East dominates Day 2 at the East West Cup

Day two of the East West Cup was the East Team show to say the least. Entering the day up 5-4 over the West, Paul Simson’s squad got to work early. On the backs of a 7&6 win from Bob Royak and Nathan Smith and a 5&3 win from Jeronimo Esteve and U.S. Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci, Simson’s East team took five of the nine morning alternate-shot matches in the morning session. Taking a 10-6 lead into the afternoon, the East tried to cut into the West’s lead but to avail. After Robert Funk and Jerry Slagle nabbed a 1 up win in the first afternoon match, the East tallied points on the next five matches to extend their lead to 10-5. As the East rolled, the West relied on their young guns to stop the bleeding. Pierceson Coody and Stewart Hagestad teamed up for a 2&1 win over Esteve and Brett Boner to scratch the tenth point into the West’s win column. SMU’s Mac Meissner, aided by mid-am teammate Jason Schultz picked up a 3&1 win over Strafaci and Michael Muehr to make it 15-11. In the Saturday anchor match, Joe Deraney and Doug Hanzel paired up to take down Gene Elliott and Taylor Wood 1 up thanks to a pair of water balls on the 18th. Taking care of business, Simson and crew hold a five-point lead (16-11) with 18 singles matches separating each time from the inaugural title. 23 points will mark a win and 22.5 will force a tie. Matches begin at 8:00 am CT with two matches to a group. The pairings are as follows: Jeronimo Esteve (East) v Brad Nurski (West) Scott Harvey (East) v Derek Busby (West) Doug Hanzel (East) v Robert Funk (West) Walter Todd (East) v Jerry Slagle (West) Bob Royak (East) v Gene Elliot (West) Jeff Knox (East) v Bryan Norton (West) Kevin O’Connell (East) v Stewart Hagestad (West) Phillip Lee (East) v Taylor Wood (West) Tyler Strafaci (East) v Pierceson Coody (West) John Pak (East) v Mac Meissner (West) Joe Deraney (East) v Zach Atkinson (West) Todd Mitchell (East) v Skip Bernmeyer (West) Steve Harwell (East) v Brady Exber (West) Chip Lutz (East) v Lewis Stephenson (West) Brett Boner (East) v Nick Geyer (West) Michael Muehr (East) v Jason Schultz (West) Ben Warnquist (East) v Rob Couture (West) Nathan Smith (East) v Patrick Christovich (West)