It's been a busy October for the Missouri Baptist University bowling teams. Under the direction of first-year head coach
Don Griffin, the Spartans have kicked off the 2019-20 season with three consecutive tournament weekends, including a local event in last weekend's Lindenwood Lions Classic and trips to Springfield, Missouri and Wichita, Kansas.
MBUSpartans.com dives deeper into the first three tournament weekends for the MBU men's bowling program.
Andy B's Team Challenge – Springfield, Mo. – October 12, 2019 [RESULTS]
Andy B's Baker Invitational – Springfield, Mo. – October 13, 2019 [RESULTS]
To begin the weekend, the Spartans placed fifth as a team in the Team Challenge finishing just behind Culver-Stockton College and Barton CC. Individually,
Dakoda Phelps paced MBU with a 174.7 average and the highest finish among Spartans at 13
th place. Phelps closed out strong on Saturday with games of 199, 171 and 217.
Other notable performances included
Jonah Drush (21
st) and
Zachary Johnson (32
nd), who also had strong finishes to the day. Drush recorded a 164.9 for the Team Invitational, while Johnson averaged a 173.5 with a high of 199 in Game 7.
Cameron Stillman registered MBU's top game with a 221 in Game 6.
The Spartans made a statement on Sunday during the Baker Invitational taking home silver in the men's varsity division behind bowling powerhouse McKendree. Missouri Baptist totaled 6,321 pins while the Bearcats won the event with 7,262 pins.
Mid States Championship – Wichita, Kan. – October 19-20, 2019 [RESULTS]
The Mid States Championship had its ups and downs for the Spartans, but it wasn't without stiff competition. Among the 34-team field were four Top 10 teams from the final 2018-19 CollegeBowling.com Power Rankings and nine from the Top 25. With a combined score of 8,456 between six team rounds and 20 Baker rounds, the Spartans finished the weekend 24
th overall. The bright spot for the MoBap men was their team total before the Baker portion in which they ranked five spots higher in 19
th.
Zachary Johnson was the Spartans' lone Top 50 finisher in the field of 495. The St. Charles, Mo. junior averaged an impressive 196.17 and recorded a pair of games above 200 which included a 226 in the fourth game. Others that eclipsed 200 in a single game included
Dakoda Phelps (201),
Cameron Stillman (207, 211) and
Adam Gimbel (215).
Hammer Lions Classic – St. Charles, Mo. – October 26-27, 2019 [RESULTS]
The 11
th Annual Hammer Lions Classic hosted by Lindenwood University provided a glimpse of this squad's potential. Despite a solid Saturday from
Zachary Johnson and
Adam Gimbel, who both averaged 190 through seven team games, the Spartans drew a No. 9 seed for the double-elimination bracket on Sunday.
Playing best-of-three Baker matches, MBU outplayed their seed by all accounts on Sunday. The Spartans started off the day with an upset of No. 4 seed University of Central Missouri, coming from behind to defeat the Mules – 138-165, 180-179, 171-158. That momentum continued as they took down another quality opponent in Lindenwood-St. Charles after an 0-1 deficit. MBU won Match 10 with Lindenwood, 165-229, 210-179, 201-169.
Just one match away from advancing to the championship stepladder, Missouri Baptist would encounter the Lindenwood Lions, not once, but twice more. Unfortunately, the Spartans fell to the No. 20-ranked team in the 2018-19 power rankings in both outings, first by in a 206-153, 168-142 sweep, followed by a 243-180, 141-147, 149-188 loss in the if necessary match.
Missouri Baptist finished tied for fifth following bracket play.
Up Next:
The Spartans have a weekend off before traveling to Moline, Illinois for the 11
th Annual Leatherneck Classic presented by the Quad Cities Sports Commission.
