If anyone ever wondered what the meaning of a rally was, then look no further than the Binghamton University golf team, as it continued its strong season at the Philadelphia Big 5 Invitational this past weekend. Coming into the second day of play in 11th place, BU improved upon its first-day score by seven strokes, for a tournament total of 587 (297-290), good enough for a fifth-place tie with Yale University. Though new to the course at Plymouth Country Club, the Bearcats didn’t let it faze them, as they surged ahead in the second round of play.

‘Our goal was to finish in the top three,’ said Binghamton head coach Bernie Herceg. ‘And we didn’t finish as strong the last two or three holes as we did in the first round, but we did improve in our scoring, as we were tied for the lowest score of the day [with a 290].’

BU was once again lifted by the performance of its senior co-captain Jake Katz, who tallied a 141 for an individual third-place tournament finish, only one stroke short of getting his ninth career runner-up finish. Also of note, Katz was featured in the news earlier this week when he broke the national top 100 of top collegiate players in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin poll at No. 96, a significant jump from his previous No. 126 ranking, no doubt a result of his record-breaking win at Cornell two weeks ago.

‘It just sets him apart from everyone else, and you can see that with the scores he shoots week-in and week-out,’ Herceg said. ‘Having a player like that on our team, to rely on him to do what he’s doing for our team, is just phenomenal.’

However, at the front of the second-round push was freshman Bryce Edmister, who set his personal best single-round score with a sparkling 1-under-par 69, helping himself to a top-15 individual finish. Coach Herceg was especially pleased with the young player’s performance.

‘Bryce is a very good player, and we’re really fortunate to have him on our squad and we’re looking forward to the future with Bryce,’ Herceg said. ‘The more experience he has, the more he’ll be able to learn from his mistakes and bear down for a strong finish like this weekend. It was just great to see his contribution.’

Also a strong part of BU’s finish was junior Trevor Fiedler, whose strong back nine performance on the first day helped the team stay in the middle of the pack following the first round.

‘It was a huge difference thanks to Trevor, and when you look at it, if Trevor, Jake and Bryce hadn’t finished strong, we would have been a mediocre finishing team. Their performances really helped the team out to finish strong,’ coach Herceg said.

Herceg is extremely proud of his team for having come so far and improving so much over the course of the fall season. He could hardly contain his excitement.

‘With the guys playing better and Jake’s leadership, they’re just believing in themselves more,’ Herceg said. ‘I’m really excited for [our next tournament] at Seton Hall, the fall finish and how our season will end.’

The Bearcats’ last fall tournament is scheduled to be the Seton Hall Invitational, set to take place at 8 a.m. Oct. 16-17.