Elsewhere in the winners’ side, Mike Davis continued his o­nslaught and bested defending champion John Schmidt in a hill-hill match.  Schmidt had a small lead at the start of the match, but the Maryland player soon erased that and went o­n to take the lead himself.  Several mistakes o­n the behalf of the defending champ soon saw Davis o­n the hill with Schmidt o­ne game behind him.  Schmidt made nothing o­n the break, and after the two players traded innings, Davis sold out o­n the 9 ball and gave Schmidt that game to make it hill-hill.  In the last rack, Schmidt pushed out, and Davis ran out to the 5-9 combo to win.

In the o­ne-loss side, Max Eberle bested Tony Annigoni, who had a terrific event, by the score of 9-3 after Annigoni went left-handed o­n the 3 ball and missed it.  Reigning U.S. Open champion Jeremy Jones met Johnny Archer and went away with a seventh-place tie with Annigoni.

Later Saturday evening, Eberle went o­n to play Schmidt while Archer met Sambajon.  Eberle walked right through Schmidt, who seemed quite frustrated with his inability to put anything together.  Although Eberle gave his opponent several opportunities, Schmidt gave up when the score reached 8-1 Eberle and conceded the match.

Archer and Sambajon had a battle of epic proportions.  At first it seemed to be all Sambajon, as the tiny Filipino easily reached a 6-2 lead in the race to 9.  But the player from Georgia had other ideas, and although Sambajon reached the hill within the next three games, Archer kept inching along until the score reached 8-7 Sambajon.  In the last rack, Archer came up dry o­n the break, and Sambajon played safe.  A foul by Archer gave Sambajon all he needed, and with a fantastic draw shot for the 7 ball, Sambajon ran out for the 9-7 win.

Sunday’s matches will be at 11 a.m. and be between Eberle and Sambajon in the o­ne-loss side, while Joyner will meet Davis in the hot seat match.

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