Nashport, Ohio - Millersville men's golf entered the final round of the NCAA Atlantic/East Super Regional within striking distance of a nationals bid. The Marauders, however, couldn't replicate their brilliant round two performance and fell to ninth in the 20-team field. Junior
Robby Rowe was in contention for an individual berth until Gannon's Matt Barto closed his final nine at 2-under-par.
Millersville shot a 295 and was in fifth place following round two. Wednesday was an entirely different story, though. Rowe's 75,
Conor Gilbert's 78 and
Connor Sheehan's 79 were at least three shots higher than their second round scores. The lone golfer in the lineup to improve his score was
Bret Howey, who shot a 9-over-par 81. While Millersville shot a team score of 313, 10 of the top 12 teams shot 302 or lower and six teams broke 300.
With the Marauders out of the team race, Rowe positioned himself for one of the team individual berths to the NCAA Championships. Rowe shot a 1-over-par on the front side and pieced together seven pars with a pair of bogeys on the back. He went into the clubhouse tied for sixth and in a four-way tie for the final individual berth. But Barton, who started his round on hole 10 was even on his first nine, pared the first five holes of his final nine and then jumped two strokes ahead of Rowe and the pack with back-to-back birdies on No. 6 and No. 7.
Gilbert, a senior, finished his distinguished Marauder career in a tie for 22nd. Gilbert won three times as a Marauder and was medalist of the 2013 PSAC Championship. He took three teams to the NCAA Super Regional and helped the 2013 team to a PSAC Championship. His career scoring average of just over 76 is the lowest by a Marauder since Corey Gast finished his career in 2008. Gilbert was the lone senior in the lineup.
2015's NCAA Super Regional appearance was the third in a row for the Marauders. It is the first time Millersville has qualified for three consecutive super regionals as a team.
Â