No. 3 MGCCC finishes second in strong field

No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast got run down by a hotter golf team Tuesday, but still left with a second-place finish at the Wallace State Fall Invitational in Cullman, Ala.

Central Alabama's team had three 69s and a 71 to surge to the win, finishing at 12-under. The Bulldogs were five shots back, seven ahead of the host Wallace State team in the 54-hole event.

"We played OK, but not as well as the first two rounds," Gulf Coast coach Tommy Snell said. "CACC just had an awesome day. They shot 10-under. That's pretty strong. We really thought we had it.

Freshman Jackson Wedgeworth (6-2, West Jones/Soso) fired his third straight score in the red to finish in third and make the All-Tournament Team. He 71 put him at 6-under for the tournament, one behind Wallace State's Garrett Senia and Eastern Florida's Brad Bawden.

"I just had a couple things that went right yesterday that didn't go quite as well today, but I made some good putts today that really kept it going," Wedgeworth said. "I definitely didn't strike the ball as well as yesterday, but I really fought through it to give us a chance today."

Gulf Coast's Logan Leary (5-11, 120, fr., Gonzales/Dutchtown, La.) finished at 3-under for the tournament. Wyatt Adkison (5-7, 210, so., East Central/Hurley) was five shots back.

Jonathon Newman (5-9, 135, so., North Pike/Summit) finished 7-over, and Colin Troxler (6-2, 137, so., Hahnville/Luling, La.) shot 73 to wind up 10-over.

Eastern Florida, which is ranked fourth in the Bushnell Golfweek NJCAA Division I Coaches poll, finished fourth, 10 shots behind Gulf Coast.

"I think it was a really good result," Snell said. "You look at the strength of the teams, and out of 11 teams there were only two D-II teams. Eastern Florida, CACC and Wallace are top-notch program. To beat two out of three of those is pretty outstanding, especially the host team."

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCAthletics on Twitter and BulldogLIVE on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.