HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Marion hires coach
Marion announced the hiring of Keith Houston as its new football coach Monday.
Houston, who played football at Ole Miss, was the defensive coordinator at Chisholm Trail High School in Texas since 2015. The Patriots’ position had been open since Jed Davis resigned to be the assistant principal at Prairie Grove.
— Jeremy Muck
BASEBALL
All-Sun Belt teams announced
Arkansas State University senior infielder Jeremy Brown was named to the All-Sun Belt Conference first team as a utility player, and junior first baseman Kyle MacDonald earned the conference’s Newcomer of the Year and was a second team selection, the league announced Monday.
Brown has 20 doubles, tied for the third-most in ASU history, and is batting .324/.405/.505. MacDonald, is the first ASU player to win the newcomer award. He has 15 home runs and 50 RBI with a league-leading .679 slugging percentage.
University of Arkansas at Little Rock senior relief pitcher Justin Garcia also was named to the All-Sun Belt first team. The right-handed Garcia (3-4, 3.05 ERA) has appeared in a team-record 34 games, and his 10 saves are tied for the most in the conference. He ranked 20th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (12.21).
— Brooks Kubena
UCA’s Gray Southland’s top pitcher
Tyler Gray, a senior pitcher for the University of Central Arkansas, was named the Southland Conference’s Pitcher of the Year on Monday.
The right-handed Gray had a 6-1 record, a 2.91 ERA and owns the UCA career strikeout record (281) and the single-game strikeout record (15), which he set against Abilene Christian in a 10-3 victory May 4.
Gray is UCA’s first player to be named the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year.
The Bears play Houston Baptist in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.
Junior catcher William Hancock (.286 batting average, 13 RBI) was also named to the All-Southland first team, senior third baseman Rigo Aguilar (.325, 37 RBI) and junior left fielder Hunter Strong (.344, 44 RBI) were named to the second team, and junior first baseman Tyler Smith (.295, 41 RBI) was named to the third team.
— Brooks Kubena
SAU falls in Central Region final
Southern Arkansas rallied to defeat Augustana 5-3 before falling 6-3 in a winner-take-all final of the Central Regional championship Monday in Magnolia.
The loss ended the season for the Muleriders (41-19), who got 5 hits, 2 runs and 2 RBI for the day from Jacob Richardson. Cortland McPherson drove in 3 runs, and Dakota Wright and Sam Mrstik each scored twice.
GOLF
ATU opens NCAA Championships fourth
Arkansas Tech University’s Putter Srinoon shot a 4-under 68 to tie for second, and the team shot a 4-under 284 and sits fourth after the opening round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
West Florida leads the field with a 9-under 279, and Florida Southern’s John VanDerLaan leads the individuals at a 6-under
66.
Three UCA golfers honored
University of Central Arkansas golfers Fernanda Lira and Emma Svensson were named to the Southland Conference’s All-Academic women’s first team Monday.
Lira, a senior, and Svensson, a junior, were both automatic selections by being named All-Conference and claiming spots in the NCAA Regional. Lira has a 3.37 grade-point average and Svensson, a two-time All-Academic selection, has a 3.35 GPA.
Lira finished third at the SLC Championship and Svensson was fourth, helping UCA to a runner-up finish.
UCA senior Rodrigo Rivas was named to the All-Academic men’s golf second team. Rivas, who has a 3.04 grade-point average, finished tied for fifth place at the SLC Championships and earned second-team All-SLC honors.
MARATHON
Registration set to open Thursday
Little Rock Marathon officials announced Monday that registration will open at 8 a.m. Thursday for the 2019 races, to be held March 2-3. The Little Rock Marathon Weekend is presented by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and benefits Little Rock Parks & Recreation.
For more information and to register, visit littlerockmarathon.com.
Democrat-Gazette Press Services