ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  Navy and St. John's split the six individual matches in Sunday's Match Play By the Bay, however, the Red Storm edged the Mids by two points to win the men's golf event 10-8. The competition served as a tune-up for next weekend's annual Army-Navy Star Match which will be played in Annapolis at the Naval Academy Golf Club.

While the Star Match will utilize the traditional Ryder Cup-style format with four four-ball matches along with seven singles matches, the St. John's match featured six individual matches. Each match was worth three points - one for the front nine, one for the back nine and one for the total 18 holes - a system commonly used among United States Golf Association (USGA) events.

Among the highlights for the Midshipmen was team captain Chad Deegan (Sr / Newport Beach, Calif.) who defeated St. John's senior Tyler Gerbavsits 2-1. Deegan, who placed second at last week's Doc Gimmler hosted by St. John's, lost the ninth hole to a birdie to lost a point on the front nine, but countered on the back nine to secure the two points to take the match.

Deegan's classmate, Nicholas Klock (Sr / Moraga, Calif.), split the front nine against fellow senior Jack Simon, who took third place at last week's Doc Gimmler where Navy placed sixth. Like Deegan, Klock battled back over the final nine holes to win both the point for the back nine and the overall 18 holes to beat Simon 2.5-0.5.

Navy also received a boost from freshman Andrew Wilkinson (Ashland, Va.), who earned a 2-1 victory over Gage Wolfle. Wilkinson took a 1-0 advantage by winning the front nine and despite Wolfle winning the back nine, Wilkinson prevailed overall. Wolfle was also one of the top competitors a week ago, shooting a 64 (-6) in the opening round of The Doc Gimmler.

Seniors Ben Burton (Charleston, S.C.) and David Miccoli (Ludlow, Mass.), along with rookie Benjamin Valdez (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) fell behind early in their matches, but rallied for a tie on the back nine.

The Mids will battle their archrival in the 84th edition of the Army-Navy Star Match next weekend in Annapolis. The two-day, 36-hole event will feature four four-ball matches played on Saturday (8:30 am) and seven singles matches slated for Sunday (8:30 am). The first team to reach six points will be declared the winner.

Match Play By the Bay
Scoring = 3 pts per match (1 for front nine, 1 for back nine, 1 for total 18 holes)

St. Johns 10, Navy 8
Peicheng Chen def. Ben Valdez (N), 2.5-0.5
Andrew Wilkinson (N) def. Gage Wolfle, 2-1
Doug Beney def. Ben Burton (N), 2.5-0.5
Chad Deegan (N) def. Tyler Gerbavsits, 2-1
Ryan Rittberger def. David Miccoli (N), 2.5-0.5
Nicholas Klock (N) def. Jack Simon, 2.5 - 0.5

### Go Navy ###