Former Lee University shortstop Josh Silver has been picked up the Chicago Cubs organization after starring for the River City Rascals in the independent Frontier League. The Flame of 2013 and 2014 was assigned to the Cubs' High-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Silver was in his second year with the Rascals, based in O'Fallon, Mo., and leading the 12-team league with a .455 batting average. He had hit five home runs, driven in 19 runs and scored 16 with 35 hits in 20 games as the Rascals' third baseman. He batted .263 and played multiple positions in 2015, and he contributed mightily to their reaching the Frontier's 2015 championship series. His eighth-inning three-run double gave them a win in the wild-card game, and his two grand slams accounted for eight of the Rascals' nine runs in the victory that got them to the league finals. "What an amazing story of perseverance for Josh," Flames coach Mark Brew said in a Lee release. "He was always known as a plus defender at shortstop, second and third base, but what earned him this chance was his determination to develop his power and overall ability at the plate."
* Tennessee Wesleyan senior pitcher Ryan Hartman was named Tuesday a first-team NAIA baseball All-American, and former Ringgold High School standout Andy Mocahbee of Middle Georgia State was a second-team selection. Mocahbee hit .372 with a .710 slugging percentage as a junior catcher and the Southern States Athletic Conference newcomer of the year. He had 12 home runs, two triples, 22 doubles and 64 RBIs in 2016. Hartman, who's from Anaheim, Calif., was the Appalachian Athletic Conference pitcher of the year and ended the season with a 10-1 record, an 0.64 earned run average and 129 strikeouts with only 12 walks in 98 innings, with one win in the NAIA World Series.
Golf
* The Georgia Northwestern men's golf team is in second place after the first round Tuesday of the NJCAA Division III tournament at Chautauqua (N.Y.) Golf Club, where the Bobcats finished third last year. In some cold rain and gusting wind, they shot a 306 while Vincennes of Indiana was carding a collective 303. Minnesota State Community and Technical College and host Jamestown (N.Y.) CC are tied for third at 307. The Bobcats' returning first-team All-Americans, Chase Cole and Jordan Estes, led them with a 73 and a 74 Tuesday, tied for third and sixth, while freshman Tucker Venable shot 77 and Grant Allen added an 82 with Lanier Guest's 86 not counting in the team total. "I can't remember a round where something horrific happened to each of our individual players, but that seemed to happen to us today," coach Jared Willerson said in a GNTC release. "Things that normally don't happen to us happened today, but even with all of that carnage we're just three shots back. We're very capable of shooting 295 or better. I think we're capable of improving by 12 shots, because they all left some (shots) out there today."
General
* Ten Lee University athletes made the Gulf South Conference's FireSeeds Spring Sports All-Academic Teams announced Monday: baseball player of the year Ben Holland, women's golfers Sam Burrus and Bernadette Little, men's golfer Taylor Davis and women's track and field representatives Emily Bryan, Amy Carpenter and Audrey Smith as unanimous picks, plus softball catcher Emily Dagnan and men's track and field standouts Seth Eagleson and Camden Perez. Shorter softball shortstop Kendall Johnson from Gordon Lee High School is a repeat honoree. The spring all-academic team is chosen by the GSC's sports information directors and faculty athletic representatives. The criteria include a grade point average of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, significant athletic contributions, leadership and community-service activities. Lee had 75 GSC spring honor-roll selections, second in the league to Mississippi College's 79. That requires a 3.0 GPA.