UCD men’s golf finishes fourth at SCVB Pacific Invitational

STOCKTON — Four Aggies shot final sub-70 rounds, Jonny Baxter eagled twice and Tyler Raber finished seventh overall as the UC Davis men’s golf team came in fourth place at the SCVB Pacific Invitational, hosted by Pacific at the Brookside Country Club in Stockton.

The contest came down to the final hole with the top five teams separated by only three strokes. Kansas State claimed the team title at 47-under 817, edging out Pacific and Nevada, which tied for second at 46-under.

The Aggies finished two strokes back of first place at 45-under, after recording a team-low tournament round of 269.

Raber carded a 13-under 203 to tie for seventh, and Baxter finished one stroke back at 12-under 204 to tie for 10th. Matt Seramin earned his first top-20 finish of the season, tying for 14th at 11-under 205. Matt Hansen tied for 21st after a season-low 66, and Will Scarlett carded his second straight 74.

Raber’s scorecard was the picture of consistency as the Aggie senior parred 14-of-18 holes and birdied the remaining four. He birdied the par-4 second hole to get to 1-under, then parred the remaining seven holes of his front nine to turn the corner at 1-under.

He opened his back nine with his second birdie of the day, before improving to 3-under with a birdie at 13. After four consecutive pars, he birdied his final hole of the day to finish with his second 68 of the tournament.

Baxter’s third round was equally consistent, but it was two eagles over the course of his final three holes that sealed his career-low 66.

He fell to 1-over with a bogey on the second hole, but got back to 1-under with birdies on holes four and six before a bogey on the par-4 ninth moved him back to even. Entering his back nine, he quickly improved to two under with consecutive birdies on 11 and 12, then sank his fifth birdie of the day on hole 15 to move to 3-under.

His first eagle came on the par-5 16th hole and dropped him to 5-under. A bogey on his next hole briefly moved him back to 4-under, but he finished in remarkable fashion with an eagle on the 18th hole for his final-round 66.

The Pacific Invitational marked the fall finale for UCD, which returns to action at the 23rd annual Amer-Ari hosted by Hawaii-Hilo and Hawaii Feb. 6-8 in Waikoloa.