Newspaper Page Text
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OUR
SANPLOT
ON DECK
Today
Major League Baseball
■ Toronto at Atlanta, 7:35 p.m.,
TBS
BRAVES CORNER
Blue Jays 6, Braves 5
ATLANTA (AP) - Reed Johnson
homered and had three hits to
help Toronto extend Atlanta's lon
gest losing streak in 17 years.
The Braves have dropped
eight straight games for the first
time since April 24-May 2, 1989.
Atlanta has lost 18 of 21 to drop to
the bottom of the NL East.
Scott Schoenweis (2-0), who
struck out pinch-hitter Matt Diaz
with the bases loaded to end
the seventh, earned the win. B.J.
Ryan got the final four outs for his
18th save in 19 opportunities.
Tyler Yates (0-1) walked two
and gave up one hit and one
run in one-third of an inning for
Atlanta.
Toronto's Josh Towers, recalled
from Triple-A Syracuse for the
start, struck out four and gave
up six hits and four runs in 5 1-3
innings and gave up a home run
to Andruw Jones.
Atlanta's Jorge Sosa gave up
eight hits and four runs in six
innings, including home runs to
Johnson and Troy Glaus.
IN BRIEF
You've got questions, they've
got answers
Heads up, all Houston County
golfers'
The Houston Home
Journal sports department is
putting together a new regular
feature aiming at improving your
understanding of the game of golf
and the way you play out of the
course.
For this “Ask the Pros" column,
we are asking you, the avid golfer,
to submit any question you may
have concerning the rules of the
sport or your golf swings, strokes
and putts. We will then forward
your question to a local golf pro
from one of five Houston County
golf clubs, and that pro will in turn
answer the question. That answer
will appear in the Home Journal.
Send your questions,
including your name and
where you live, via e-mail to
mbrown@evansnewspapers.com
or by regular mail to the Houston
Home Journal, attn: sports,
1210 Washington St„ Perry, GA,
31069.
Youth center sets registration
The Robins Air Force Base
Youth Center’s sports registration
will be held July 15. Parents may
resister from 1-6 p.m. on that day
and from 3-6 p.m. the following
Monday-Friday.
Youth may register for cheer
leading ages 5-12, NFL flag foot
ball ages 5-10, tackle football
ages 11-12 and fall soccer ages
5-16. Registration will continue
until teams are full.
Cross country series dates set
Warner Robins High School
head cross country coach David
Erpelding is preparing to host
the Sixth Annual Middle Georgia
Cross Country Summer Series
at Pearl Stephens Elementary
School in Warner Robins.
The races are open to every
one and the following races are
planned:
■ July 6:4000 meters
■ July 20: 5000 Meters
Each race is slated to start at
7:30 p.m. on the Thursdays listed
above. Awards will be given for
the top five in each age group
male and female. 14-and-under,
15-19 and 20 and over. The entry
fee is $5.
HLCC to host clinic, more
Houston Lake Country Club will
be holding a Junior Golf Clinic
July 11-13, 9:30-11 a.m. all three
days. Each clinic is limited to the
first 50 golfers to sign up. The cost
is SIOO for members and $l2O for
nonmentbers.
The dub will also have a Junior
Club Championship July 27. Call
the Pro Shop at 218-5252 to sign
up or for more information.
In addition, the 25th Annual
Ron Stafford Invitational Two-man
Best Ball tournament sponsored
by Coca-Cola will be held July 22
and 23 at the course. Sign up is in
the pro shop.
THURSDAY,
JUNE 22, 2006
ligers beat White Sox, close in on Nationals
From staff reports
About a week ago, it was
the Eagles who were hot on
the heels of the Nationals
for top of the Middle Georgia
Baseball League standings.
Now it’s the Tigers.
Granted, they haven’t
exactly been tearing through
the league.
In fact, their record over
the last eight games is 4-4
(two of two of those losses,
however, were by one run
and one was by two).
But, they’ve done
enough.
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A youngster works on her return as others look on, at a tennis clinic put on this week by local expert Kerry Bacon
and held on the courts of the Warner Robins Recreation Department.
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Bacon instructs players on the fine art of working the net.
Georgia fails to swing the bat; Tech chokes
For the first time since 1994 an
SEC team failed to win a game
at the College World Series,
and I know why.
The Bulldogs came to watch the
game.
At the plate, they watched strikes
sail by with runners in scoring posi
tion.
Even late in the elimination game
against Oregon State, the Georgia
batters were observing the ball as it
weaved its way across the plate.
In the final inning, a Bulldog took
a called third strike although the
umpire had been calling inside strikes
all game.
It proves what I have always said;
athletes don’t learn anything in col
lege.
If a hitter can’t figure out the
umpire’B strike zone within two at
bats, he hasn’t been paying attention.
Sports
An 8-4 win over the White
Sox Monday
at Peach
County High
School, gave
them a one
game cushion
over the Red
Sox below
and put them
at two games
back in the
Tigers 8,
White Sox 4;
Cardinals 7,
Astros 6
loss column to the Nationals
- a team they play Tuesday
at 7:30 p.m. at the Bibb
County Sports Complex.
(The first time they met was
Joe Sersey
HHJ Correspondent
the bat.
I guess they figured if they waited
long enough, the pitcher would real
ize he’s not throwing the ball where
the Georgia hitters want it, and they
won’t swing until he does. Worse,
they’ll pout if he doesn’t pitch the ball
like batting practice.
May 24, with the Nationals
prevailing 7-5).
In the White Sox match
up, Micah Smith led the
way for the Tigers (no stats
provided by the White Sox).
He was 2-3 with an RBI.
Andrew Meredith, Scott
Simpson, Troy Varnadoe,
Trey Thiel and David
Chapman also recorded a
hit.
That was a twin-bagger in
the case of Chapman, who
also scored two runs and
picked up an RBI.
In a game Tuesday at
Net scape
I noticed that col
lege hitters take too
many pitches. The
best pitch a batter
may see is the first
pitch because pitch
ers at that level
want to get ahead
of the hitters.
Instead, in the
ninth inning,
Georgia batters
were facing two
strikes and no balls
and hadn’t swung
the Bibb County Sports
Complex, the Cardinals
edged the Astros 7-6.
What I really don’t understand, if
the best hitters aren’t getting hits,
why doesn’t the coach order them to
swing the aluminum?
There’s nothing like the sweet
sounding “ping” when ball meets
metal bat. That’s almost as good as
the sound of the slot machines ringing
after showing a row of cherries.
Georgia was my last hope for my
state’s redemption. Georgia Tech went
two and out on Sunday.
How does a team that is leading 5-4
against Cal State Fullerton with two
outs and two strikes on what should
be the last batter fail to get the final
out until Cal State scores three runs?
Everything is blamed on one bad
hop. What about two other batters
facing two-strike counts? How did
they get on base?
Wait, I know. They swung
See SERSEY, page 2B
SECTION
B
Demons pest
10-1 record
at FDD camp
By MATTHEW BROWN
HHJ Sports Writer
Region 1-AAAAA boys
basketball may be finding
a serious, experienced con
tender in its new resident
come the 2006-2007 season.
The Warner Robins High
Demons returned Sunday
from a basketball camp
hosted by Florida State
University in Tallahassee,
Fla., with a 10-1 record.
This was the only camp
for the off-season coach Chip
Malone scheduled for Warner
Robins, and it was one that
raised his hopes that the
Demons will be ready for the
step up in classification.
“The kids played good,”
said Malone. “(But) we’ve
still got some room for
improvement.”
Malone prepared his bas
ketball players for the camp
by holding several two-a-day
practices with one session
early in the morning and
another late in the evening.
He said most of the compe
tition they faced was from
either Alabama or Florida.
The one loss the Demons suf
fered came against a playoff
team from Tallahassee.
When the new high school
season begins, Malone
won’t be short of returning
players who started at one
time or another last year.
He cited Xavier Jackson
as the Demon who stood
out the most in his view.
Malone also got strong play
from Pierre Miller, Kenny
Willis, Braxton Duggar,
See POST, page 2B
'The kids played
good. (But) we've
still got some room
for improvement.'
- Warner Robins boys head bas
ketball coach Chip Malone
WR girls capture
Team Camp USA
championship
By MATTHEW BROWN
HHJ Sports Writer
From now until February
of 2007, Warner Robins High
head girls basketball coach
Tom Mobley might just be
pondering this question:
Will a team camp champi
onship in the summer lead
to a region, and maybe a
state, championship in the
winter?
When the Demonettes
start their official work for
the 2006-2007 season, they
will be riding the momentum
of winning the championship
of Team Camp USA earlier
in June in Tallahassee, Fla.
Warner Robins defeated a
few of Georgia’s top finish
ing teams in last season’s
state playoffs in this camp
while also taking on qual
ity clubs from Florida and
Alabama.
In the championship game,
the Demonettes upended
Screven County, a Class AA
semifinalist from Sylvania.
Also in the tournament por
tion of the camp, Warner
Robins topped Bainbridge
and Northwest Whitfield, a
team that went 28-1 last
year in Class AAAA.
In all, Mobley’s team
played 11 games in Florida.
They went 5-3 during
the regular camp against
Savannah High School
as well as schools from
See TEAM, page 2B