Friday's Central Georgia Daily News 'n Notes: Marquette King signed, ex-Ga. College star joins prestigious panel, area/state college/pro roundups, honor roll

Friday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

Marquette King not unemployed for long

          Rutland and Fort Valley State graduate Marquette King was released, to the surprise of most everyone, by Oakland on March 30.

          A week later, on Friday, he was signed by a Raiders rival. And he was chatty when introduced.

          In This Week's Coverage.

Ex-Georgia College women's basketball star named to Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics

          Shanteona Keys left Georgia College as one of the women's basketball all-time greats, but also as one of the entire athletics programs stars for her work on the court and classroom and outside world.

          She has added a nifty bit to the resume, being named to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. She is one of three new members. The other two? A professor of chemistry and the NCAA faculty rep from the Naval Academy, and the former athletics director at Northeastern.

Cold weather snow problem for Braves (sorry) in win at Colorado

          It was a great day for hockey, but the Braves and Rockies were playing baseball. The team not used to snow had the better day, Atlanta winning 8-3 in the Rockies' home opener.

College Baseball: Furman gets the best of Mercer in rare home loss

          Furman got all of its runs in two innings and snapped Mercer's six-game winning streak with a 12-9 win.

          The Paladins tied it at 4 with 4 in the fifth, then boomed for 8 in the eighth, 5 of which Mercer got back. But it wasn't enough.

          Saturday's game has been pushed back to 6 p.m.

College Baseball: Hecht does it again for Georgia College

          The 3 runs in the second were plenty for Charlie Hecht, who whiffed six of the first seven hitters to lead Georgia College to a 7-2 win over Lander.

          He improved to 8-0, with 11 Ks in seven innings. Perry alum Cal Gentry had a 2-run single for the No. 13 Bobcats.

College Baseball: Florida State finally gives Tech's Curry a loss

          The sixth-ranked Seminoles handed Xzavion Curry his first loss since April 14, 2017 with a 4-run fourth en route to a 10-2 win over Georgia Tech.

          Tech's offense again struggled, managing only six hits.

College Baseball: Vandy avenges loss to Georgia

          Vanderbilt evened the series with Georgia, thanks to a three-run fourth on the way to a 5-3 home win.

          Catcher Mason Meadows had three hits for Georgia, but that was about it.

College Softball: Georgia College pitching on point

          The Bobcats got quality starting pitching from Jessie Morris and Danielle Rubin in beating USC Aiken 9-1 and 9-2.

          Georgia College has won six straight and 15 of the last 16 to improve to 26-10.

Pro Hockey: Mayhem rack up shutout in Di Salvo's third start

          Peter Di Salvo stopped 35 shots, and Daniel Gentzler and Dylan Vander Esch had three points each in Macon's 7-0 win over Birmingham.

          They host Evansville Saturday night in the regular-season finale.

Central Georgia’s Scoreboard

        Big night for Veterans soccer and baseball; nearly two dozen high school scores, plus college and pro.

This Week's Honor Roll

          Trey Truitt and Robert Broom of Mercer are the Southern Conference player and pitcher of the month for March.

          Truitt tops the league in nine categories after getting a hit in 17 of 19 games, including an 11-game hitting streak.

          Broom appeared in seven games out in relief and won five, with a 1.50 ERA in 24 innings. He leads the conference with a 1.26 ERA and is tied for the lead with six wins.

Earlier

          Mercer senior Jackson Ware is the Southern Conference baseball player of the week after batting .526 last week, with 9 RBI.

This Week's Poll watch

          Georgia College is up to No. 4 in Perfect Game's Division II baseball poll, while Columbus State is 13th.

          The Bobcats are 13th and Cougars 10th in Collegiate Baseball's latest poll, and Georgia College 15th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.

          Mercer is getting votes in the NCBWA and ESPN/USA Today list.

          Middle Georgia State's baseball team is at 18th in Perfect Game's NAIA poll, behind No. 5 Georgia Gwinnett, and 17th in the NAIA coaches' poll.