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

FPD and Tattnall finally play, and it's good for Tattnall

Tattnall never trailed in two games, topping FPD 13-4 and 10-0 to advance to the GHSA Class A private baseball championship next week.

Story in This Week's Coverage

Georgia College thumped in NCAA tourney opener

Georgia College went into the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional with a No. 1 national ranking and No 2 seed, but the Bobcats didn't feel all that good after falling 9-4 to Lincoln Memorial on the first day.

LMU took a 5-0 lead in the second inning, and the Bobcats couldn't get going despite 11 hits, only few less than LMU.

They'll try to avoid an 0-2 trip with an 11 a.m. game against Wingate.

Braves and Cubs rained out; Soroka to DL

They'll play the makeup game in late August. Mike Soroka should be back and rolling by then after being put on the disabled list Thursday.

College Baseball: Mercer, The Citadel split

Mercer got the lead early, and then answered late when The Citadel tied it for a 6-3 win in the first game of a doubleheader.

The Bulldogs got revenge in the nightcap with a 5-4 win, Mercer scoring two in the bottom of the ninth.

Mercer will honor its seniors before Friday's 6 P.M. game.

College Baseball: Georgia loses, Tech wins

Georgia’s bullpen struggled in the Bulldogs’ 8-6 loss to Arkansas.

Georgia Tech and Duke went into the morning because of weather, Tech taking a 9-6 win.

Mercer adds Means to women's basketball staff

Sydni Means has basically been running things on the court for the Mercer women's basketball team for four years.

Now, she'll try to help run things from the side, joining the staff as an assistant coach.

Atlantic Sun adds Liberty in most sports

Liberty, with 15,000 on-campus students and 110,000 world-wide, is joining the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The school made the announcement Thursday.

It adds a spot in the geographic footprint for the conference, with headquarters in Macon, in the gap from Lipscomb in Nashville to New Jersey Tech. from south Florida to New Jersey, adding a spot between about the middle of Virginia.

The conference is losing USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C., to the Big South, but has already replaced the Spartans with North Alabama for a nine-team conference.

Mercer left the A-Sun for the Southern Conference after the 2013-14 years. Liberty, which plays FCS football as an independent, is leaving the Big South, in part because of conflicts regarding the football program. The A-Sun doesn't have football, but has a football agreement with the Big South, allowing the A-Sun football schools to have a conference for the sport without leaving.

Kennesaw State won the conference title last year in its third year of football.

The daily scoreboard, back to including high schools, is posted, and the daily schedule, including high school, is updated

This Week's Signings

Add two more Bleckley County athletes to sign letters for the college level.

Girls soccer player Jasia Taylor and football player Andrew Butler signed on Thursday, Taylor with Brewton-Parker and Butler at LaGrange. ...

Three Northside football players signed on Thursday: Marcus Jolly with Albany State, Greg Coger with Iowa Wesleyan, and Eric Fleming with Huntingdon.

The ceremony included girls basketball player Tamia Sapp, who signed with Georgia Southwestern. ...

Veterans pitcher Daniel Hawthorne signed Thursday with Emmanuel College, a member of Division II Conference Carolinas. ...

Schoolmate Max Wilkins will continue his soccer career at Georgia State ...

A pair of East Laurens boys soccer players will take their skills about 35 miles away.

Bryce Robinson and Jon Eric Senn signed with Brewton-Parker. ...

Jones County girls sprinter Jazmyne Hambrick has signed with Life University in Marietta. ...

Central Georgia Tech has added a nearby former high schooler.

Alexis Cainion started her college career after graduating from Warner Robins at Andrew College, but is transferring to CGTC. She averaged 7.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 22 games as a freshman.

She'll rejoin Demon teammate Victoria Brown, who will be in her second season with the Titans. ...

Multi-sport athlete Jaydon Norman of Warner Robins signed Wednesday to play football at Fort Valley State, alma mater of his basketball coach Jamaal Garman.

The school held a ceremony Wednesday that included Nelson Phillips, who signed before the season with Georgia State for basketball. ...

Another athlete from Houston County is headed to Limestone. This time, it's Houston County track athlete Javaris Michael.

Former Demon quarterback Ivan Corbin will be a junior on the football team, and D'Angelo Whitehead committed to Limestone in February for track. ...

It was a good Tuesday at Jones County for some football players.

Christian Veal signed with New Mexico Military Institute, a junior college that went 3-6 last year. Dayton Hunt is headed to Mount St. Joseph, a Division III program in Cincinnati that went 6-4 last year. ...

Warner Robins' Janiya Bryant has signed to run track with Brenau, an NAIA program in Gainesville. ...

Multi-sport athlete Aaron Kirkland at GMC has picked soccer, and has signed to play at Brewton-Parker. ...

Northside's Hoy Thurman IV has signed with Truett-McConnell for track and field. ...

It was a good Monday at Bleckley County, where a pair of girls basketball standout signed letters of intent.

Jahnaria Brown is headed to Georgia Highlands, a junior college in metro Atlanta that finished 19-13 last season.

Chania McRae signed with Brewton-Parker, which went 6-19. Former Northside standout Alexia Galloway was a freshman last season. ...

Zoe Jordan. who won two state triple jump title at Westside and scored points last weekend at the state meet for Howard, will keep in running and jump at Georgia Southern, with whom she'll sign Friday morning.