Chattanooga FC technical director Bill Elliott, pictured, will have one of his former players from the University of West Florida on the professional soccer team's roster this season as Sean Hoffstatter joins the club. / Staff file photoAll-Gulf South Conference soccer forward Sean Hoffstatter was Friday's addition to the Chattanooga Football Club's ongoing list of announced signees for its inaugural professional season. Hoffstatter, 24, totaled 26 goals and 10 assists in three seasons playing for the highly successful University of West Florida Argonauts and coach Bill Elliott, Chattanooga FC's technical director. The Fort Walton Beach native was first-team All-GSC in 2018 and 2019, the league's player of the year in 2018 and first-team All-South Region this past fall. "Sean will be a great addition to our front line at CFC," coach Peter Fuller said in a club release. "He is strong and athletic and has proven that he can score goals at every level where he has played. He works hard on both sides of the ball and will assist in our pacing as well as the contributions he will make in attack." Said Hoffstatter: "It has always been a dream since I was a kid to play at the professional level. I can't thank Chattanooga enough for blessing me with this opportunity to finally live my dream!"
Baseball
* Bryan College began its 2020 baseball season Friday with 2-1 and 8-2 home victories over Talladega and Rio Grande, respectively. The NAIA's 18th-ranked Lions play the same teams again Saturday. Three Bryan pitchers combined for an eight-hitter with eight strikeouts in seven innings against Talladega, Joseph Cuomo getting the win, and Wade Weinburger homered. Tyler Scott was 1-for-2 with the Lions' other RBI. Weinburger homered again and singled against the Ohio team, when Parker Cosby batted in three runs, Anthony Tejeda was 2-for-3, Zach Shield was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Jacob Justice and Shawn Bracamontes each had an RBI and scored twice. Jacob Hallmark struck out nine in four innings pitched.
Tennis
* The UTC women's tennis team beat Belmont 5-2 Friday night at McCallie School with singles wins by Caroline Gibbens, Emma Van Hee, Lilly Holmes and Callie Billman. The Mocs (3-0) play again at 7 p.m. Saturday at McCallie's Strang-Voges indoor center, against USC Upstate (0-2).
Basketball
* The Sewanee women won 58-41 and the men prevailed 98-91 in their Southern Athletic Association home basketball games Friday night against Millsaps. Ellie Treanton and Lakeisha Phillips had 12 and 10 points and seven and eight rebounds and Abby Young scored 11 points for the Sewanee women (9-12, 4-6). For the male Tigers (10-11, 4-6), Joey Knox and Jordan Warlick scored 22 and 21 and Michael Barry, Jonny Crumly and Mackie Garwood added 13, 12 and 11.
* Dalton State defeated visiting Stillman 89-81 in Southern States Athletic Conference men's basketball Thursday night, but a 21-point margin (60-39) shrank to four points before the NAIA's sixth-ranked Roadrunners (20-1, 9-1) put away the Tigers (12-6, 5-5). Stillman's Giovanni Bray made six 3s and scored 31 points. Kevon Tucker scored 21 and Randy Bell had 16 plus seven rebounds for Dalton State, which got 14 points each from C.J. Perry and Rodley Adjei, 11 rebounds from Dauson Womack and six assists from Sean Cranney.
* South Pittsburg High School senior Za'Riya Hunter has signed a basketball scholarship with Roane State Community College. Hunter has averaged 15.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.3 steals per game this season and has scored more than 800 points in her career. She was a starter the past three seasons at Hixson, where she was named to the All-District 6-AA team last year.
Softball
* Rain delayed the opening of Lee University's season Friday in a tournament in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Swimming & Diving
* For the 52nd consecutive semester, the Sewanee women's and men's swimming and diving squads both were recognized by the sport's college coaches association as fall 2019 Scholar All-America Teams. The women had an aggregate grade point average of 3.31 for the semester; the men's was 3.09. All seven of the SAA women's programs and five of the men's earned the distinction.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291