TVOC under way at Manker Patten

The 2011 Tennessee Valley Open Championships began Wednesday at the Manker Patten Tennis Club with 31 men’s open matches and two in men’s 45 singles. Joshua Jeremiah of Suwanee, Ga., was the first to reach the round of 16 in men’s open singles, getting a walkover because of illness for fourth-seeded Francisco Rodriguez, a past champion from Atlanta. Two other past winners, Brian Baker of Nashville and Robbye Poole of Charlotte, are the top two seeds. Dianne Hollands is the women’s open No. 1 seed. The tournament wound up with 216 total entrants, some in multiple age divisions. It will continue through Sunday.

Baseball

• The 18-under Tennessee Twisters baseball team began its summer schedule by winning the Triple Crown Georgia State Championship last weekend in Alpharetta. The Twisters went 7-1 in three days, avenging their loss with an 18-5 defeat of the Georgia Tigers in the final. Jared Allen got that pitching win, his second of the tournament, and led the team with a .593 batting average and 13 RBIs. Parker Wormsley and Scott Moses hit .500 and .478, and Cory Kafka also had two pitching wins. Houston Spencer, Moses and Brandon Zajac recorded wins, too.

• The 18-under Chattanooga South baseball team went 4-0 in winning the Bradley County Classic last weekend. Ryan Potter went 6-for-11, Gunter Barton was 5-for-8, Brandon Williams was 5-for-10 and Brynn Oliver was 4-for-9 for the champs. Reese Shumaker and Hunter Holmes also had multiple-hit games. Potter drove in three runs in a 4-2 win over the Chattanooga Stingers, when Barton and Oliver combined to pitch a two-hitter, and Garner threw a two-hitter and homered in a later 10-0 win. Sahadut Mughal got the two wins in between, in relief of Tyler Stott in a 4-3 victor over the North Georgia Chiefs and with a complete-game two-hitter with eight strikeouts in a 5-2 win against the Mount Juliet Riverdogs.