Former Cleveland State and Tennessee Tech pitcher Stephen Pryor has majors' debut

Friday, January 1, 1904

Former Cleveland State and Tennessee Tech pitcher Stephen Pryor, an offseason Chattanooga resident, made his major league debut Saturday for the Seattle Mariners in Chicago, and he got four outs spoiled only by a solo home run. He hit 100 mph with his first and last pitches. Pryor entered with two outs in the seventh inning and struck out White Sox slugger and .366 hitter Paul Konerko with two runners on base. The Mariners scored three runs in the top of the eighth for a one-run lead, and Pryor got another strikeout and a groundout before Dayan Viciedo tied the score with a two-strike homer. The next batter grounded out. The one run may have cost Pryor a win, since the game went 12 innings before Seattle won 10-8. Pryor began the season in Class AA at Jackson, Tenn., and was lights-out in his promotion to Triple-A Tacoma, pitching 12 innings in nine appearances and allowing five hits and no runs while striking out 15.

• Bryan College seniors Steven Brown from Cleveland, Tenn., and Jordan Day from Summerville, Ga., and Lee University senior pitchers David Eskew from Cleveland and James Rechenbach from Knoxville were among the 2012 Daktronics-NAIA Baseball Scholar-Athletes announced this past week. Honorees must be at least juniors in academic standing and have cumulative GPAs of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.

Golf

• Defending champion Kendall Martindale from Jefferson City will lead the golfers vying for the 2012 Tennessee Women's Amateur Championship and the Scott L. Probasco Trophy this week at Foxland Harbor Golf and Country Club in Gallatin. The tournament starts Monday. Martindale, also the 2009 winner and the 2011 State Women's Open champion, just finished her freshman year at Vanderbilt. Commodores teammate Lauren Stratton of Spring Hill could be a top challenger.

• Middle Tennessee State senior Hunter Green from Evensville, Tenn., ended his NCAA career as a Division I PING all-region golfer, as chosen by the Golf Coaches Association of America. He had two tournament wins, six top-10 finishes and the Sun Belt Conference's best stroke average, 72.2, as a senior. He shot under par in 16 of his 31 rounds this year and wound up third all-time in Blue Raiders history with five career tournament titles.

Running

• Chris Berry, who just concluded a five-year University of Tennessee at Chattanooga running career, has been named to the Capital One Cross Country/Track Academic all-district first team, making him a nominee for Academic All-America. Berry, who already has two degrees from UTC, finished 17th in the 10,000-meter run in the recent NCAA East Region track and field meet after making the Division I cross country national race last fall. He was All-Southern Conference four times and all-region twice in cross country and earned 11 all-conference honors and four SoCon event championships in indoor and outdoor track. He holds UTC's 10,000-meter record.

• Red Bank High School track coaches Hugh Enicks and Donnelle Dunning were top winners Saturday in the Georgia State and Southeastern Masters Championships. Dunning, who is in the 35-39 age group, was the overall 100-meter victor in 10 minutes, 47 seconds. Enicks (50-54) was the first finisher in the 10,000 in 36:15.

Tennis

• The annual Icy Hot TVOC tennis tournament will run Thursday through Sunday at Manker Patten, and area residents are encouraged to attend free -- even to take breaks from walking or biking on the Tennessee Riverwalk to watch the pros and amateurs in multiple divisions at the riverside facility. Bike racks may be used at no cost. The tournament offers $13,000 in prize money.

Softball

• Carson-Newman College announced nine softball recruits this past week, and five of them are from the Chattanooga area, counting Warren County shortstop Kimberly Wilkinson, a two-time District 6-AAA defensive player of the year before her senior season. From the more immediate area are, already reported as Lady Eagles signees, pitcher Kaitie Sims and outfielder Braleigh Angel from 2011 and '12 Division II state champion Baylor along with pitcher Brenna Nation from two-time Georgia Class A state champion Gordon Lee and all-state catcher Hayley Burnette from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, a Class AA state runner-up. Burnette was her region's defensive player of the year as a junior. Nation was a two-time all-state choice and a state pitcher of the year as a senior.

• Champion Shorter University moved up from 10th to No. 1 and Lee University was 12th in the final NAIA softball poll for 2012. Lee moved up one spot from its ranking going into the national tournament, where the Lady Flames won their first two games but lost in a tiebreaker to advance from their pool to the final eight. Also from the Southern States Athletic Conference Eastern Division, Brenau was No. 4.

Basketball

• Forward Devan Bruce from Trion High School and guard Jordan Teems from LaFayette are among the 10 Berry College basketball recruits announced Thursday by coach Jeff Haarlow. The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Bruce was first-team all-region as a junior and senior and a two-time Northwest Georgia Tip-Off Club player of the year. He led the Bulldogs in scoring as a junior and was their captain this past season. "Devan will provide much needed help in the paint area," Haarlow said in a Berry release. "He is a skilled big guy that will have the ability to step out and make some decisions. He is a very hard worker and will have a big impact immediately." Teems was a three-time All-Region-7-AAA player who averaged 10.9 points, six assists and 2.3 steals per game for his Ramblers career; they went 20-7 and made the state's final 16 his final season. "Jordan is a great addition to our program," Haarlow said. "He is a tremendous shooter and heady point guard who comes from a winning program."

Lacrosse

• Baylor School's Gina Lambiase, Samantha Pazera, Alice Jones, Emma Bird and Charlotte Ector and Girls Preparatory School's Caroline Novkov, Megan Mastey and Sarah Morgan were selected as US Lacrosse all-academic girls' players for 2012.