ST. CHARLES, Mo. – McKendree University men's bowling took home a third place overall at this past weekend's Lions Classic, hosted by Lindenwood Univeristy and held here at Plaza Lanes.
McKendree amassed a total of 6,826 pins in the tournament to earn the No. 1 seed in bracket play, but lost its first match of bracket play 2-0 to Central Methodist, before rebounding to win two straight matches over Avila (2-1) and Central Methodist (2-0) to move to a fourth round semifinal match with Missouri Baptist. In the semifinal match with Missouri Baptist, the Bearcats fell 2-0.
In the three team games, the Bearcats recorded a total of 2829 pins and then totaled 3,997 pins in the Baker matches.
Lindenwood took home the team title at the event as they went 4-0 in bracket play, including picking up a 3-2 win over Missouri Baptist in the best-of-5 championship match. Lindenwood was the No. 2 seed in bracket play after recording 6,749 pins and Missouri Baptist was the No. 3 seed after collecting 6,413 pins.
The top individual bowler for the Bearcat men was junior
Seth Gass (Dix, Ill./Mt. Vernon) as he averaged 206 in three team games as he totaled 618 pins.
Lindenwood's Andrew Sacks was the overall individual champion as he recorded a 645 in his three games and averaged 215 per game. Barton County Community College's Aidan Vanmetre was second with a total pinfall of 638 as he averaged 212.7 per game.
In addition to Gass, senior
Jorge Rodriguez (Yauco, Puerto Rico/Lincoln Memorial) finished 11th overall with a total pinfall of 583 and averaged 194.3 per game, while junior
Nicholas Blagojevic (Belleville, Ontario) tied for 22nd with fifth-year senior
Daniel Chin (Daly City, Calif./Calumet College of St. Joseph). Blagojevic recorded 180 pins and averaged 180.0 per game and Chin recorded 540 pins and averaged 180 per game.
Meanwhile, McKendree sent two JV teams to the event as the Bearcats' No .1 JV team was second overall with a total of 6,154 pins and averaged of 879.1 per game, while the No. 2 JV team was fourth in the overall team standings with a pinfall total of 5,913 and averaged 844.7 per game.
In bracket play, the No. 1 JV team went 3-2 to finish second overall, while the No. 2 JV team went 1-1 in bracket play. The No. 1 JV team opened bracket play with a win over Missouri Baptist (2-1), before suffering a 2-1 loss to the Bearcats' No. 2 JV team. In third round, the No. 1 JV team earned a 2-0 win over Missouri Baptist, before collecting a 3-1 win over their No. 2 JV team to earn a spot in the championship match. In the championship match, Lindenwood won 3-0 in the best-of-5 final to claim the overall team title.
In JV play, junior
Garrett Lee (Montebello, Calif./Applied Technology Center) earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team after tallying 601 pins in three team games for the No. 2 JV team and averaging 200.3 per game. Lee, who was the JV Individual Champion, finished in seventh place overall at the event on the individual player standings. The top individual on the No. 1 JV team was junior
Kolby Bennett (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) as he recorded 551 total pins and averaged 183.7 per game to finish 19th overall.
Freshman
Ethan Gomez (League City, Texas/Clear Falls) was the No. 2 bowler for the No. 1 JV team as he finished 22nd overall after recording 540 total pins and averaging 180 per game. Senior
Jake Feher (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury) was the No. 2 bowler for the No. 2 JV team as he finished in 27th place with a total pinfall of 526 and averaged 175.3 per game.
The Bearcats will return to action this weekend as they travel to Lafayette, Ind., to compete in the Boilermaker Classic on Oct. 22-23 at Mike Aulby's Arrowhead Bowl.
