Sept. 26, 2008

NORTH FALMOUTH, Mass. - Less than a week after an impressive win at Shoal Creek, the Baylor men's golf team looks to build on that momentum at the Hartford Hawks Invitational this weekend. The three-day event begins Sunday, Sept. 28 and will last through Tuesday, Sept. 30 at the Ballymeade Country Club.

Baylor is making its first trip to the scenic shores of Cape Cod and Ballymeade, which is a semi-private par 72, 6,928-yard course that overlooks Buzzards Bay. The 54-hole event will be played on Ballymeade's 18-hole championship course. Each day will consist of 18 holes with tee times for the first two rounds beginning at 7 a.m. (CST)/8 a.m. (EST).

Baylor is one of 23 schools participating in three-day event which will also serve as the 2008 America Sky Men's Golf Conference Championship for the league's seven members - Binghamton, Hartford, Northern Colorado, Texas-Pan American, Weber State, Utah Valley and Sacramento State. Rounding out the tournament field are Bryant, Cal Poly, Connecticut, Drexel, Georgia State, Loyola (Md.), Mercer, N.C. State, Rhode Island, Rutgers, Seton Hall, SMU, TCU, USC Upstate and William & Mary.

"We are looking forward to playing in the Hartford Invitational and getting back on the course after the win at Shoal Creek," head coach Greg Priest said. "We played well last week, but we still have a lot of stuff we can improve on in order to be a good team."

The Bears enter the tournament in elite company as they are one of only three participating schools with a tournament win thus far in 2008. Binghamton (Colgate Invitational) and Bryant (Dartmouth Invitational) each claimed the team title last weekend.

Baylor, which enters this weekend ranked No. 4 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, returns its top four scorers from last week's win at Shoal Creek. Junior Colton Williams (Jacksboro, Texas) was Baylor's top finisher, carding a ninth-place showing (4-over 220). Freshman Joakim Mikkelsen (Drammen, Norway), who led after the first round, finished tied for 11th overall (5-over 221). Senior Bill Allcorn (Abilene, Texas) finished tied for 15th (6-over 222), followed by sophomore Cody Paladino (Kensington, Conn.) in 18th place (8-over 224).

Paladino will square off against his older brother Brent, who is a senior at William & Mary. Brent was selected as the Colonial Athletic Association co-Player of the Week for Sept. 17, after earning medalist honors at the Raines Development Intercollegiate.

Daily results and recaps will be available online at BaylorBears.com, the official site of Baylor Bears athletics.