Defending Champ Owen Ousted at Music City

Defending Champ Owen Ousted at Music City
By Michael Basha
The second day of the Music City Open has just wrapped up, leaving many of the top players on the left side of the bracket. Gabe “The Babe” Owen had to deal with Johnny Archer in his first match of the day, and Archer came prepared, capitalizing on the few mistakes Owen made to send the defending champ 11-5 to the west side. Owen managed to survive another round, defeating Chris Cline 11-2, but was ousted by Mike Jones 11-6.
Archer went on to narrowly defeat Brian Jones 11-8 to set up a Saturday match against Tennessee state champion Josh O’Neal.
Louis Ulrich ran into Shannon Daulton early Friday and was overwhelmed 11-8 after Daulton managed to scrape together a four-pack to gain a three-game lead that he refused to relinquish. Alex Pagulayan also managed to stay on the winners’ side by way of an 11-6 win over Rick Patterson, which will put him directly in Daulton’s line of fire tomorrow afternoon.
Shane Van Boening, Cliff Joyner, Chris Bartram, Sparky Ferrell, and Jose Parica all managed to survive the day to round four as well. Bartram’s opponent in the third round forfeited, and Bartram will face Lee Uhles on Saturday. Ferrell was tested by 19-year-old Eric Behnke, defeating the youngster 11-8, while Jose “Amang” Parica defeated Blake Todd 11-5 to arrange a meeting with Ferrell Saturday afternoon. Van Boening will face Joyner for the first time since the World Ten-Ball Championships, in which Van Boening bested Joyner 13-11 in the finals.
A few more players entered into the Midnight Madness mini-event scheduled for Saturday night, which now has reached eight players total, including Archer, Van Boening, Owen, Jonathan Pinegar, Pagulayan, Parica, Bobby Pickle, and Chad Vilmont. The ladies’ 9-ball event will also kick off Saturday with 27 players vying for the cash.