Both the men's and women's bowling teams won the 14^th Annual Hammer Lions Classic tournament, sweeping the event for the first time in program history, October 22-23 in St. Charles, Missouri.

In a tough scoring environment, the Lions led the standings after three team games Saturday morning, totaling 2,867 for a 33-pin margin over second place Drury and a 38 pin advantage over third place McKendree.

Teams them faced off against each other in two-game, round robin baker total pins matches. Lindenwood bowled well the rest of the day, posting a 7-1 record and averaging just over 202 for the 16 games with a high of 228. After winning the first match Sunday morning, the Lions faltered in the final round, settling for an 8-2 mark and a tie with Missouri Baptist, but Lindenwood earned the No. 1 seed for the best-of-three double-elimination baker bracket based on an overall total pin fall of 6,739.

In the opening round, the Lions faced No. 8 seed the University of St. Mary and swept the Spires 214-170 and 191-160, setting up a second-round battle against No. 4 Drury. After taking a 1-0 lead with a 199-149 win, the Panthers fought back to tie the match by edging Lindenwood 195-192, but the Lions took game three 188-154 to advance to the quarterfinals.

After a round off to wait for the other side of the bracket to catch up, Lindenwood faced No. 5 seed Barton Community College. Coming off a strong upset victory in the previous round, the Cougars carried some momentum into the match and used it to jump in front with a 190-146 win, but the Lions regrouped to tie the match with a 191-178 victory. The deciding game three was close throughout, but a key double in the ninth and 10^th frames carried Lindenwood to a 190-187 win, and advancement to the best-of-five championship match.

No. 3 seed Missouri Baptist proved to be the opponent. After two matches that went the distance, the Spartans rolled into the finals with a two-game sweep of McKendree in the semifinals, averaging 238 in the process, but Missouri Baptist struggled in the opening game and the Lions took advantage 199-148. The Spartans rebounded in game two for a decisive 246-170 victory and took a 2-1 lead in game three 194-173, putting Lindenwood on the brink of defeat, but the Lions grinded through game four 176-170, and then jumped out to a lead in game five and held off Missouri Baptist 192-166 to claim the championship.

Meanwhile in the women's event, the Lady Lions started a bit slowly Saturday morning, managing a total of 2,678 to tie for second after three team games. Lindenwood found a groove in round-robin match play, going 8-0 to finish the day on Saturday. Another two wins Sunday morning gave the Lady Lions a perfect 10-0 mark, the high qualifying total pin fall of 5,767, and the No. 1 seed for best-of-three double elimination bracket play.

While the Lions took four matches to earn the championship, the Lady Lions took a longer road, needing six matches to accomplish that feat. After an opening round bye, Lindenwood faced No. 9 seed Illinois Wesleyan. After a solid 231-152 victory in game one, game two was much closer, but the Lady Lions prevailed 173-169 to advance and face No. 5 seed McKendree. The Bearcats were a hot team, and they continued that trend by edging Lindenwood 187-184. The Lady Lions then shot their lowest game of bracket play and fell by a score of 188-160.

Now in the contenders side of the bracket, it was win or go home for Lindenwood with No. 4 seed Columbia College awaiting. The Lady Lions regained form and swept the Cougars 193-167 and 186-159 to set up a rematch against McKendree, but Lindenwood needed to win two matches in a row in order to advance to the championship match.
It didn't look like that was in the cards after the Bearcats won game one 231-204, but the Lady Lions had some fight left and came back to tie the match with a 181-164 victory. A quick start in game three gave Lindenwood some breathing room and the ability to coast to a 223-157 win, setting up an "if necessary" match. The Lady Lions carried the momentum and swept McKendree 205-150 and 192-162.

No. 3 seed Missouri Baptist was the opponent awaiting Lindenwood in the best-of-five championship match. The Lady Lions bowled well the first two games, but the Spartans were bit better and took a 2-0 lead with 214-183 and 191-190 victories. Lindenwood continued to bowl well and managed to stay alive in the match with a 181-157 win in game three. The Lady Lions followed with a 199-171 victory to set up a winner-take-all game five. Lindenwood outlasted Missouri Baptist in the deciding contest 186-175 to claim the title.

In individual competition, Emmanuel McPherson led the Lions with a three-game total of 647 (215.67 average) to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team and claim the individual title. Drew Sacks was right behind in second with a total of 645 (215 average), also earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Juan Pablo Aguirre finished eighth with 596 (198.67 average), and Dalton Kemp took 13^th with 578 (192.67 average).

In women's competition, Hailey Bozych paced the Lady Lions with 584 (194.67 average) to finish sixth. Samantha Smith shot 572 (190.67 average) to take eighth, and Maddie San Soucie totaled 556 (185.33 average) to finish 11^th overall and win the Junior Division title.

In other action from the weekend, the Lindenwood men finished first and the ladies finished second in the Junior Division.

The bowling teams get two weekends off before traveling to Davenport, Iowa for the Leatherneck Classic November 12-13.