‘Jacks Turn in Third-Place Finish at Little Rock Invitational

Monday, October 23

Little Rock, Ark. (Chenal C.C.)

All Day

Stephen F. Austin

Little Rock Intercollegiate

Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography

‘Jacks Turn in Third-Place Finish at Little Rock Invitational

10/24/2017 5:21:00 PM | Men's Golf

SFA places third at Little Rock Intercollegiate with three-round total of 30-over 894, freshman Andy Lopez ties for fourth with an even-par 216

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

Final Results

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Battling strong winds with gusts up to 40 mph, the Stephen F. Austin men's golf team came away with a third-place finish at the Little Rock Invitational Tuesday afternoon at the Chenal Country Club in Little Rock, Arkansas. Moving up three spots on the leaderboard from sixth after two rounds of play Monday, the Lumberjacks shot a 14-over 302 in the third and final round to finish the two-day tournament with a 30-over 894.

"We were seeing great play from the guys in qualifying leading up to the Little Rock tournament," head coach Trey Schroeder said. "Our ball striking was not the best this week, but our mental toughness, fight and grittiness was excellent. I am proud of the way they hung in tough and fought in the wind today, shooting the second-lowest round of the day."

Host Little Rock posted a final score of 15-over 879 on the 72, 7,326-yard Bear Den golf course to capture the tournament title, while the Missouri Valley Conference's Illinois State took home second place with a 24-over 888. Completing the tournament six strokes behind Illinois State, SFA finished ahead of fellow Southland Conference members Houston Baptist and Central Arkansas. The 'Jacks outpaced 46th-ranked Arkansas, who finished tied for sixth with a 35-over 899.

True freshman Andy Lopez (Dallas, Texas) led SFA as he gained three spots on the leaderboard to tie for fourth with a cumulative score of 1-over 216. His best finish to date, Lopez shot a 1-over 73 in the final round Tuesday after his 4-under 68 Monday morning tied for the lowest round shot in the event. The result is Lopez' second top-10 finish in just his third collegiate tournament.

Playing in the Purple and White for the first time in nearly a year, junior Jake Hendrix (Austin, Texas) tied for 11th as an individual competitor. He also shot a 1-over 73 in the third round to move up 12 spots and finish with a two-day total of 5-over 221. Junior Angelo Leyvani (San Antonio, Texas) was SFA's third top-20 finisher, tying for 18th with a 7-over 223 and tallying a 4-over 76 Tuesday.

Senior Blake Stock (Hewitt, Texas) made good work of his final round to claim 15 spots on the leaderboard, tying for 29th with a 12-over 228. He improved his score by a stroke each round and registered a 3-over 75 Tuesday. Tying for 35th was true freshman Max Kettler (Southlake, Texas) (14-over 230), who tied his individual-low 70 in the second round Monday afternoon. Rounding out the 'Jacks and tying for 48th was fellow freshman Steven Fabik (Carrollton, Texas) with a three-round total of 19-over 235.

Illinois State's Trent Wallace claimed the individual championship with a 6-under 210, while Dayton's Caleb Wolters took second place with a 4-under 212 and Aaron Ramos (3-under 213) of Little Rock finished third.

The third-place finish marks the second time SFA has finished in the top three of a tournament this fall after placing second at the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate to start the 2017-18 season.

"We are looking forward to a great test next week at Mystic Creek in El Dorado, Arkansas, to close out our fall slate," coach Schroeder continued.

Up next…

The 'Jacks will return to Arkansas later this week when they head to El Dorado, Arkansas, for the Duck Commander Intercollegiate held at the Mystic Creek Golf Club Sunday-Tuesday, Oct. 29-31.

Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Lumberjack golf throughout the 2017-18 season.

Team Leaderboard

1.	Little Rock	+15	282-299-298	879
2.	Illinois State	+24	300-282-306	888
3.	SFA	+30	300-292-302	894
4.	Dayton	+31	294-297-304	895
5.	UT Arlington	+32	296-293-307	896
T6.	Houston Baptist	+35	299-295-305	899
T6.	Bradley	+35	296-298-305	899
T6.	No. 46 Arkansas State	+35	296-293-310	899
9.	Central Arkansas	+50	303-301-310	914
10.	Seton Hall	+56	304-293-323	920

Top-10 Player Leaderboard

1.	Trent Wallace	Illinois State	-6	71-68-71	210
2.	Caleb Wolters	Dayton	-4	70-71-71	212
3.	Aaron Ramos	Little Rock	-3	69-69-75	213
T4.	Andy Lopez	SFA	E	68-75-73	216
T4.	Tanner Napier	No. 46 Arkansas State	E	73-68-75	216
T4.	Zan Luka Stirn*	No. 46 Arkansas State	E	68-71-77	216
T7.	Rylee Reinertson*	Oklahoma	+2	70-71-77	218
T7.	Daniel Durisic	Little Rock	+2	71-73-74	218
9.	Ethan Brue	Bradley	+3	72-74-73	219
10.	Zachary Campbell	Houston Baptist	+4	73-76-71	220