Men’s Bowling takes third at NAIA Southeast Open Saturday

Men's Bowling takes third at NAIA Southeast Open Saturday

LILBURN, Ga. (February 3, 2024) – The Milligan University men's bowling team notched an impressive third-place finish at the NAIA Southeast Open Saturday tournament at Bowlero Lilburn.

The tournament format included three team games and 20 baker games in the one-day event. Milligan finished with 7,421 pins, less than 100 pins behind tournament champion No. 1 SCAD Savannah and 31 pins behind runner-up Webber International. The Buffs finished ahead of No. 4 Pikeville and No. 6 Tennessee Wesleyan.

"The team was on point today," said assistant coach Jeff Herman. "We never got 'lost' as the lanes transitioned and kept up a good scoring pace. We fell a little short of our goal to win, but It felt like we were so close to doing something special."

Seven of Milligan's eight active bowlers rolled at least one game over 200 in the team games. Milligan racked up 3,227 pins for a team average of 215.13. All five of Milligan's bowlers went over 200 pins in the Buffs' final team game.

Alex Evans led the way with 695 pins (231.67 average) with a sequence of 194, 236 and 265. Cameron Shockey closed with a 289 to finish with 675 pins (225.0 average) and Nate Trentler cleared 665 pins (221.67 average). Evans finished seventh, Shockey was 12th and Trentler placed 15th.

"Cameron has put a ton of work in the past couple weeks in practice and it was nice to see him shoot a near-perfect game," said Herman. "Nate Trentler has been rock-solid all year and what can you say about Alex Evans? Another freshman who is putting the team on their back…these kids are fun to watch!"

Bryant Griffith rolled a 224, Jackson McRae added a 214, Aiden Bailey recorded a 213 and Joshua Collins posted a 209.

In 20 baker games Milligan amassed a total pinfall of 4,194 (209.7 average). The Buffs averaged over 200 pins in all five four-game blocks with a high-scoring block of 174, 206, 241 and 252 (218.25 average).

David Gilliam had the top individual score among Milligan's junior varsity. He knocked down 617 pins (205.67 average) with high games of 219 and 216 to place 33rd. The Buffs' JV squad finished fourth of seven teams with 6,621 total pins.

"I was really proud of David Gilliam and the consistency he showed with our JV squad today," said Herman. "I don't know if he missed the pocket all day!"

Milligan returns to action tomorrow with another standalone competition day at the NAIA Southeast Open.