FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. – In one of the final tune-ups before postseason begins, the Missouri Baptist University men's bowling team put its best foot forward at the McKendree University Baker Challenge this past weekend. The Spartans, who moved up to No. 20 in the latest NAIA RPI rankings, advanced out of the qualifying round as the No. 6 seed for bracket play before falling to runner-up Newman University in the quarterfinals.
 
MBU's varsity squad led by James Bennett, Seth Harris, Hunter Jones, Cameron Peters, Dakoda Phelps, and Bryce Thurman, found its largest success on Day One. After 24 Baker games on Saturday, the Spartans were right in the thick of the team race sitting in second place having accumulated 5,030 pins. Thru 24 games, MBU was averaging 209.58 per games with 16 games above 200.
 
On Day Two, the Spartans had their moments including a 257 in Baker Game #35 but dropped four spots to sixth in the final qualifying standings.
 
MoBap took one game from No. 3-seed Newman in the bracket quarterfinals, but fell to the Jets, 2-1.
 
MBU's JV team consisting of Aiden Page, Damien Howard, Daniel Manoni, Kyle Felbab, and Noah Middendorf placed seventh out of eight teams. The group recorded three games of 200+ including back-to-back games of 223 and 211, and a high of 242.
 
In two weeks, the Spartans will head to Indianapolis for another Tier 1 tournament at the Columbia 300 Hoosier Classic.