional boxing fights Thursday night at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Francisco, 28, got even as a pro at 2-2 with a 1:29 knockout of North Carolinian Ronnie Watson at 140 pounds - in Francisco's first fight since 2009 - and the 22-year-old Hilley won a unanimous decision at 130 against Atlanta's Jerson Ramos. All three scorecards had Hilley (2-0) prevailing 40-36.

Softball

- Bryan and Union College began their Appalachian Athletic Conference softball doubleheader Wednesday in Dayton without a loss in league play, and they split two one-run games. Bryan (15-13, 9-1) won 1-0 on a four-hitter by pitcher Sydney West and a fourth-inning run on an error, but Union (19-20, 7-1) countered with a 10-inning 4-3 victory. Singles by Olivia Gore and Becca Zimmerman set up the Lady Lions' first-game score by pinch runner Shelby Ralston. A single by Gore began a two-run fourth in game two, with Hannah O'Shields doubling and Aubrie Osborne singling her home, and singles by Kim Borowski and Gore and a Zimmerman walk set up a tying O'Shields sacrifice fly in the seventh. Gore had three hits and Borowski had two in the game, and Courtney Petty pitched all 10 innings.

- Tennessee Wesleyan finally got to play home softball games Wednesday and beat Point University 2-1 and 5-2 to rise to 16-8 overall and 8-2 in the AAC.

- Covenant College lost 6-4 and 12-2 in USA South softball Thursday at Salem College. Shade Epes hit a two-run homer and Casey Grover and Erika Mast each had two hits and scored a run in the first game for the Lady Scots (20-14, 11-9). Epes and Kaitlyn Sirmons each was 2-for-2 and scored a run in the rematch, when Caylee Marks was 1-for-2 with an RBI.

- The Lady Moc RBI Club is hosting a game-day breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Wally's Restaurant on McCallie Avenue, and UTC softball coach Frank Reed will talk about the weekend series against Samford. The public is invited to attend and order off the menu; reservations are not required.

Track & Field

- The Lee University men's track team moved into the NCAA Division II top-10 rankings for the first time this week, and the Lady Flames jumped from 43rd last week into their first Top 25 at No. 24. Lee sprinter Adrian Martin was the Gulf South Conference women's track athlete of the week, and the Flames' Christian Noble was the men's track and field freshman of the week. The Flames moved up to No. 10 from No. 11.

Lacrosse

- With six goals from Emma Flynn, visiting DePauw edged Sewanee 9-7 in NCAA Division III women's lacrosse Thursday Alden Woolford scored two and Molly Elkins had a goal and two assists for Sewanee (9-3), which got 14 saves from Brianna Young.

- The Alabama-Huntsville women's lacrosse team scored 20 first-half points and beat Lee's first-year program 27-2 in a Gulf South match Thursday. Nicole Federovitch had eight goals and an assist and Jenna Carr scored six goals for UAH (10-3, 4-0). The shot differential was 40-3, and Abby Sanders made eight saves for Lee (0-10, 0-5). Hanah Rotello scored both Lee goals.

Soccer

- The local Premier Soccer Academy Las Leonas won the U16/17 girls' black division of the recent Stones River Futbol Shootout in Smyrna, Tenn. Las Leonas won 5-1 over Cincy SC Elite, 7-0 over the Lincoln FC Shockers 01, 3-0 over the Rampage SC girls and 4-0 over the Hopkinsville Lady Ambush 00. Las Leonas totaled 39 points to 25 for the runner-up Rampage.

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