Lee Flames reach SSAC title game

Friday, January 1, 1904

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- After beating William Carey 5-2 in the late game Friday night in the Southern States Athletic Conference baseball tournament, NAIA fifth-ranked Lee University downed Shorter 9-4 in the winners-bracket final Saturday and will play for the championship Monday at 7 p.m. Jorge Saez was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Vince Spilker (6-2) and three relievers combined to pitch a five-hitter with one earned run against William Carey, Jose Samayoa recording his seventh save of the season. Saturday for the Flames (49-8-1), SSAC player of the year Blake Barber was 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs, Roberto Duran added a two-run homer and Saez, Brady Renner and Edmanuel Rivera each scored twice. Starting pitcher Kris Hall (10-0) allowed only two hits and no runs in his six innings; Shorter scored all its runs in the eighth and ninth.

• COLLEGE PARK, Ga. -- The Covenant College baseball team lost 2-1 and won 14-0 in five innings against Point University on Saturday, ending the Scots' regular season at 22-18. James Rollins had their RBI in the first game and a three-run homer in game two, when K.C. Simons was 3-for-3 with four RBIs, Scott Gillespie was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and David Lockwood, Chris Rollins and Ben Chambers each had two hits and scored twice behind Andre Glover's two-hit pitching. Tyler Smith allowed only five hits and one earned run in the game-one loss.

• Chattanooga State wrapped up its baseball regular season with 6-1 and 11-5 home TCCAA wins Saturday against Southwest Tennessee. Dylan Massengill and Carson Bryant were the winning pitchers and Zach Zarzour was 5-for-9 in the doubleheader and 8-for-14 in the series. Taylor Patterson had four hits Saturday and Jordan McDonald had three for the Tigers (39-17, 17-10), who will host the region tournament starting next Sunday.

• CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Cleveland State pulled off a 3-2 win over fourth-ranked Columbia State and then lost 3-2 to the Chargers in their TCCAA baseball doubleheader Saturday. Ross Spurgeon pitched a five-hitter and Colby Harmon was 2-for-3 and matched Michael Hargrove and Damo DeMatteo with RBIs in the win for the Cougars (20-31, 3-24). Harmon and Devin Fish each was 2-for-3 in the finale, when in the first inning Fish scored on a Colin Sullivan single and Hargrove scored on an error. T.J. Diffenderfer hit a two-run homer in the first game and had two hits and an RBI in the second for Columbia State.

Tennis

• NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Coach Conchie Shackelford's 450th career win put the Sewanee women's tennis team in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship match this morning at 8 a.m. CDT against nationally 14th-ranked Trinity. No. 16 Sewanee (18-4) followed a 9-0 quarterfinal win over Colorado College with another 9-0 win over Southwestern. The Sewanee men, coached by Shackelford's husband, lost 6-3 to Rhodes in the semifinals.

Softball

• COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Emily Clements from LaFayette High School went 2-for-3 with a double as Shorter University beat Brenau 1-0 before the Lady Hawks lost 2-0 to Auburn-Montgomery in the losers-bracket final of the SSAC softball tournament Saturday. Hard-luck losing pitcher Maddie Bray from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe got the only hit for Shorter (46-11). William Carey beat AUM 3-0 for the title.

Track & Field

• BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Sewanee freshman Sally Warm from Baylor School won the women's long jump at 5.5 meters Friday at the SCAC track and field meet, and she won the triple jump with an 11.37-meter performance and was fourth in the high jump Saturday. Sewanee's Justin Taylor won the men's discus title with a 42.97-meter throw Saturday after finishing second in the shot put Friday, and Josh Hirakawa finished third in the 110 hurdles. Arden Jones was fourth in the women's pole vault and Willow Smith was fourth in the 10,000-meter run. Tigers freshman Faith Spencer set school records with a 26.89-second preliminary time in the 200-meter dash and a 1:00.56 in 400 qualifying and then a 59.87 in a sixth-place 400 finish.

Lacrosse

• SEWANEE, Tenn. -- Molly Arnold had four goals and an assist and Meg Welton and Page Carpenter scored three goals each as Sewanee beat Centre 16-7 in the SCAC women's lacrosse semifinals Saturday, setting up a championship showdown today against top-seeded Colorado College. Amy Nusbaum had 12 saves for Sewanee (11-5). Sarah Mastey scored two goals and fellow GPS alumna Audrey Powers had an assist for Centre.

• The Centre College men's lacrosse team ended its season like the Sewanee men, falling Friday night in the SCAC tournament semifinals in Birmingham. Junior Scott Hughes from McCallie had a goal and an assist and sophomore Patrick Vaughn from Baylor collected a game-high 15 ground balls and won 15 of 21 face-offs for the Colonels, who wound up 12-4 after going 3-10 in the program's 2011 debut season. Two other former McCallie players, Bennett Krishock of Colorado College and Reed Butler of Birmingham-Southern, are on the teams playing today for the championship. Butler scored two goals Friday against Centre.

Football

• The first-year Chattanooga Generals, a provisional member of American Indoor Football, went to 2-0 with a 41-38 road win Saturday night against the Baltimore Reaper, the league's second-best team. This was the Generals' first game under new coach Cedric Roach, whose background includes coaching the Charleston Firecats and Augusta Colts. Also since the coaching change after the Generals' April 21 win, center Eddie Williams got a contract with the Kansas City Command of the Arena Football League. The Generals jumped on the Reaper for a 15-0 first-quarter lead and led 21-20 at halftime.