Men’s Bowling Earns Runner-Up Finish at Heart Championships

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Baker men's bowling team took second at the 2026 Heart of America Conference Bowling Championships this past weekend, marking the Wildcats' highest finish at the Heart tournament in six years.

Coming into the weekend as the No. 2 seed, BU opened up Saturday's bracket play with victories over No. 7 Grand View and No. 3 William Penn. After dropping their match against top-ranked Mount Mercy on Sunday, the Wildcats defeated the Statesmen for the second straight day to move on to a rematch with the Mustangs in the Heart Championship.

Needing to defeat them twice, Baker put up a strong fight against the Mustangs in the title match, but came up short in the best-of-five series as Mount Mercy would go on to sweep the men's and women's conference championships.

In an excellent 2025-26 campaign that started off with the Wildcats being ranked No. 1 in the RPI, Baker had four total bowlers land on the All-Heart teams, with men's bowlers Ryan Julian and Pedro Diaz-Gonzalez being named second-team selections, while Ari Tishman was an honorable mention. Kaleigh Buckalew of the BU women's team also earned honorable-mention honors.

The Baker bowling teams will continue with postseason action, competing next at the USBC Sectionals on March 14-15 in Smyrna, Tenn.

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