Former Baylor School golfer Chase Roswall and University of Tennessee teammate Spencer Cross were among the eight duos who won two rounds of match play Thursday in the Tennessee Four-Ball Championship at Toqua Golf Club at Loudon. Defending champions Roswall and Cross, who were seeded fourth after Wednesday's qualifying round, defeated Boddie Bible and Luke Cabbage 5 and 4 and Nick Garretson and Matt Mitchell 3 and 2 and will play Cayman Ratliff and Brandon Worley in the quarterfinals this morning. Lee University's Scott Odell and Evan Spence won 7 and 5 and then lost by the same score, to Kyle Cottam and Jet Tickle, who face Tennessee State University teammates and top qualifiers Scotty Hudson and John Tyminski. The other pairs in the quarterfinals are Austin Collins and Eric Rose, Wes Korth and Lee Maxwell, Chip Thomas and Mitchell Thomas, and Brian Clark and Tyler Johnson.
Fishing
* Wesley Strader of Spring City and Jacob Wheeler of Harrison were 10th and 12th with 16 pounds, 4 ounces and 15-15 after Thursday's opening round in the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on the Mississippi River in Wisconsin. Chad Pipkens of Lansing, Michigan, led with 17-5 in the event paying $100,000 to the winner. Another Spring City resident, John Murray, was tied for 47th at 14-0.
Baseball
* Tennessee Tech on Thursday announced the promotion of assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Justin Holmes to succeed Matt Bragga as baseball head coach. Bragga left for Rice University after Tech's 53-win season that included a 28-game winning streak and ended in a super regional loss to Texas. The Golden Eagles have won 151 games in Holmes' four years with the program, including a league-high 83 in Ohio Valley Conference play during that time, and eight of them were picked in this year's major league draft with another signing a free-agent pro contract. The three-year Georgia shortstop was captain of the 2004 Bulldogs team that finished third in the College World Series and was a Mercer assistant from 2010 to 2013, helping the Bears reach the NCAA tournament. While Holmes called his new job "a tremendous dream come true," TTU athletic director Mark Wilson said in a school release that "it's a natural fit. Over the past four seasons, Tennessee Tech baseball has enjoyed one of its most successful stretches in program history and he played a pivotal role in making that happen. Justin is passionate about not only baseball but also about the student-athletes in our program and their personal, educational and professional development."
Wrestling
* Two-time Wisconsin All-American and former Badgers assistant coach Kyle Ruschell has joined the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling staff. He replaced David Hoffman, who left the Mocs to be the head coach at the high school he attended, The Hill School in Pennsylvania. Ruschell, a two-time state champion in his native Kentucky, reached the NCAA Division I tournament four times and was a Wisconsin captain as a junior and senior, and he coached five Badgers to seven All-America honors in his eight years on staff. He specialized in teaching leg riding, scrambles, shot defense, high-level attacks and finishes, according to the UTC release announcing his hiring. He made the U.S. national team in 2014 and competed in the World Team trials again this year. "He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our program," UTC coach Heath Eslinger said in the release. "He has been around college wrestling, as a coach and a competitor, for a long time. I am excited for him to use that experience to make Chattanooga wrestling better."