Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Georgia, zoomed into ninth place Friday in the FLW Tour bass tournament on Chickamauga Lake with his five-fish limit totaling 20 pounds, 10 ounces. That gave him a two-day weight of 38-6, 11 ounces out of fourth and comfortably among the top 30 pros going back out from the Dayton Boat Dock on Saturday. Matt Greenblatt of Port St. Lucie, Florida, took the lead at 43-2, 8 ounces ahead of fellow Floridian John Cox, and Virginian David Dudley moved up to third at 42-3. Whitwell’s Hensley Powell finished 61st at 28-13 in the field of 165 and received $9,000, and Soddy-Daisy resident Miles Burghoff – who came into the event as the points leader for both rookie and angler of the year – was 117th at 24-0.
Softball
» University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Celie Hudson was named Friday the Southern Conference softball pitcher of the month for April. She was 5-0 with a save and an ERA of 0.78 in eight appearances totaling 37 innings during the month, and she had a string of 30 consecutive scoreless innings that ended in a one-run complete game. UTC is scheduled to host Samford at 7 p.m. Saturday and in a doubleheader starting at noon Sunday. The Mocs then will host the SoCon tournament starting Wednesday at Warner Park. The team appreciation dinner is Monday at 6 p.m. at White Oak United Methodist Church, and tickets cost $15 and will be available at this weekend’s games and at the door.
Golf
» UTC senior Monica San Juan was the SoCon women’s golfer of the month for April after winning the conference tournament by four shots and earning a spot in the NCAA regional hosted by Auburn. The regional at Opelika, Alabama, runs Monday through Wednesday.
Track & Field
» Lee University and Alabama-Huntsville are virtually tied atop the men’s and women’s standings after two days of the Gulf South Conference meet that ends Saturday in Rome, Georgia. The Alabama-Huntsville women have a 3.3-point lead. On Thursday, the Lady Flames’ Chloe Flora, Logan Hernandez and Amy Carpenter were first through third in the 10,000-meter run and Lee’s Christian Noble, Casey Guthery, Caleb Eagleson and Ben Tabor were first, second, fourth and fifth in the men’s 10k. Teagan Lenox had four firsts and a third in the first half of the decathlon.
Baseball
» The overnight rain delay in the ninth inning of their Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament game that started Thursday in Kingsport against Union College led to further frustration for the second-seeded Bryan Lions. Their one-run lead turned into a 12-11 loss in 15 innings and then elimination when they fell 8-5 to Truett McConnell on Friday. Gabe Howell was 3-for-5 with a home run for Bryan (36-15) against TMU after he, Tucker Cain and Jesus Astudillo each had two RBIs and Marcus Catalano was 3-for-6 and scored twice against Union. Top-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan’s Thursday game was moved to Friday morning, and the Bulldogs (46-8) beat Point 8-5 as Max Draijer doubled and singled and batted in three runs, Dan Fry tripled and singled and scored twice and Bryce Giles was 3-for-4 with an RBI. In TWU’s 15-12 win Wednesday night over Bluefield, Tyler Reichenborn was 4-for-6 with a triple, a double, four RBIs and three runs scored; Giles was 3-for-5 with an inside-the-park homer, a triple and three RBIs; Jhosmel Rodriquez went 3-for-4 with a triple and three runs; Fry tripled, doubled and drove in two runs; and Manny Perez tripled and singled.
Tennis
» Lee’s women wound up 16-6 with a 4-3 loss to Valdosta State in the GSC tournament Thursday in Montgomery. The Lee men (17-6) beat Montevallo 4-1 but lost 4-0 to top-seeded Valdosta State on Friday.
» Tennessee Wesleyan received one of 10 at-large bids to the 24-team NAIA men’s tennis tournament May 14-18 in Mobile, Alabama. The Bulldogs (11-6) were ranked 11th in the final coaches’ poll, and that is their seeding for the nationals. They will open against 22nd-seeded McPherson.