Sweet Comeback for Hernandez

By Bill Rosenberger

Frankie Hernandez came back from a tough hot seat defeat to take the NYC Billiard Tour event o­n November 27-28 at Leisure Time Billiards in Levittown, NY.  The victory was sweet considering the talented field of 52 consisted of talented New York players like Joey Korsiak and Tony Ruberto.

Sunday's final matches drew a large crowd who watched some tight matches.  Tournament director William Finnegan said the skilled field of players led to a lot of close matches.

In the hot seat match, Hernandez met Jarrod Clowery, who was also having a successful tournament.  While the score indicated a close match, Clowery commanded most of his 9-7 victory over Hernandez. 

In the west side, Ron Park ousted Ruberto to advance to the semifinals against Hernandez but wasn't able to get any farther, as Hernandez earned a close win.  Clowery and Hernandez faced off again in the finals, but this time, the tide turned.  Hernandez jumped ahead and kept a big lead, taking the final match 13-5.

Results:

1st Frankie Hernandez $1,500

2nd Jarrod Clowery $800

3rd Ron Park $450

4th Tony Ruberto $350

5th Tom Dalfonso, Billy Lanna $200

7th Tom Walter, Jonathan Smith $120

9th Dan Barouty, Evian Johnson, Holden Chin, Vincent Leone $80