Ball State University Athletics
Day 1 in the Books at EY Match Play
February 09, 2016 | Men's Golf
Live Scoring | Tuesday Pairings | Bracket
DADE CITY, Fla. -- The Ball State men's golf team lost a tiebreaker to Notre Dame in the morning round and dropped a close match to Dayton in the afternoon Monday at the Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play.
Sophomore Johnny Watts won both of his matches at the No. 1 position as the Cardinals opened the spring portion of their schedule on the South Course at Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club.
Neither of Watts' matches made it to the 18th hole. Last year's Mid-American Conference champion was a 3&1 winner over Notre Dame's Matt Rushton in the morning and a 4&2 winner over Dayton's Tripp French in the afternoon.
Fellow sophomore Michael VanDeventer was a 1 up winner in his match at the No. 2 position in the morning, giving the No. 7 seed Cardinals the top two spots in the lineup over the No. 2 seed Irish.
Freshman Timothy Wiseman took the final hole of his match to win at the No. 5 position, tying Ball State with Notre Dame at three matches apiece. But the Irish won the tiebreaker based on larger margins of victory in their wins, and they advanced to the semifinals of the championship bracket.
Ball State moved into the consolation bracket to face No. 6 seed Dayton. James Blackwell picked up a 3&1 win at the No. 3 position against the Flyers to provide a second victory in addition to the one from Watts.
Keegan McKinney finished all square in his match at the No. 6 position, but the Cardinals couldn't get another full point. Dayton won the team match 3.5 to 2.5 and advanced to play in Tuesday's fifth-place match against Ohio. The Cardinals will play for seventh place against Xavier.
Notre Dame advanced past Toledo in the afternoon round in much the same fashion as it did against Ball State in the morning. The teams finished tied 3-3, but the Irish again moved on courtesy of the tiebreaker procedure.
Notre Dame will face Eastern Michigan, which upset No. 2 seed Miami, for the championship Tuesday morning. The third-place match will feature Miami and Toledo. The action for all matches gets underway at 8:30 a.m. with live scoring at golfstat.com.
First Round Results
#1 Miami def. #8 Ohio, 3.5-2.5
#5 Eastern Michigan vs. #4 Xavier, halved 3-3*
#3 Toledo def. #6 Dayton, 3.5-2.5
#2 Notre Dame vs. #7 Ball State, halved 3-3*
*Eastern Michigan and Notre Dame advance on tiebreaker (combined margin of victory in individual matches)
Second Round Results
Championship Bracket
#5 Eastern Michigan def. #1 Miami, 4-2
#2 Notre Dame vs. #3 Toledo, halved 3-3*
*Notre Dame advances on tiebreaker (combined margin of victory in individual matches)
Consolation Bracket
#4 Xavier vs. #8 Ohio, halved 3-3*
#6 Dayton def. #7 Ball State, 3.5-2.5
*Ohio advances on tiebreaker (combined margin of victory in individual matches)
Ball State's Results
#2 Notre Dame vs. #7 Ball State, halved 3-3*
*Notre Dame advances on tiebreaker (margin of victory in individual matches)
Johnny Watts (BSU) def. Matt Rushton (ND), 3&1
Michael VanDeventer (BSU) def. Blake Barens (ND), 1 up
Miguel Delgado (ND) def. James Blackwell (BSU), 1 up
Ben Albin (ND) def. Michael Makris (BS), 4&2
Timothy Wiseman (BSU) def. Kevin Conners (ND), 1 up
Liam Cox (ND) def. Keegan McKinney (BSU), 1 up
#6 Dayton def. #7 Ball State, 3.5-2.5
Johnny Watts (BSU) def. Tripp French (UD), 4&2
Nick Paxson (UD) def. Michael VanDeventer (BSU), 1 up
James Blackwell (BSU) def. Caleb Wolters (UD), 3&1
Brendan Keating (UD) def. Michael Makris (BSU), 3&1
Thomas Goss (UD) def. Timothy Wiseman (BSU), 1 up
Keegan McKinney (BSU) vs. Phillip Johnson (UD), halved
Tuesday Matches (8:30 a.m.)
1st place -- #2 Notre Dame vs. #5 Eastern Michigan
3rd place -- #1 Miami vs. #3 Toledo
5th place -- #6 Dayton vs. #8 Ohio
7th place -- #4 Xavier vs. #7 Ball State
