SUFFOLK, Va. -- On Monday the Bridgewater College Men's Golf team posted their highest score of the season, but Tuesday they came back with a strong performance that helped them move past four teams on the leaderboard in the VSGA Intercollegiate Championship.

The Eagles shot 309, the second lowest score of the day, to finish in 4th place at Sleepy Hole Golf Course. 
 
"I have never seen Hayden Hawes more down on his game than he was after the first round." said head coach John Rogers. "Hawes is a real competitor, though, and I knew that the junior would soon get back on track, especially if he took the time to go back to some fundamentals on the driving range." 

Hawes did just that as he led the team on Tuesday by shooting a 74. Starting on the toughest stretch on the golf course after a shotgun start, Hawes held it together until he started to trust his game again, Hawes said "I worked with coach on the range this morning and found something during my round." he also added, "Extremely happy with my finish going 2 under on the last 5 to post a solid number." 
 
For the tournament senior Jacob Sears led the way chopping 5 strokes from his opening score to shoot 75. He had a six hole stretch in the middle of the round during which he was one under par, and when he birdied his final hole (13) he had jumped into a 13th place finish among 63 players.

"Like Hawes, Sears has not had his best stuff in recent weeks, but these guys both showed why we rely on them as our only upperclassmen," said Rogers. 
 
Adding to the team momentum was sophomore Logan Douthat who dropped 4 strokes on his final two holes yet shaved six strokes from his Monday round. He posted a 78 with a highlight on the tough 6th hole where he chipped in for birdie. 
 
Freshman Jack Thome has now completed 4 rounds in the starting lineup and his score has counted for the team all 4 times. He had a six hole stretch where he was even par and his total of 82 was good enough to help the Eagles make their move up the leaderboard. 
 
Sophomore Max Bondurant, the scoring leader for Bridgewater, faced one of the toughest tee shots of the day on his first hole, number 15, a long par 4 playing into the wind. Unfortunately, his first two tee balls snuck past the out of bounds fence on the left, getting his day off to a rough start. He held on for the rest of the round, but said he was never pleased with his swing, and he came in with an 83. 
 
Sophomore Darien Smith playing as an individual also had a slow start to the round and came in with a 93. He had two birdies on holes 3 and 5.
 
With their 15-stroke improvement in the second round, the Eagles were able to pull away from teams representing Averett, Virginia Wesleyan, Shenandoah, and Southern Virginia.

"Even though this team score (309) is not what we are after long term, scoring was high under the conditions this week, and it was a real gut check for our guys." said Rogers. "it was great to see them step up, especially given the fact that we will face more Bermuda grass and windy days as the season progresses." 
 
Roanoke College pulled away from the field to win the championship and Michael Thomas of CNU won medalist honors with a two-round total of 150.
 
The Eagles have one tournament remaining in the fall portion of their season, a national level event played at Guilford starting October 31.