Wilkie Double-Dips Miller for Blaze Title
Blaze 9-Ball Tour / Edison, NJ
by InsidePOOL Staff
The Blaze 9-Ball Tour is known for attracting strong players throughout the Northeast to their one-day events, but no one expected the field that showed up at Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ, to compete December 6. Stop, made their first visit to Sandcastle Billiards in Edison NJ. George “Ginky” Sansouci, Joey Testa, Matt Krah, Dave Grau, and Danny “Kid Delicious” Basavich were among the 26-player field, and it was Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie who walked away with top honors.
Top regional player Mike Miller was in dead punch, defeating Erin McManus 7-2, Shaun Winters 7-5, Sansouci 7-5, and John Alicea 7-6 to line up the hot seat match with Joey Landi. On the bottom half of the winners’ bracket, Joey Landi went through Duane Toney 7-6, Derek Schwager 7-3, Ben Sadowski 7-0, and Randy Schwager 7-2. In the hot seat match that followed, Miller jumped quickly out to a 5-2 lead, which proved to be too much for Landi to handle on this day as Miller won 7-4.
Wilkie had a tough, well-played battled with Grau 7-3 before losing to top Northeast player Randy Schwager 7-5. After that Wilkie shifted into a higher gear, eliminating Winters 7-2 and overcame an impressive performance by Basavich 7-6. He then ousted Alicea 7-2 and Schwager 7-3. In the semifinals he lined up with Landi and played nearly flawlessly to defeat him 7-3.
Pictured Left to Right – Shaun Wilkie, Mike Miller, Joey Landi, Owner Ed Liddawi
In the true double-elimination finals, Wilkie had to defeat Miller twice to take the title. The first set was a scrapper, in which Wilkie eked out a hill-hill victory, and in the second set Wilkie’s momentum carried him through to take the title.
Results:
1st Shaun Wilke $940
2nd Mike Miller $550
3rd Joey Landi $325
4th Randy Schwager $200
5th George Sansouci $130
John Alicea