Men's Golf Captures West Liberty Invitational Crown on Tiebreaker

Sunday, March 29

Wheeling, WV

Millersville University

West Liberty Invitational

Men's Golf Captures West Liberty Invitational Crown on Tiebreaker

3/30/2015 5:46:00 PM | Men's Golf

Wheeling, W.Va. - Every shot certainly counted in determining the champion of the 36-hole West Liberty Invitational hosted at the Palmer Course at Oglebay. Millersville, California (Pa.) and Charleston all closed at 30-over-par. Millersville was determined the team winner on the fifth tiebreaker.

Millersville's opening round 301 placed it in second behind Charleston, which held a sizable, 13-shot lead. Millersville fired a 297 in the final round, matched only by Cal's 294 and West Chester 295, while Charleston posted a 36-over-par 310. What resulted was a three-way tie for the lead. The matching cards tiebreaker went to No. 5 player Matt Lutz, and his 82 bested the 84 posted by California's No. 5, Kirby Manown. The win was Millersville's fourth since the 2013 PSAC Championship victory and the 62nd of Coach Scott Vandegrift's career with the Marauders.

For a Marauder team that finished in the middle of the pack against a similar field at the St. James Plantation Invitation a week ago, Monday's victory was key to its NCAA Atlantic/East Super Regional qualifying hopes. Millersville can now counts four top-three finishes on its resume.

Senior Conor Gilbert and junior Robby Rowe keyed Millersville's second round charge. The duo tied for second place. Rowe answered his opening round 73 with an even-par 72, and Gilbert matched that 1-over-par finish by following a 74 with a 1-under-par 71 in the second round. Gilbert's 71 was the second-best round of the day. Gilbert has now finished third and second in his first two tournaments of the spring.

Millersville also received a strong finish from freshman Connor Sheehan, who posted back-to-back rounds of 77 to finish in a tie for 13th at 10-over-par. Rodney Anders finished one shot behind in a tie for 22nd. Lutz, who earned his way into the lineup with a top-25 finish a week ago, finished in a tie for 34th at 15-over-par.

Millersville now breaks until April 12 when it travels to West Chester for the Dr. Edwin B. Cottrell Invitational--a tournament that the team won in 2013.