Crusaders Split Matches at Conference Championship

GASTONIA, N.C. — The Belmont Abbey men’s bowling team split a pair of matches Friday afternoon at the 2022 Conference Carolinas/Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship. The fourth-seeded Crusaders upset third-seeded Walsh 4-1 in the opener, before falling 4-2 to No. 2 Emmanuel later in the day.

The double-elimination tournament, held at George Pappas’ Liberty Lanes, featured best-of-seven Baker games, which uses five players bowling a frame each over two rotations.

THE OPENER

• Belmont Abbey bolted out of the gate in the first game with seven straight strikes, then hung on for a 238-233 victory.
• In the second game, the Crusaders rolled their best effort of the match, a 265-199 victory. The first six frames were strikes, as were the ninth and all three balls in the 10th.
• Walsh closed the gap with a 205-176 victory in the third before the Crusaders went on another run. Another seven straight strikes to start the game led to a 255-198 win.
• The Abbey closed out the win with a 211-174 in game five.

THE NIGHTCAP

• The momentum continued into the second match of the day as the Crusaders has a strike or spare in every frame. Four straight strikes in frames 7-10 led to a 227-184 victory.
• Emmanuel won the next two games 238-194 and 246-207 before The Abbey evened the match 2-2 with a 193-162 victory.
• The Lions closed out the match with wins in games five (203-156) and six (237-219).

UP NEXT

• Belmont Abbey continues play tomorrow at noon with another loser’s bracket game.
• The Crusaders face No. 6 seed Kentucky Wesleyan at 12 noon with the hope of advancing to face the Emmanuel-Lincoln Memorial loser immediately after.