East Carolina Pirates Tie For 5th At Innisbrook To Close Fall Season

From East Carolina University:

October 29, 2019

INNISBROOK, Fla. – Sophomore A.J. Beechler and junior Tim Bunten each carded third round scores under-par to help East Carolina move up two spots in the final round to a fifth-place tie at the Intercollegiate at Innisbrook.

James Madison won the tournament by one stroke over Campbell, shooting a three-round total of 8-under par 844. South Florida and Memphis tied for third at 2-over 854 with ECU and Houston tied for fifth at 12-over par 846.

The Pirates closed out the fall campaign by shooting 2-over par 286, which was the third-lowest score of the round, Tuesday with Beechler firing a 2-under 69 and Bunten a 1-under 70.

"We had some great play from A.J. and Tim this week and it was good to move up the leaderboard today," ECU Head Coach Andrew Sapp said. "We are definitely better now than we were at this point last year and we just have to keep improving."

Beechler recorded the first top-5 finish of his collegiate career by shooting a 5-under par 208, which was the lowest 54-hole of his ECU tenure. He opened the tournament Monday by carding a 71 in round one followed by a 2-under 68 in the second round.

Bunten shot 1-under par 70 in the first and third rounds with a 3-over 74 sandwiched between to finished tied for 12th at 1-over par 214. He finished ahead of four of the five raked golfers in the field, including senior teammate Blake Taylor.

Taylor, who entered the tournament ranked 85th by Golfstat, finished the tournament at 8-over par 221 (73-74-74) in 37th-place. Senior Patrick Stephenson (79-72-73) and junior Stephen Carroll (76-74-74) each fired an 11-over par 224 to tie for 54th.

Sophomore Jack Massei, who was playing as an individual, finished ahead of three of his teammates, tying for 31st at 6-over par 291 (75-72-72). He was even through 14 holes in round three, but he bogeyed three of the final four holes to thwart the opportunity to post a career-low round and fired a 1-over par 72 to close the tournament.

"Now that our fall season is over, we will take some time to evaluate our play and continue to work hard over the winter in the weight room and on the golf course so that we are ready for the spring season," Sapp said.

The Pirates will break for the winter and return to the links at the Sea Best Invitational at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla. On Feb. 3-4.

This press release was produced by East Carolina University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.