Senior Timothy Wiseman hit 4-under-par 67 in his opening round Friday, but Ball State Men’s Golf fell short of a top-10 finish at the Mason Rudolph Championship April 5-7 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Cardinals finished 15th out of 17 teams, with a combined score of 870 to finish 5-over par.
Host school Vanderbilt led all teams, ending the weekend with a final score of 823 to finish 14-under par.
“I was disappointed with our overall finish, but there were some good individual highlights,” head coach Mike Fleck said. “It was a tough field. We weren’t able to put it together collectively as a team.”
The Cardinals began the tournament Friday, seeing Wiseman’s performance place him in a tie for sixth place. As the Cardinals’ lone senior with less than three weeks remaining with the team, Wiseman said he had mixed feelings about his results.
“To be honest, I didn’t have my best stuff,” Wiseman said. “But it was just one of those weeks where I had to find a way to get it in the hole, no matter how my swing or putting stroke was.”
Fleck said Wiseman’s performance was one of the bright spots of his team’s weekend and he remains a valuable asset on a team comprised of four sophomores and two freshmen. Wiseman ended the weekend with a final score of 213 at even par, placing him in a tie for 29th.
“[Wiseman] played really well in the opening round,” Fleck said. “He’s a veteran, he did what was expected and did a really nice job this week.”
Saturday’s second round saw freshman Joey Ranieri lead Ball State, hitting 69 and 2-under par. Ranieri would finish with the exact same score in Sunday’s round to end the tournament with a final score of 212.
Ranieri led the Cardinals individually, tying for 22nd. After a top-five finish at last week’s individual-only Butler Invitational, Fleck said he expects significant growth from Ranieri as the team’s spring season progresses.
“You obviously have to look at Joey Ranieri’s performance,” Fleck said. “He ended the tournament under par, and for a freshman in this type of field to do that is pretty awesome.”
Sunday’s final round saw the Cardinals get off to a late start after a four-hour weather delay. The team was rounded out by redshirt sophomore Keegan Bronnenberg, sophomore Jack Cunningham and freshman Yianni Kostouros, hitting for scores of 223, 227 and 228.
The Cardinals will be back in action April 12-14 at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette.
Contact Connor Smith with any comments at cnsmith@bsu.edu or on Twitter @cnsmithbsu.
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