Morehead, Ky. -- The Morehead State men's golf team wrapped up play in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Wednesday, falling to Little Rock
3½-1½ in the semifinal round of match play at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Seamus Bogan was the lone full-point scorer for Morehead State, beating Little Rock's Freddie Turnell 3&2. Leading off for Morehead State, Bogan led 4-Up through seven holes. Turnell clawed back, and three consecutive birdies on holes 10-12 evened the match. Turnell bogied the 13
th to put Bogan back ahead, and the freshman birdied 14 and posted an eagle on the par-5 15
th hole to push the lead back out to 3-Up. Both players parred the 16
th to end the match.
"Seamus played some incredible golf today," said Morehead State head coach
Matthew Martin. "We certainly put ourselves in position to come out on top. Remy and Nolan both had matches that could have gone either way."
Nolan Piazza got a half point for the Eagles. He never led in the first ten holes of his match against Archie Smith. He birdied the par-3 11
th to go 1 Up, but bogies at 12 and 14 put him back Down 1. Piazza bounced back with a birdie on 15 to get the match back to All-Square.
Remy Stalcup battled with Little Rock's Eric Featherstone in a tight match. Stalcup never led in the match but stayed within one hole until he bogied 13 to go 2 Down. He responded with a birdie on 15 and an eagle on the par-5 15
th to put the match all square. Featherstone birdied 16 and won the match 1 Up.
Gavin Augenstein was defeated by Little Rock's Alexander Rowland 5 & 3.
Logan McCormick was defeated by the OVC Championship co-medalist Rhett South, who finished the 54-hole stroke play portion of the championship at six under par, tied with UT Martin's Johnathan Xoinis
Only the top four teams from the 54-hole stroke play stage advanced to Wednesday match play. Morehead State advanced after shooting scores of 289-283-298 for an 870 total good for the fourth seed.
Stalcup paced the Eagles, shooting rounds of 72-70-73 for a 215 (-1) total over the par72, 7,014-yard Dalhousie GC course for a T10 finish, his second top-10 result of the season. He finished T-6 in the final tournament before the OVC Championship.
McCormick shot 77-66-74 to finish with a one-over total of 217, good for T14. Piazza posted rounds of 76-70-74-220 (+4), T23. Augenstein shot 72-77-77- 226 (+10) and finished 37
th.
"The goal is always to make match play, and I am very proud of our guys for accomplishing that," said Martin. "I can't wait to get back next year and put ourselves in the same position."
