Goni's hat trick keys 4-0 CFC win and other sports news

Samuel Goni had a hat trick Saturday night in the Chattanooga Football Club's 4-0 National Premier Soccer League win over the Jesters in New Orleans. Luke Winter added a goal and two assists, while Jose Ferraz and Leo De Smedt also had assists for CFC, which is 8-1 overall and 4-0 in the NPSL's Southeast Conference. It has a five-point lead over Nashville FC and the Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves and hosts the Georgia Revolution at 7:30 Tuesday night at Finley Stadium.

Baseball

* After adding draft picks in three of their offseason trades, the Atlanta Braves will have five of the first 75 picks and six of the first 89 when this year's amateur baseball draft begins Monday. They also have the fourth-largest bonus pool -- nearly $11 million -- to help sign those picks. The Braves have been known in recent years to target homegrown talent, and one Georgia native they may look at is former Ringgold High School and Clemson University pitcher Matthew Crownover. The left-hander just completed a junior season in which he was 10-3 with a 1.82 earned run average and was named the Atlantic Coast Conference pitcher of the year and was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award given to college baseball's top player. Crownover, who won seven games as a Clemson freshman and eight as a sophomore, was drafted in the 21st round by the San Francisco Giants last year and is expected to go in the first 10 rounds this year.

* The Charleston (Tenn.) Mojo take a 7-1 record and a seven-game win streak into their 1:30 p.m. United States Adult Baseball League home doubleheader today against the East Ridge Lookouts after winning 2-0 and 7-2 last Sunday against the Madisonville-based Tennessee Tribe, representing the Knoxville area's East Tennessee Adult Baseball League. Jake Wyrick pitched all but the last out in the shutout and was 2-for-3 with a two-run double in the second game, when Matt Roueche was the winning pitcher after going 2-for-2 with a double in the opener. Roueche allowed three hits and no earned runs in his six innings. Dustin Crumley singled in the first run in game one and had another RBI single in the Mojo's four-run third inning featuring Wyrick's double in game two. Michael Holland had an RBI single and scored along with Wyrick on Nick Clerc's single in the sixth. The first-place Mojo will play the second-place Cleveland Bulls in a USABL doubleheader next Sunday at Lee University. Admission always is free.

General

* About 300 program-only tickets costing $50 remain available for Peyton Manning's appearance at McMinn County High School on June 27 on behalf of the Athens Chamber of Commerce. The 600 dinner tickets sold out within 80 minutes after they went on sale on Sept. 2. Anyone still wanting to pay $50 with dinner not included can do so through www.athenschamber.org or by calling 423-745-0334. People from 13 states and at least 128 cities have paid to attend, according to Chamber president/CEO Rob Preston. Preston, incidentally, is a 46-year-old Signal Mountain native and Red Bank High School graduate who has completed 94 marathons and at least one in all 50 states -- as of late March in 21 degrees and snow in Vermont.

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