Lady Mocs' Jenna Nurik player of month

Friday, January 1, 1904

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Jenna Nurik from Roswell, Ga., was the Southern Conference women's tennis player of the month for February after going 6-0 in singles play and 4-1 in doubles during the Lady Mocs' best start since 1991. She played at No. 1 singles throughout the month and at Nos. 1 and 2 in doubles, and all her singles wins were in straight sets.

Baseball

• Chattanooga State completed its TCCAA baseball series sweep at Cleveland State with a 16-9 win Monday. The Tigers (14-4, 3-0) collected 14 hits and 13 walks, and Read Walden had three hits and five RBIs. They went up 2-0 on an RBI single in the first inning by Casey Mannion and a home run by Jared Wilson in the second, but the Cougars (9-7, 0-3) tied it with Dalton Rogers' two-run homer. Chattanooga State got four runs with two outs in the third inning, including a two-run hit by Walden, who had a two-run homer with a Wilson RBI single in the fifth. After a five-run Cougars sixth featuring RBI singles by Rogers and J.D. Cowart, the Tigers got five in the seventh with two-run hits by Marquis Webb and Mannion and a bases-loaded walk for Walden. Aaron Wright added a two-run single in the eighth and ended with four RBIs. Colton Kinnamon was the winning pitcher. Cowart and DeAndre Allen had RBI hits in the seventh for Cleveland State.

• Indiana Wesleyan defeated Tennessee Temple's baseball team 5-2 and 6-1 Monday at AT&T Field, scoring three runs in the last inning of the first game and six unearned runs in game two after the Crusaders took a 1-0 lead behind pitcher Dylan Massingill, who finished with a four-hitter. Ryan Bruce was 2-for-3 with an RBI in game one for Temple (8-9); Chris Altman had two hits in the rematch.

• Bryan College lost 5-3 and 6-4 in Appalachian Athletic Conference baseball games Monday at Bristol, Va. as Intermont shortstop Fabian Placencia went 5-for-9 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Tyler Latham was 3-for-5, Grant Zawadzki drove in two runs and Joey Underwood was 2-for-4 for Bryan (11-7, 0-3) in the first game, and Zawadzki was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Kevin Layne homered in game two. The Lions' scheduled doubleheader today at Southern Polytechnic State has been canceled.

• Hunter Adkins from Red Bank High School did his part to help Middle Tennessee State stretch its baseball winning streak to seven games with seven shutout innings in Friday's snowy victory over Kennesaw State. He struck out five and gave up one walk in that otuing and has given up only one earned run in 23 innings.

• Two former McCallie School pitchers had exceptional outings for their college teams this past weekend. Chase Brookshire did give up his first two earned run of the year in his third season start for Belmont, but he went six innings with six strikeouts in an eventual 5-3 defeat of Illinois State. He's 1-0 with 19 strikeouts in 18 innings. And Rollins senior Taylor Smith faced 26 batters in eight innings with only one hit and two walks allowed in a 16-0 rout of Felician. Smith struck out eight batters and now is 1-1 in five appearances with a 0.88 earned run average and 31 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Softball

• Chattanooga State won 4-2 and 3-2 in home softball games Monday against Lakeland College, with Haley Fagan pitching a six-hitter and Shelby Willard following with a two-hitter. Lacye Walker was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Emily Dagnan hit a two-run home run and Beth Breeden also homered in the first game for the Lady Tigers (13-5). Breeden was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Marina Wilkerson had a double and a sacrifice fly and Walker had the other RBI in game two.

• The Tennessee Temple softball team won 3-2 and lost 8-6 in makeup games Monday at Warner Park against Bluefield College. Megan Roysden was the winning pitcher in the win for the Lady Crusaders, when Kayla Phillips was 2-for-3 and Beth Boling had an RBI double. Ashlyn Mitchell was 3-for-3 with a home run and five RBIs in the loss, while Haley Huskey and Heather Smith each was 2-for-4.

Basketball

• The Chattanooga State men's basketball team (14-13, 8-10) is seeded eighth in the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII basketball tournament and will begin play tonight at 7 EST against ninth seed Dyersburg State (6-16, 2-14) at Motlow College at Lynchburg, Tenn., near Tullahoma. The winner will play the top-seeded Motlow Bucks (22-3, 17-1) on Thursday night, just before Cleveland State's third-seeded Cougars (18-9, 11-7) face Southwest Tennessee (12-10, 9-9). Cleveland State's fourth-seeded Lady Cougars face fifth seed Chattanooga State on Wednesday at 5 EST.