Five area college baseball teams are scheduled to begin their 2018 seasons today, including the teams picked to finish first and second in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. Perennial AAC power Tennessee Wesleyan, with Billy Berry back as coach, is set to play Middle Georgia State in Macon, while Taylor Hasty's Bryan Lions - picked second to TWU in the NAIA league - is to host Rio Grande and Northwestern Ohio. Covenant hosts Oglethorpe while Sewanee visits LaGrange in NCAA Division III games, and Chattanooga State will face Georgia Highlands at Emerson, Ga., in NJCAA play. The area's NCAA Division II team, Lee University, opens Saturday by hosting Tuskegee in a doubleheader. The other area teams all play today's foes again Saturday - and in some cases Sunday - although Covenant will play at Oglethorpe instead of at home. Lee does get started in softball today, in a tournament at Gulf Shores, Ala., while Chattanooga State opens in a tournament down the coast at Panama City Beach, Fla., and Covenant plays in Rhodes' tournament in Memphis.
Basketball
» Abby Bertram had 22 points with four 3-point baskets in five tries and added four assists as Lee University pulled out a 48-46 Gulf South women's basketball win Thursday at West Florida. The Lady Flames are 18-4, 11-3 in the GSC. The Lee men (12-9, 7-7) fell 82-74 despite 18 points from Colton Blevins. Michael McGuirk added 12 and Parker Suedekum had seven assists with nine points.
» The Reinhardt women's basketball team got within a half-game of first-place Bryan College in the AAC standings with a 78-64 home win Thursday featuring 18 points and eight rebounds from Sonoraville graduate Rebecca Cheeks and 17 points from Calhoun resident JessAnn Nix. Deandra Luna and Amber Levi scored 20 points apiece for Bryan (18-6, 15-3). Reinhardt is 19-7, 15-4. The Bryan men (15-9, 10-6) won 80-75 with 16 points and seven rebounds from E.J. Bush, 14 points and 10 rebounds from Brice Cusick, 12 points from Terrance Scales and 10 plus six assists from Oteriah Lee.
» Even without star Hunter Simpson, the Tennessee Wesleyan Lady Bulldogs also rose to 15-4 in the AAC with a 69-56 home win over Union (Ky.). Hannah Cherry had 18 points and four steals and Madison Walkup scored 17 for TWU (16-6 overall), while Kenzie Conn collected nine rebounds. Ranked 16th in NAIA Division II, Union won the men's game 78-49; Andre AppleWhite and Kenny Dean led TWU with 14 and 13 points.
Running
» Dee Goodwin has resigned as coach of the women's cross country and track and field teams at Dalton State College. She served a little less than a year but had five all-conference athletes in track and field and three in cross country. The cross country team finished third in the 2017 Southern States Athletic Conference meet. "Many thanks to Dee for stepping in and leading our cross country and track program last year," athletic director Jon Jaudon said in a Dalton State release. "Our student-athletes were fortunate to be led by such a servant leader." The release said an announcement of a successor is expected soon.
Tennis
» The Covenant College tennis teams both were picked to win USA South West Division titles this spring, the conference announced Thursday. Coach John Hirte's Lady Scots, who got four of the eight coaches' votes for first place, won the USAS regular-season championship last year and have a 17-match regular-season win streak against league foes. Hirte's men, who received four of six votes for first, shared the West championship in 2017.
Swimming & Diving
» Sewanee's women and men again are among the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association Scholar All-America teams for a semester - for the 48th time in a row. The Sewanee women had an aggregate 3.29 grade point average for the fall 2017 term; the men's GPA was 3.13. "Our team goals each year include academic excellence, both individually and as a team," coach Max Obermiller said in a Sewanee release this week. "I am very proud of our diligence in the pool training and in our continued success in the classroom."