CU men win inaugural MSC bowling championships

SMYRNA — Cumberland won the inaugural Mid-South Men’s Bowling Championships with a sweep of Pikeville on Saturday night at the Smyrna Bowling Center.

The second-seeded Bulldogs needed the if-necessary match to beat top-seeded Pikeville 215-183, 256-179, 235-181 in the double-elimination tournament championship match to claim the title.

The championship used the Baker Scoring system. In Baker Scoring, the five-person team bowls toward one score. The first bowler will bowl frames 1 and 6, the second bowler will bowl frames 2 and 7, and so on, with the fifth bowler bowling frames 5 and 10. Each match in the tournament was best 3-of-5 games.

After defeating No. 7-seed Lindsey Wilson in the opening round, Cumberland defeated third-seeded Bethel in three games and Pikeville in four to earn a berth in the championship. Pikeville emerged from the consolation bracket and swept the Bulldogs 184-179, 165-148, 245-188 to force the final match.

The 2013 Mid-South Conference Men's Bowling Championship is the first league championships after bowling became a sanctioned sport by the NAIA over the summer.