Men’s Golf Strong on Second Day, Moves up to Finish Sixth at Eagles Invitational
WATERTOWN, Conn. (October 11, 2022) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's golf team tied for the low round of the day on Tuesday, with a third-round 294 (+10), to move up four spots and finish in sixth place at the Eagles Invitational, hosted by Post. Senior Michael Sosik (Fiskdale, Mass.) was the low Raven, as he finished tied-10th, while he was joined inside the top 20 of the 79-golfer field by freshman Seth Saffell (Castro Valley, Calif.), who was tied-17th. The two-day event was held at the par-71, 6603-yard Watertown Golf Club.
Watertown played a half-shot harder on Tuesday than it did during either of Monday's rounds, but it did not seem to slow Franklin Pierce down at all. All five Ravens shot in the 70s, and the scoring four were all at 75 or better. Junior Thomas Hickey (Moultonborough, N.H.) turned in an even-par 71, while Sosik and Saffell each carded 74s (+3), and junior Jake Berkio (Ashburnham, Mass.) followed at 75 (+4). Freshman Riley Richards (East Montpelier, Vt.) rounded things out with a 78 (+7), his lowest round of the tournament.
On the individual front, Sosik held station in the third round, as his final line of 70-75-74--219 (+6) left him in a five-way tie for 10th, where he started the day. Saffell moved up sixth spots into a tie for 17th at 78-71-74--223 (+10). Hickey was one of the day's biggest movers, as he jumped up 13 spots to finish solo-35th at 73-84-71--228 (+15). Berkio moved up five spots into a tie for 43rd, at 78-79-75--232 (+19), while Richards also moved up five spots, into a tie for 62nd, at 82-80-78--240 (+27).
The low four scores of the day added up to a Tuesday 294 (+10) for the Ravens, which matched Le Moyne for low round of the day. Franklin Pierce moved from 10th at the start of play on Tuesday up to a sixth-place finish, and were just six shots off a top-four in the 14-team field, at 299-305-294--898 (+46). Le Moyne and host Post finished tied at the top of the field at 876 (+24), while St. Thomas Aquinas took third at 884 (+32). Le Moyne took the tournament title in a playoff.
Individually, Le Moyne senior Nicholas Bove used a final-round 69 (-2) to jump up two spots and claim medalist honors at 68-72-69--209 (-4). He was a two-stroke victor over Post graduate student Bill Koch, who was solo-second at 67-72-72--211 (-2). Koch had shared the overnight lead with Bentley senior Jared Walter, who finished tied-third with Adelphi senior Filip Wetterqvist at 212 (-1).
The tournament was the fall finale for the Ravens, who will be back in action in the spring.