5/14/12

Lima, OH – Well the 2012 Golf season was one to remember for the Barons and their fans. After battling with the Hilltoppers of OU Chillicothe all year for the ORCC Title, and coming out on top, expectations were high for the 36 Hole 2012 State Championship weekend at Chillicothe and Lancaster.

The 36 hole tournament was set for 18 holes at the Cook’s Creek on Friday then the final 18 would be played on Saturday at the Lancaster Country Club. In preparation for the tournament, Coach Maley took the team to Cook’s Creek on Thursday for a practice round to prepare the team for their final weekend. “We shot a very high score on Thursday, but that helped us to gain some more knowledge of what exactly we needed to do on the course when it counted.” Said Maley.

So, on Friday at their rival Hilltoppers’ course in Chillicothe, the Barons golfers began taking aim at flags and another title. Chillicothe was in the clubhouse ahead of the Barons with a team score of 324. The Barons would have to improve quite a bit from their practice performance to match that. Improve they did, “I’m very proud of the team as we shaved 19 strokes off our round Thursday, to put us only four back of OU Chillicothe.” Said Maley. Leading the way for the Barons was Brady Schroeder with a 77, Eric Numbers with a 78, Shane Lumpkins shot an 84, and Trevor Crites rounded the team tally with an 89. “Chillicothe played very well and had a small lead, but I knew we had the ability to make up that difference by playing even better on the final day. I had a lot of confidence in my team!” Said Maley.

Saturday, with how the entire 2012 season went, and starting the day within four strokes and paired with the OU Chillicothe Hilltoppers, many expected it would again come down to the very end. That head to head matchup set the table for high pressure, high excitement, and great competition. All of the reasons these young men compete at the collegiate level. The Barons did not want to bother with more dramatics however and put the pressure on the Hilltopper golfers from the very beginning. Showing no mercy, the Barons ran away with the 2012 Ohio Regional Campus State Title with an 18 stroke victory by shooting an incredible 306!

“When it was all on the line, these guys played their best golf of the year. 306, is a heck of a score, and the two day total of 328 is just a great job of performing well when it matters most!” Said a very proud and happy Coach Maley. Leading the way for the Barons was Eric Numbers with a 74, Brady Schroeder with a 77, Daniel McElwain also had a 77, and Shane Lumpkins had a 78. Even the Barons 5^th shot well on Saturday as Landan Stahler shot an 80. “It was a total team win and a happy group of golfers.” Said Maley.

The 2012 ORC State Tournament Medalist was Eric Numbers with a 152 and the runner up was his Barons teammate, Brady Schroeder who shot a 154. This was the third time in the last six years that the Barons won both the ORCC Regular Season Title as well as the end of year ORC State Tournament.

5/7/12

Lima, OH – You often hear sayings like “Every shot matters” or “never give up”, but you don’t always see the truth in those sayings. Well, the 2012 ORCC Golf Season did just that. After 7 matches, or depending on your count, after 35 rounds, 126 holes, 1050 putts, 1750 drives, irons, pitches, chips, or punches, it all ended up coming down to just one stroke!

Going in to Friday, the Barons had a three point lead over the Hilltoppers of OU Chillicothe in the ORCC standings. However, after competition ended on Friday, the Barons saw their lead had disappeared, and were now tied for first with the Hilltoppers after a disappointing 4^th place finish at The Pines in Wooster, OH. The Barons shot a 335, which was their highest score of the 2012 season. The team was led by Brady Schroeder’s 82, followed by Shane Lumpkins with 84, Trevor Crites with 84, while the Barons 4^th and 5^th scorers Landan Stahler and Daniel McElwain both came in with 85s. “The team was pretty down emotionally after Friday. But, we knew we still were tied for first in the ORCC, and I just hoped the team could put that day behind them and go after the title on Saturday.” Added Coach Maley.

So, Saturday morning the team arrived the Granville Country Club in Newark, OH with one goal in mind, a Tournament and Regular Season ORCC Title! “We knew it was for all the marbles, we prepped well, and approached the tournament excited for the day.” Said Maley.

Unfortunately, things did not go well in the early going as several Barons were finding themselves in tough spots after a few errant tee shots and missed putts. The one exception however was Senior, Eric Numbers as he was nothing but fairways and greens early on, as he was well on pace to be in the 60s. Then, it was as if the rest of the team took note of what Numbers was doing and quickly picked up their own games, scrambling in to 18, attempting to save as many strokes as possible for the team total.

As the Barons ended their rounds, their scores looked much better than they had at the turn. Schroeder fought back on the back nine to bring in a 78, Lumpkins fired an 80, and Stahler scrambled in for an 85. Those scores alone, looked like the Barons would be in trouble, except they knew that Numbers had been playing well early on. Well, he didn’t let up on the back either, and came in with an amazing personal and team record score of 69, three under par on his round! So, the Barons had a team total of 312 for the day. Now, they had to sit and wait though because the five Barons were among the first groups out on the day while their only challenger for a regular season crown, OU Chillicothe was among the last out. Two hours later the Hilltoppers started to trickle in to the clubhouse. The first three scores were excellent, as the Hilltoppers always are, 77, 79, and 79. This meant that the Hilltoppers needed one of their final two golfers to shoot a 76 for the ORCC Title or at least 77 for a tie. The fourth Hilltopper struggled, and had a total in the 80s, so it now came down to the 5^th Hilltopper. “We were seriously holding our breath, things were pretty quiet in our group as we waited to see what the outcome would be.” Said Maley. Finally, the fifth Hilltopper came in to the clubhouse. Remember those sayings? “Every shot matters” “Never give up”, well, the members of the Barons can all look back on their round and be proud that they didn’t give away any extra shots because that fifth Hilltopper came in with a 78, giving the Barons the 1 stroke tournament and ORCC Regular season Championship!!

Congratulations Barons on a great and very exciting season! Keep up the great play this weekend and bring home the 2012 State Tournament Title too!!