The Drake University men's golf team advanced to the championship of the Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play event Monday afternoon with a pair of match-play wins. The Bulldogs will will face Eastern Michigan for first place Tuesday morning at 9:30 CST for the tournament title.

"I'm extremely proud how we played today," said Drake head coach Matt Lewis. "The guys were focused all day. We got off to great starts in both matches and were able to push pressure on our opponents. The team is excited for the opportunity tomorrow to win the championship."

The Bulldogs began the day with a 4-2 victory over the No. 2 seeded Bowling Green led by wire-to-wire wins by Nick Pittman, Silvester Tan and Shayne Patel. Lucas Scherf added a 1UP victory after overcoming an early three-hole deficit to clinch the win.

In the semifinals against No. 3 Dayton, Patel won 5&4 to get Drake its first victory of the match. Between the first two rounds, Patel trailed for just one hole out of 27 played. Pittman won his match 3&1, leaving the Bulldogs one win away from clinching a championship appearance with the strength of victory tiebreaker locked up.

Lim came through with a 1UP victory on the 18th hole to clinch the win for Drake. Scherf finished 2UP and Wicklund halved his match to bring the final score to 4.5-1.5. No Drake golfer trailed by more than one hole throughout the entire second round.

Following the conclusion of the event, Drake will have one week to prepare for the Loyola Intercollegiate in Goodyear, Ariz. on Feb. 22-24.

Round 1 Results: Drake def. Bowling Green, 4-2
Vie (BGSU) def. Lim (Drake), 2&1
North (BGSU) def. Wicklund (Drake), 2UP
Pittman (Drake) def. Hofland (BGSU), 3&2
Scherf (Drake) def. Kyle (BGSU), 1UP
Tan (Drake) def. Fitchet (BGSU), 4&2
Patel (Drake) def. Mackenzie-Olson (BGSU), 6&5

Round 2 Results: Drake def. Dayton, 4.5-1.5
Lim (Drake) def. Maricocchi (UD), 1UP
Wicklund (Drake) vs. Schmidt (UD), TIE
Pittman (Drake) def. Quigley (UD), 3&1
Scherf (Drake) def. Solomon (UD), 2UP
Morgan (UD) def. Tan (Drake), 1UP
Patel (Drake) def. Zimmerer (UD), 5&4