Mississippi State’s Dakota Hudson from Sequatchie County High School was the Southeastern Conference baseball pitcher of the week after being the league’s only player to pitch at least eight innings with fewer than three runs allowed during the opening weekend of conference play. The junior right-hander allowed four hits and struck out eight batters in nine innings in the Bulldogs’ 13-inning 2-1 win over No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt on Friday, and the run he allowed was unearned. Hudson is 2-1 with a 1.38 earned run average in five starts for the Bulldogs (14-6-1, 2-1), who won a series at Vanderbilt for the first time since 2002.
* Covenant College freshman Grant Kierpa was honored as USA South baseball rookie pitcher of the week. He made his first college start March 15 and allowed one hit and an unearned run in five innings against Berry. He struck out five batters and walked one. He also has a save this season.
* The Chattanooga State baseball team won its TCCAA home series against Volunteer State this weekend by sandwiching 11-5 and 4-3 wins around a 12-4 loss. Now 17-5 overall and 7-2 in league play, the Tigers play three games Thursday and Friday at third-place Cleveland State.
Auto Racing
* Cynthia Warnock, the only female in the class, won the Super Pro competition and $1,500 at the Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip this past Saturday night. Warnock won with a 4.62-second run on a 4.62 dial in a 632-cubic-inch Chevrolet dragster owned by her father, Ronnie Warnock. She also had the night’s low elapsed time, 4.61 seconds, and top speed, 148.95 mph. Steve Babcock was second in the Pro eliminations with a 5.00 run on a 4.98 dial in a Chevy dragster. Jeffrey Montgomery from Cartersville, Ga., won the Foot Brake class in his 350 Chevy-powered 1986 Mustang with a 6.56-second run on a 6.53 dial. Doug Frazier was second at 10.49 on a 10.42 dial in a 1997 Chevy S10 pickup. Carson Emmett from Cedar Bluff, Ala., was the Junior Dragster winner with Kaleb Winters of Soddy-Daisy second.