Central catcher Ryan Poole is headed to Sewanee, but made it clear that he's going for the academics rather than the baseball.
"A lot of guys choose a college and they're going for baseball first and academics second," he said. "I'm going for the academics and I'll play baseball on the side."
Through 25 games, Poole had struck out just seven times and had a .318 batting average. More importantly, he had thrown out 79 percent of would be base-stealers including three Tuesday night as the Pounders clinched the District 6-AA championship.
"He has been a great kid to have. He's almost always the first one out to practice and the last one to leave," Central coach Glen Carter said. "He realizes you get out of something what you put into it. He's the best I've had behind the plate in my eight years here."
McCallie's sweep was first
When McCallie won all three of its games last week with Baylor, it was the first time the Blue Tornado had swept the Red Raiders since Division II schools went to the three-game series concept prior to the 2009 season.
McCallie won two last year and Baylor got its lone sweep in 2011 after winning two of three in 2010 and 2009.
The three wins also were the first against Baylor coach Gene Etter for first-year McCallie coach Greg Payne, whose Gordon Lee teams lost four to the Red Raiders.
District tournaments
District 5-AAA appears to be the first to start postseason play, beginning its tournaments Wednesday at Soddy-Daisy. Cleveland plays Rhea County at 5 and Bradley goes against McMinn County at 8.
Match-ups in all of the districts are set except 5-A, which will be decided this afternoon when Boyd-Buchanan hosts Silverdale Baptist.
Vote for Brookshire
Chase Brookshire is one of 10 finalists for the NCAA senior class award. The former McCallie standout is a pitcher for Belmont.
The winner is determined by fan voting and fans are allowed to vote once each day. The website to vote is seniorclassaward.com.
Rowland transferred
Former Meigs County standout Jake Rowland, who signed with Tennessee and spent a year with the Vols, has transferred to Tennessee Tech. The outfielder is sitting out this year to meet NCAA transfer rules.
Cooper likely redshirt
Former Baylor standout Will Cooper is likely to take a medical redshirt season at Vanderbilt after undergoing an appendectomy early in the season.
Several other players in the area are redshirting including South Pittsburg's Jacob Toney at Motlow State, Red Bank's Taylor Martin at Walters State, Ooltewah's T.J. Binder at Troy University, Sequatchie County's Hunter Hudson at Tennessee Tech and East Hamilton's Gary Price at Covenant and Ryan Longwith at Cleveland State.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.