DADE CITY, Fla. (February 8, 2022) – The Loyola University Chicago men's golf team completed its stay in The Sunshine State today, splitting a pair of matchups as part of the Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play in Dade City, Fla.
 
Loyola opened the day by closing out a 3.5-2.5 victory over city-rival DePaul in a match that was suspended due to darkness on Monday before dropping a decision to Ball State with the same scoreline during the afternoon.  The Ramblers, who finished the two-day event with a 1-1-1 record, placed seventh overall.
 
"Match play scoring can always be strange," Loyola head men's golf coach Erik Hoops said.  "Having every match end so close, it really can mean one or two shots go a different way and we have a chance to stay in the top half of the bracket and win.  We were right in every match, and a ton of our matches went all the way to the 18^th hole, so we had just as good a chance of winning each one.  It was a good team effort."
 
In the completion of their clash with DePaul, three Ramblers secured head-to-head victories, with graduate students Nick Bavaro (one-up) and Ryan Magee (two-up) and redshirt senior Tyler Anderson (two-up) all prevailing.
 
Junior Zach Walsh secured a half point by tying his pairing, while graduate student Devin Johnson (4&2) and junior Timmy Crawford (2&1) dropped their respective matchups.
 
Walsh rebounded in the Maroon & Gold's afternoon matchup with host Ball State, recording a 5&4 triumph.  Magee, Johnson, and Crawford each battled to stalemates.
 
Both Bavaro and Anderson fell by a 5&4 margin against their Cardinal counterparts.
 
"As always, it was great to get back out and compete when there's still snow on the ground in Chicago," Hoops concluded.  "We have some good building blocks to work on for the rest of the spring."
 
Loyola heads west in just over a month when it visits Boulder City, Nev. for the Jackrabbit Invitational, March 11-12.