Trey Hicks is the new head coach for Notre Dame High School baseball, with the Fighting Irish announcing the hire Wednesday. Hicks had been the head coach at Red Bank, his alma mater, since 2011 and was an assistant there from 2006 to 2010. As head coach, he helped the Lions win three district titles and a region championship. “The Notre Dame community is extremely pleased to have Trey Hicks leading our baseball program and mentoring our young men and women in the classroom,” Notre Dame athletic director Matt Pobieglo said in a release. The 2001 Red Bank graduate played college baseball at Cleveland State and Lee. “I am thrilled to become a part of the Notre Dame family,” Hicks said in the release. “I feel extremely honored and blessed to have received this opportunity and look forward to teaching and coaching at a school with such strong academic standards and rich athletic traditions.”
FOOTBALL
– The accomplishments of past seasons and the potential of the one on the way have earned the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team respect from those forecasting 2016. The Mocs are No. 7 in the Athlon Sports Preseason FCS Top 25 released Wednesday. Five-time defending national champion North Dakota State is the not-surprising No. 1, followed by Sam Houston State, Northern Iowa, Richmond, Jacksonville State and Charleston Southern. After UTC – the highest-ranked Southern Conference program – rounding out the top 10 are South Dakota State, Coastal Carolina and The Citadel, another SoCon team. The Mocs went 9-4 last season, winning their third straight conference championship and earning a second straight berth in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Although UTC must replace standout quarterback Jacob Huesman, whose four-year career included program records as well as multiple conference and national honors, 47 lettermen return from last season – that’s the most since Russ Huesman took over as head coach for the 2009 season – with 16 of those starters in 2015. The Mocs open Sept. 1, facing Shorter at 7 p.m. at Finley Stadium.
GOLF
– Georgia Northwestern Technical College slipped a spot Wednesday and is third after two rounds of the NJCAA Division III national championships for men’s golf. Playing in cold, windy conditions for the second straight day at Chautauqua (N.Y.) Golf Club, the Bobcats shot a 315 and are at 621 for the tournament, three strokes behind Minnesota State Community and Technical College and 16 off the pace of leader Vincennes University. GNTC’s best second-round score came from Lanier Guest, who had a 4-over-par 76 on the 6,559-yard layout. “That was the hardest grinding day I think I’ve ever played in my life,” Guest said in a GNTC release. “The wind was absolutely relentless. Anything in the 70s was a good score today because you had to fight for every shot out there.” Grant Allen (78), Tucker Venable (80) and Chase Cole (81) also scored for the Bobcats, with Jordan Estes shooting an 83. Cole is at 154 for the tournament and in 12th place individually, with Estes and Venable among those tied for 20th.
SOCCER
– Chattanooga Football Club and “Stump on Sports” will host the annual Tennessee/Georgia all-star soccer games on June 17 at Finley Stadium. The boys’ game is at 1:30 p.m. and the girls’ game at 3:30, with the Chattanooga FC women’s team facing Memphis City FC at 7. Georgia’s girls will be coached by Todd Close (Southeast Whitfield), with Tennessee’s girls coached by Carrie Hill (East Hamilton). Georgia’s boys will be coached by Hector Holguin (Sonoraville), with Tennessee’s boys coached by Tom Bayliss (Walker Valley).