Shaun Wilkie
Back in the 23-years-ago day, when both Shaun Wilkie and Mike Davis, Jr. first entered our AZBilliards database by finishing ‘in the money’ at a recorded event, they were both competing on the same Planet Pool Tour. It was a good year for Davis, according to our records. He won two stops on the tour that year, finished ‘in the money’ in six others and chalked up his first recorded finish (65th) at the 2000 US Open 9-Ball Championships; the year that Earl Strickland won his fifth and last. Wilkie was just getting started and recorded his first and only payout that year, finishing 11th at the 8th stop on the tour.
This past weekend (Nov. 25-26), Wilkie and Davis finished first and third at the Maryland State 10-Ball Bar Box Championships. Along the way they both competed against Lukas Fracasso-Verner, a still-young competitor who hadn’t been born when the two of them were chalking up their first recorded cash finishes. Wilkie defeated him twice, Davis lost to him twice and he finished as the event’s runner-up. The $3,300-added event drew 63 entrants to Brews & Cues on the Boulevard in Glen Burnie, MD.
There are a lot of mid-Atlantic pool stories that could be told about the varied competitors who signed on to this event and the crossover opportunities that each has had against each other, both locally and nationally. A number of the competitors would be for-sure candidates in any ‘Who’s Who in Mid-Atlantic Pool Players,’ including (among others) Brandon Shuff, Brett Stottlemyer, Steve Fleming, Tom Zippler, Kevin West, Paul Oh, Rick Scarlato, Jr. and Matt Krah (another competitor who recorded his first cash finish with us in 2000 on the Planet Pool Tour). For a lot of them this past Thanksgiving weekend, it must have had the ‘feel’ of a homecoming.
Wilkie’s undefeated path through the field went through three of the above-listed, Mid-Atlantic competitors. Starting with a 6-4 win over Kevin West, Wilkie downed Grayson Vaughan 6-1, Joe Garofalo 6-3 and Tom Zippler 6-4 to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Steve Fleming. Fracasso-Verner, in the meantime, got by Jason Trigo 6-2 and Miroslav Stojanovic 6-3 before running into the runner-up at this year’s 18 & Under Boys Junior National Championships earlier this month, Niko Konkel. The two (relative) youngsters battled to double hill before Fracasso-Verner prevailed, advancing to face and defeat Mike Davis the first time 6-4 in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Fracasso-Verner drew Dave Beegle in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Wilkie advanced to the hot seat match after a 6-1 victory over Fleming. Fracasso-Verner joined him after surviving a double-hill battle versus Beegle. The hot seat opponents, evenly matched with Fargo Rates only five points apart – Wilkie 743, Fracasso-Verner 738 – came within a game of making it a double-hill hot seat match, but Wilkie pulled out in front to claim the seat 6-4.
Davis, in the meantime, followed his loss to Fracasso-Verner with loss-side wins over Brandon Shuff 6-3 and Stojanovic 6-4 to draw Fleming. Beegle picked up Zippler, who’d followed his loss to Wilkie with a double-hill win over Brett Stottlemyer and a shutout over Ilir Jaho.
Davis defeated Fleming 6-2. Zippler and Beegle locked up in a double-hill fight that eventually sent Zippler to the quarterfinals against Davis.
Zippler was playing in his fourth, loss-side match of which three, including the quarterfinal, went double hill. He’d survived two double-hill matches and shut out Jaho in the middle, only to lose his fourth loss-side match, double hill, to Davis. Davis advanced to a second shot against Fracasso-Verner in the semifinals and was defeated 6-4.
Fracasso-Verner’s second match versus Wilkie went the same way the first one had gone. Wilkie completed his undefeated run 6-4 in the finals to claim the MD State Open 10-Ball Championship.
Tour Director Bev Dillow thanked Tony and Stephanie Manning and their Brews & Cues staff for their hospitality, along with sponsors Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Digitalpool.com, Moori Tip and Gloves, Jacoby Custom Cues and J. Pechauer Custom Cues. Next up for On the Hill Billiards Productions will be a $3,000-added (based on full field) double event, scheduled for this coming weekend, Dec. 2-3. On Saturday, a split-bracket 9-Ball event will feature one bracket for Fargo Rates from 200-499, and another for Fargo Rates from 500-599. On a ‘Sunday Funday,’ a combined Fargo Rate of 1150 will rule a Scotch Doubles Tournament (32-team limit). Both events will be hosted by The New Green Room Billiards in Dundalk, MD.
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