BOWLING

It was a good weekend of bowling for the Foresters at the Buckeye Baker Classic where the HU men came away with a victory and the HU women brought home second place.

The tournament format featured 36 baker games after which the field was cut to the top eight for match play. The oil pattern for the weekend was challenging and kept the scoring pace low for all teams, but HU proved up to the challenge qualifying first in the women’s division and second in the men’s division after baker play.

As has been the case all season, the Forester women had another strong performance. HU took the lead out of the 12-team field with a total pin count of 5,988 (166.33/game) for 36 baker games. Once in match play, they stepped up the scoring pace by increasing the team’s average to 176/game.

In the first round of match play, Huntington took on Villa Maria College and dominated with a 2-0 sweep recording scores 203-132, 155-149. In second round action, HU beat Northern Kentucky 2-1 with scores of 186-148, 179-188, 192-165. The win moved HU into the championship match against Alma College where they came up short, 1-2 with scores of 157-201, 201-153, 135-178.

The Forester men needed to come out and have a good weekend as the team prepares for post-season play and did just that. Heading into match play as the second seed having posted a baker score of 6,625 (183.56/game), HU upped their average in match play to 201.75/game.

Huntington took on Adrian College in first round match play and came away with a 2-1 win with scores of 200-173, 157-169, 224-126. The semi-finals saw HU beat Robert Morris PA 2-1 (221-171, 192-216, 194-169). The win propelled Shockey’s crew into the championship match against the University of Rio Grande where they cruised to a 2-0 win with scores of 204-178 and 222-187.

With this win, the Foresters successfully defended their Buckeye Baker Classic title from last year. It marks the first time in program history that HU has won a tournament back to back years. Huntington also made history in baker action by logging the program’s highest single game score of 289 which also proved the high game for the tourney.

The Foresters are back in action this weekend to compete in the Kegel/ISBPA Midwest Collegiate Classic on January 19-20 in Addison, Ill.