INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The Bradley men's golf team ended the fall schedule on a high note, shooting an eight-over 288 to edge Missouri Valley Conference rival Evansville by one shot and defend its title at the Butler Fall Invitational.
Last year, the Braves picked up their first tournament title since 1996 by claiming the Butler Fall Invitational and returned to the par-70 Highland Country Club to wrap up the 2014 Fall Schedule. Bradley trailed IUPUI by 11 shots entering Tuesday's final round, but tied the sixth lowest round in school history with a 288 to take top team honors over Valley rival Evansville by one stroke with a total of 873.
Senior Seth Trolia (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour) helped highlight the day for the Braves with a career-best three under-67 and finished second individually. Trolia's 67 is one shot off the school record of 66 and is tied for the fourth lowest round in program history. His three-round total of 214 was second behind individual medalist Jose Pablo Segurola of IUPUI, who shot 210.
Junior Lyle Burns (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour/Parkland C.C.) paced the Braves Monday and turned in a final round 72 to finish two shots behind Trolia in a tie for fourth at 216.
Senior Danny Masrin (Palatine, Ill./Jakarta International School) earned his eighth consecutive top-20 finish, tying for 14th at 222, and extended his streak of consecutive sub-80 rounds to 25 with a third-round 76. Masrin, who finished the fall with a team-best 74.00 stroke average, moved into ninth in school history with his 77th career round in the 70's or better Tuesday.
Junior Garrett Cox (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour) matched a season-best score with a 73 and was five shots behind Masrin in a tie for 27th at 227. Sophomore Bobby Jacobs (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) rounded out the team scoring for Bradley in 38th at 235, after shooting an 85 in the final round.
In his first collegiate tournament, freshman Matthew Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) was in the field as an individual and finished off a strong debut with a 77 to tie for 20th at 224. Fellow freshman Daniel Lensing (Spring Park, Minn./Orono) was also in the field as an individual and finished three shots behind Specht in a tie for 27th at 227 after a third-round 80.
Bradley carded two of the four lowest rounds in the tournament and finished with a season-low 54-hole total of 873 to claim the team title. Evansville was one shot back in second at 874 and day-one leader IUPUI was three shots back in third at 876. Tournament-host Butler followed in fourth at 881 with IUPUI's second squad taking fifth (884). Indianapolis was 20 shots off the pace in sixth (893) and Parkland completed the field in seventh (924).
The Butler Fall Invitational was the final outing of the Fall for the Bradley men's golf team, which is scheduled to open the spring slate Feb. 22-24 at the Snowman Getaway in Goodyear, Ariz.
