Author: Robert Preston

The South Georgia State College Hawks had a rough go of it late last week, losing three in a row to the Georgia Highlands Chargers. SGSC lost 8-2 Friday night. Then, on Saturday, the Hawks fell in a doubleheader 20-0 and 9-8. In Friday night’s game, the Hawks outhit the Chargers 9-8 but couldn’t get runs across the plate. SGSC scored its only runs of the game in the fourth inning. Georgia Highlands, meanwhile, scored four in the first, one in the second, two in the fourth, and one in the seventh. Luke Boone was the only Hawk with multiple…

Strange things happen after midnight at convenience stores. Such was the case on March 23, 2025, when, at around 12:20 a.m., two individuals allegedly got into a fight at the Circle K on the south end of town. According to a report from the Douglas Police Department, an officer on patrol was riding past the store when he noticed a male and a female in a fight. The officer stopped and spoke with the male, who said that his ex-girlfriend, identified as Ashanti Lockhart, 22, of Douglas, came up to him and “started fighting him,” the report says. The report…

A 14-year-old Douglas teenager is at Arthur Blank Children’s Hospital in Atlanta after truly receiving the gift of a lifetime – a new heart. Two days ago, on April 5, 2025, Braylon, who had been on the heart transplant list for two years, underwent the transplant procedure. The journey to the operating room has been a long, difficult, and painful journey. Yet in the midst of Braylon’s illness and the uncertainty he and his family have faced is a message of hope, inspiration, and faith. When Braylon was six years old, he was diagnosed with complete heart block, a condition…

The Coffee Trojans finished their two-day, four-game stint at the Lakepoint facility in Kennesaw with a 1-1 day on Wednesday. During the trip, the Trojans saw one of the fastest high school fastballs ever recorded and starter Michael Strickland added a no-hitter to an already-impressive 2025 resume. Wednesday afternoon, Coffee defeated the Homewood-Flossmoor Vikings 10-0 in six innings in game one. Then they had a rematch with the Lincoln-Way West Warriors; the Warriors came away with a 10-9 extra-innings win. Against the Vikings, starter Michael Strickland threw a 64-pitch no-hitter. He struck out six and walked one. Strickland also went…

After a rough week last week against East Georgia State College (losing four straight high scoring games, two of which went into extra innings), the South Georgia State College Hawks rebounded and defeated the GCAA’s top team, the Georgia Highlands Chargers, 9-6 in Rome. The Hawks jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Luke Boone hit a two-run home run in the first, his sixth of the season, to establish the lead. Jaden Camp hit a two-run homer of his own in the second to put more distance between the Hawks and Chargers. SGSC went on to…

The Coffee Trojan hitters had the opportunity – if you want to call it that – to face one of the best high school pitchers in the country in the first game of a doubleheader against different schools today at Lakepoint in Kennesaw. Coffee faced Lincoln-Way East of Frankfort, Illinois, in game one. The Trojans played the Calvary Christian Knights from Columbus, Georgia, in the second game. Coffee won both games – 1-0 then 7-2. In game one, Lincoln-Way’s Jack Bauer, a Virginia commit, threw the first 2 1/3 innings. Bauer, a senior lefty, has reached triple digits this season…

Three outs. That’s all the Coffee Trojans needed in order to shock 5A on Friday night. In some ways, though, you could argue that they already had. The Houston County Bears came to Douglas 10-0 in region play, ranked #3 in the state, and #1 in Region 2-5A. They had soundly defeated the Trojans Tuesday night in Warner Robins in the most unceremonious of ways – via 10-run mercy rule in the fifth inning. And yet the Trojans, sitting at #3 in the region, had upset the Bears 4-3 in game one of a scheduled doubleheader. Coffee had handed Houston…

The Coffee Trojans are 9-9 on the season and 5-3 in region play after an 11-1 loss to the #3-ranked Houston County Bears in Warner Robins on Tuesday. Houston’s Will Allen threw a complete game, limiting the Trojans to just one run on one hit in the five-inning contest. Coffee finally got on the board in the top of the fifth. Trailing 10-0 with one out in the inning, Brax Carson walked. After strikeout gave the Trojans their second out of the inning, Gavin McElroy stepped into the box. During his at-bat, Carson stole second. McElroy worked the count to…

Last week, the South Georgia State College Hawks took a brief hiatus from conference play – it was Spring Break, after all – and played a pair of doubleheaders against non-conference opponents. The Hawks had little trouble dispatching their opponents and went 4-0 over those two dates. On Tuesday, March 18, the Hawks faced USC-Salkehatchie. SGSC won game one 11-3 and then took game two 6-3. Jesse Brown and Payton Bryant were both 1-2 with a home run and two runs scored in game one. Starter Luke Smith went three innings and earned the win. In game two, Brown and…

The Coffee Trojans extended their winning streak to five after sweeping a double-header and the season series against the Northside-Warner Robins Eagles Friday night at Charles Wilson Field. CHS won game one 12-0 then took game two 16-5. All told, the Trojans outscored the Eagles 39-11 over the three games. Game one ended after six innings via run rule. Starter Michael Strickland threw 43 pitches over five innings. He struck out six, didn’t walk anyone, and gave up just two hits. Weston Brown threw a perfect sixth inning to close things out. The Trojans scored in every inning while amassing…