November 15, 2004
Texas A&M lost to No. 3-ranked Oklahoma State, 4-1, in Monday's semifinals at the Hooters Men's Collegiate Match Play Championship at the Mission Inn Resort.
The Aggies will face No. 10-ranked Texas for third place on Tuesday starting at 8 a.m. (Eastern). OSU will play No. 2-ranked Georgia Tech, which beat the Longhorns (3-0-2), in Tuesday's championship match. Live results will be available online at www.golfstat.com.
A&M defeated No. 1-ranked Georgia, 3-2, on Sunday, then downed No. 18-ranked Georgia State on Monday morning, 4-1, to advance to the semifinals.
OSU was 3 up in four of the five individual matches through nine holes and A&M trailed in all five before attempting a comeback on the back side. Freshman Martin Piller rallied to beat OSU's Alex Noren, 1 up, while freshman Bobby Gates took Pablo Martin to the final hole before falling, 2 up.
Junior Jerad Harklau, who easily won his first two matches, lost to Zac Reynolds, 2 and 1, while junior Andrew Parr lost 4 and 3 to Zac Robinson and senior David Schultz fell 3 and 2 to Chris Clarke.
"I was really proud of our guys for hanging in there and fighting to the end," A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. "We dug ourselves a hole on the front side, but had a chance to win. We were just too far back. We're excited about coming out tomorrow and battling Texas for third place and having a great finish."
Against Georgia State, Gates defeated Steven Tiley, 4 and 2; Piller beat Joel Sjoholm, 3 and 1; Schultz edged Darren Baynes, 1 up; and Harklau downed Ben Taylor, 5 and 3. Parr lost his match to Ty Harris, 1 up.
Piller is a perfect 3-0 through the first three rounds, while Gates and Harklau are 2-1, Schultz is 1-2 and Parr is 0-3.