Georgia sports for Tuesday, May 15th

The Braves were nearly no-hit last night in losing to the Nationals in Washington, 2-1 the final. Despite that, the Braves appear lucky where veteran pitcher John Smoltz is concerned. Smoltz in the 7th inning suffered a dislocated right pinky finger in a run-down play. He might be able to make his next start.

Against Jason Bergman, the Braves had no hits going into the 8th inning. However, Brian McCann led-off the inning with a solo home run. Bergman allowed 2 hits in 8 innings of work for his 1st win in 15 career starts.

The Braves have lost 2-straight games--they'll face the Nationals again this evening.


There is more bad news for the Atlanta Falcons with off-season injuries to players on their roster. Receiver Brian Finneran re-injured his surgically repaired left knee. It happened last weekend when he was doing rehab-work on the knee. Finneran is hoping to make it back this season, after missing all of 2006. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee during training camp last year.

The Falcons released 6 players on Monday, including former Georgia Bulldog punter Gordon Ely-Kelso. He was a undrafted free agent rookie signee.


For the first time in school history, Columbus State has their softball team headed to the World Series. The top-ranked Lady Cougars won their NCAA region final on Monday, beating Armstrong Atlantic 8-4. Columbus State will begin play in the Series Thursday in Akron, Ohio.