 Mitch Ellerman |
The Arizona State Barbox Championship drew an all-star field of fifty four players to Alexanders Sports Bar in Phoenix Arizona on the weekend of September 8th and 9th.
Although the field did not include Scott Frost or Jimmy Mendoza, the tournament was still jammed full of top Arizona talent. Early favorites included Mitch Ellerman, Dennis Orender, Chuck Evans, Terry Osborne, Tony Confalone, Mike Pankoff and Rudy Alameda.
The match for the hot-seat came down to Ellerman and Ben Hrabina. Ellerman's path the match included wins over Confalone, Pete Gresh Sr., Mike Sandoval, Ron Merseal and Tyson Cole. Hrabina got to the match after wins over Carl Stewart, Joe Masi, Troy Ridder, Terry Osborne and local favorite Jose Gonazalez.
Hrabina stayed with Mitch early in the match, but a small lead quickly expanded as Ellerman got comfortable at the table and rolled to a dominating win.
On the one loss side, Hrabina looked to have early control of the match but Jose Gonzalez was not going to fall in his home room without a fight. Gonzalez clawed back to take the lead and never looked back on his way to a 9-5 win.
The extended race to thirteen final match was another exhibition by Mitch Ellerman as he displayed his 'fast and loose' style running racks in no time. Gonzalez kept it as close as possible, but in the end it was Ellerman with a 13-7 win.
Ellerman's first prize of $1945 was augmented by local cuemaker Dale Teague who donated a $1500 custom cue for the winner of the event.
The tournament was co-sponsored by Alexanders Sports Bar and Visual Impressions.
