The Dalton State women's golf team was picked by all the Southern States Athletic Conference coaches to win the nine-team league in the school's first year of postseason eligibility, and the men's team was picked second behind defending NAIA champion Coastal Georgia. The Brunswick team also was a unanimous choice for first, out of 11 teams. Coach Ben Rickett's Roadrunners were next after finishing no lower than fifth in their fall-semester tournaments. Jim McGrew's female Roadrunners, ranked 10th in the NAIA preseason poll, likewise were fifth or better in all four of their fall events, with an adjusted scoring average of 78.55 that was the eighth best in the NAIA. William Carey (79.11) was picked second with Mobile third and Loyola (La.) fourth. "We are extremely appreciative and honored that the coaches would rank us No. 1 in the preseason poll," McGrew said in a DSC release. "We also understand that this is an extremely talented conference and ultimately the champion will be determined on the course. We have plenty of work left to be done from now until April."
Basketball
* Dalton State had slipped from eighth to 12th in the NAIA Division I men's basketball poll but zoomed back to eighth when this week's listing came out Tuesday. The Roadrunners are 20-3 in their second season and host SSAC games Thursday and Saturday nights against Middle Georgia State and league-leading Martin Methodist (21-3, 11-2), which is tied for 12th in the poll.
* Colton McGriff scored 22 points and TJ Cox had 13 points and 11 assists as Covenant College beat visiting Berry 81-65 in nonconference NCAA Division III basketball Tuesday night. McGriff had 15 of his points in the first half, when the Scots took a 39-19 lead. He was 9-of-11 from the field for the game. Will Portlock scored 12 points and Chris Boyd added 11 for Covenant (7-14), which was 0-for-6 on 3-point shots. Tyler Harville made six 3s and scored 24 points for Berry (7-14), which got 11 points and 13 rebounds from freshman Lukas Korn from Walker Valley.
Baseball
* Raunel Perez and seven relievers combined to pitch a four-hitter as Cleveland State beat Georgia Highlands 7-0 in junior college baseball Tuesday at Emerson, Ga. Highlands got only one hit after the third inning. Chris Caffrey was 3-for-3 with two RBIs, Wright Hackett was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs and Caleb Longley was 2-for-4 with a home run for the Cougars (3-1). Jammer Strickland and Janson Roberson also had two hits each, Anthony Hunt had two RBIs and Longley and Hagen Wilkey each scored two runs.
* Seth Staggs tripled, singled and batted in four runs as Martin Methodist edged visiting Bryan College 6-4 in an NAIA matchup of 7-0 baseball teams Tuesday. Cody Rhinehart was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run for Bryan, and Chris Jeffries, Langston Calhoun and Preston King each was 2-for-5.
Softball
* Lee University's Angie Hughes improved her 2015 pitching record to 4-1 with an 11-strikeout five-hitter in a 7-2 win over King that salvaged an NCAA Division II softball split Tuesday at Bristol, Tenn. Morgan Lowe pitched a five-hitter in a 3-0 first-game victory for the home team, when Lee's Leigh Beatenbough threw a four-hitter with nine strikeouts. Two of the hits she allowed were a first-inning home run by Chrissy Melcher and a second-inning RBI triple by Kelsie Craighead, who then scored. The Lady Flames (6-2) had a five-run third inning and 13 total hits in game two, with two apiece from Lexie Dean, Dominique Hannah, Emily Dagnan, NiaRae Ceasar, Kaylie Drew and Rachel Polacek. Hannah tripled and had two RBIs and two runs, while Dagnan also had two RBIs and Dean also scored twice.