The first two rounds of the Sacramento State Invitational have concluded, and the Hornets men’s golf team is currently in second place.

The Hornets collectively shot three strokes over par as a team which places them behind Campbell University’s finish of one-over-par. Both teams were neck and neck throughout the competition, as Campbell defeated Sac State 289-292 in round one and the Hornets bounced back in round two with a 287-288 victory.

The fourth annual tournament includes stiff competition from the likes of British Columbia, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Drake University, Grand Canyon, Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota, Redlands, Weber State and current first place team Campbell.

But the toughest opponent of all has been that of Mother Nature as it has rained all throughout the invitational after teams teed off at 7:30 a.m. Competitors have been forced to deal with issues relating to the gripping of golf clubs, darkness, wind and muddy surfaces.

Senior Owen Taylor of Sac State made note of the cold and wet winter attributing to the teams slow start earlier in this season, but these factors may have come back to help the Hornets as the team is more than used to the conditions.

Sac State’s starting lineup consists of Taylor, Aaron Beverly, Robert Parden, Zach Liberatore, and Taylor Knoll, all of which finished the round in the top 15 except Elk Grove native Liberatore. The Hornets also have golfers Connor Day, Landon Azevedo and Cody Bates competing as individuals, with Day and Azevedo in the top three of individual players and top 16 overall.

Junior Aaron Beverly has led the way for Sac State as he has swung one-under-par with a score of 74 in round one and 69 in round two. Beverly sits in third place behind Craig Hornberger (two-under-par) of Campbell and Felix Mory (four-under-par) of Northridge.

The Hornets will look to become back-to-back tournament champions by ousting Campbell of their first place position in the final two rounds of the Sac State Invitational. Day two of the tournament starts at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Live tournament results of the Sac State Invitational can be followed at golfstatresults.com.