Baylor's Hodges, Gordon Lee's Thornburg Also Take Stump On Sports Honors
by Stan Crawley
posted June 16, 2003
) Photo by Greg Davick Baylor's Wes Hodges takes a pitch in the Stump on Sports All-Star baseball game Monday night at Engel Stadium. |
After his last game for the Trojans, Soddy-Daisy coach Steve Garland promised the skinny southpaw that he would eventually get a big win.
Less than a month after the prep season, Combs did just that by becoming the winning pitcher Monday night during the Stump on Sports Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Baseball Game at Historic Engel Stadium.
Combs also contributed the game-winning hit in Tennessee's 11-10 victory and was chosen the Stump on Sports Player of the Game.
"That was nice,'' said Combs, who plans to sign with Chattanooga State. "Coach Garland put me in and said to hold them and that we would score some runs. Really, it was a team effort.''
Said Garland, "Chris had the worst luck in the world last year. He really had good velocity tonight. He has been a softball lefty, but he hit 83 miles-per-hour last week while pitching for the Chattanooga Colonels. I think he was right around there again tonight.''
HODGES SELECTED TENNESSEE MVP: Wes Hodges had a new look during Monday night's game. After batting left-handed all season in leading Baylor to the Division II state championship, Hodges was back to batting right-handed. He was 3-for-3 with three singles, two RBI and three runs scored.
A right-handed batter his entire life, Hodges broke a bone in his hand before his senior season and was forced to bat left-handed. He will have surgery on June 30 to repair the break.
"The doctor said to go ahead and bat right-handed,'' Hodges said. "He said it might be easier to repair if the hook breaks off.''
Hodges will play next year for Georgia Tech. He wants to switch-hit if possible.
"Batting lefty is still something I'm doing during BP,'' Hodges said. "It wasn't very pretty when I first starting doing it, but the swing started coming along.''
THORNBURG CHOSEN GEORGIA MVP: Eric Thornburg, from Gordon Lee High School, had a big night at the plate for the Georgia team.
In the first inning, Thornburg had a single. He followed that with a 380-foot home run over the left-field fence in the fourth inning and then had a long double to right field in the sixth.
TRENT STILL NEGOTIATING: Ooltewah right-hander Adam Trent pitched the first inning for Tennessee on Monday and didn't give up a run. He struck out two and gave up a single to Thornburg.
Trent, who was drafted in the eighth round of the amateur baseball draft by Detroit, turned down the Tigers' first offer.
"But they're coming back to my house again to talk,'' Trent said. "They watched me pitch again yesterday.''
While pitching for the Chattanooga Cyclones on Sunday, Trent had a complete game with eight strikeouts in a 4-1 victory over the Knoxville Yard Dogs.
"I don't have a deadline to make a decision about signing,'' Trent said. "I've said no for now, but I'll listen again. If I don't sign, I'll play next year at Young-Harris Junior College.''
BIG INNINGS FOR BOTH TEAMS: In the bottom of the first, Tennessee scored five runs.
Red Bank's Clark Jackson led off with a double and Central's Andrew Shaver walked. Hodges followed with an RBI single and Shaver scored on an error. Grace Academy's Brendan Murphy, the Gatorade Tennessee Player of the Year, hit a double and Bradley Central's Tyler Westmoreland drove in two runs with a single. The fifth run scored on an error.
Georgia scored seven runs in the top of the seventh.
Thornburg led off the inning with his long home run. Tate Henshaw and Chantry Gullege from Adairsville High followed with singles and Henshaw scored on a double-steal. Gullege scored on an error and Ringgold's Alan Donaldson and Lakeview's Jake Walker followed with RBI singles. Gordon Lee's Dustin Tommey then hit a two-run single.
STUMP ON SPORTS SCHEDULE: The soccer all-star game has been moved from Tuesday night to Wednesday night at 7 at Notre Dame High School.
The softball double-header will begin at 6:30 Wednesday night at Frost Stadium and the basketball will begin at 6 on Thursday night at Soddy-Daisy with a girls and boys game.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)
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