NOTEPAD: Spring break impacts sports schedule, Mercer tennis player wins POTW, Macon Bacon unveil ASG logo

Bibb County’s public and private schools had a rare crossover in spring breaks this week, making for an unexpectedly bare cupboard of sports offerings in Macon.

With students out of town and getting rest, most of the county’s high school sports teams had the week off. ACE was the only school not on break — the Gryphons’ break was last week, and their sports schedule reflected it with baseball and soccer down — and played the only games in the city this week.

The soccer games with Washington County went off without a hitch, but a scheduled matchup on the baseball diamond with Southwest went by the wayside when the Patriots were unable to play.

This week’s lackluster lineup should be made up for next week, when Macon will get a pair of premier baseball matchups — ACE and Bleckley County are set to face off for a de-facto Region 2-A Division I championship, while rivals FPD and Tattnall are slated to meet in one of the best GIAA matchups of the regular season.

Mercer’s Padio earns SoCon POTW for tennis

The Southern Conference named Mercer men’s tennis junior Hod’Abalo Isak Padio its Player of the Week on Tuesday.

Padio was flawless last week in two conference matchups for the Bears, going 4-0 with two singles wins and a pair of doubles victories with teammate Amen Prince Gandonou. 

Arguably most important for Padio was his against Garcia Ripoll for East Tennessee State. The win was a gritty one, as Padio won two sets 7-5 against Ripoll to help Mercer beat the Mocs, who won the 2024 SoCon men’s tennis title.

Padio, a native of the west African nation Togo and a transfer from Iowa Central Community College, is now 19-10 in singles and 20-9 in doubles.

Macon Bacon unveil All Star Game logo

The Macon Bacon will host the Coastal Plain League All Star Game this year at historic Luther Williams Field near downtown Macon. 

Along with showcasing some of the summer baseball league’s best players, the team will get brand-new merch with a logo they unveiled last week.

“The Macon Bacon made our debut in 2018 right here in Middle Georgia,” team president Brandon Raphael said in a press release. “Being the only team from the Coastal Plain League in Georgia, it means a lot to be able to share this historic stadium, in a historic league, in year eight of Bacon Baseball.”

The logo was designed by Skye Design Studios — the group also designed the 2025 MLB All Star Game logo, among other notable projects — and features several nods to some of Macon’s most iconic features and traditions as a city.

“The logo needed to show off the historic and rustic Luther Williams brick with the gates; we wanted that to be the focal point of it all,” Raphael said. “There is no better time than during the International Cherry Blossom Festival to launch the logo, as Macon is the Cherry Blossom capital of the world. The blue in the banner symbolizes the Ocmulgee River running through our city. Finally, our logo would not be complete without our 7-foot-tall strip of bacon, Kevin, piecing it all together.”

Fans can buy merch for the All Star Game featuring the logo online now. The event is scheduled for Monday, July 7.

Mercer basketball gets transfer commitment to begin offseason

The Mercer men’s basketball team got a commitment from Zaire Williams, a senior at Wagner College, in the transfer portal, according to a post on X.com by Williams on Tuesday.

Williams was part of a Wagner squad that won the Northeast Conference championship in 2024, though he did miss most of the year with an injury. While the team did not replicate the title in the 2025 season, Williams earned third team all-conference honors and an all-defensive team spot in the NEC.

After Mercer’s season ended in disappointing fashion in the Southern Conference tournament, the team was left with questions to answer. Several key players were out of eligibility, and important younger talent like Angel Montas Jr. and Jah Nze entered the transfer portal during the offseason.

Williams is the first transfer of the offseason for Mercer, who saw the value of recruiting in the portal with standout performances from transfers like Chip Johnson and Ahmad Robinson in the 2024-25 season.