BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – Though the paint is barely dry on the Singles Tournament, players are now shifting focus to the final stretch of the 2022 LEG season. The goal, after enjoying the hangouts and beverages, is to elevate one’s game as much as possible in hopes of contending for a Postseason Tournament championship.

This week, a few players elevated to levels rarely seen at LEG. Rich, a newcomer who plays sparingly, was the gold standard this week. He fired a 24.4 KPM, which ironically dropped his season average from 25.8 to 25.1…absurd numbers when talking about a period of time, rather than one game. This week he averaged 7.5 points per round, 86% accuracy and 2.02 cornholes per round. Yes, two out of every four bags he threw went in the hole!

This next comment isn’t meant as disrespect to Rich, rather, amazement at the stat – despite the phenomenal numbers above, Rich only scored one 4-bagger this week. I find that quite shocking, given how excellent he played. However, he did have 15 rounds with 10 points!

As great as Rich played, he’s still human. He lost two games, including two of his first three.

• Game 1 – he partnered with Bushie and squared off against KP and Galz. KP outscored Rich head-to-head, 39 – 32 (including 11 vs. 7 cornholes), and averaged 7.8 points per round while helping lead Galz to a 21 – 13 victory over Rich and Bushie.
• Game 4 – Rich and Erik teamed against Brent and Nick. This time Rich won his head-to-head match-up, 27 – 24 over Brent. However, he averaged just 5.4 points per round, which was nowhere near enough to offset Nick’s domination of Erik – 43 – 23 in head-to-head points, including 13 vs. 4 cornholes, while averaging 8.6 points per round. After taking an 8 – 0 lead, Rich and Erik never scored again, giving up 21 unanswered points to lose 21 – 8. Nick scored 17 of those 21 points.

Rich rebounded just fine, winning the final five games of his night to finish 6 – 2.

Speaking of Nick, he was right on Rich’s heels all night. In Game 4 (mentioned above), his KPM was 28.5! He finished the night at 23.0 with 76% accuracy, 2.0 cornholes per round, and 7.0 points per round. Fantastic numbers, but somehow he won only two of his six games. How is that possible, you ask? Here’s how:

• Game 5 – Nick and Bushie lost to Rich and Brent, 21 – 11. Rich started the game with five consecutive 10-point rounds, yet Nick weathered that storm by averaging 8 points per round. It still yielded 10 points on the scoreboard for Rich, but not many non-pros could limit that type of damage. For the game, Nick narrowly lost the head-to-head with Rich – 69 – 65 in total points, 19 – 18 in cornholes, and 8.63 – 8.13 in points per round.
• Game 7 – Nick and Galz lost to Bushie and Rich, 21 – 14. Nobody would expect Galz to hang with Rich because, well, nobody in the league can consistently do so. Galz did his best, losing the head-to-head 54 – 42. The real story was at the other end of the boards. Nick played well, averaging 7.43 points per round. Yet Bushie neutralized Nick, playing some of the best cornhole we’ve seen from him by averaging 7.14 points per round. Bushie nearly playing Nick to a draw (52 – 50 in total points and 16 – 15 in cornholes) was the determining factor in this game.
• Game 11 – Nick and Brent battled Rich and Galz, but lost 21 – 7. Galz outscored Brent head-to-head, while Nick couldn’t hang with Rich in this one, losing 51 – 34.
• Game 12 – Nick and Galz tried to end the night with a statement victory over Brent and Rich. Nick outscored Brent, 39 – 37, but needed much more than a 5.6 points per round type of game to pull this upset. Galz got hit by the Mac Truck that is Rich, 53 – 37, and a 21 – 9 blowout was the final result.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you have superb numbers like Nick did and still finish 2 – 4. Overall, Nick would love his numbers every day of the week and take his chances against anyone in the league, including Rich.

Finally, KP was the third musketeer to throw fire this week. He wasn’t quite at the level of Rich and Nick, but his 22.1 KPM, 6.9 points per round, 82% accuracy and 1.78 cornholes per round are nothing to sneeze at.

He finished with a 3 – 2 record, and never had a game with less than 6.2 points per round. Outscoring Rich in Game 1 was the highlight of his night, but he also averaged 7.2 points per round in a Game 3 win.

DON’T SLEEP ON ERIK

While we understandably highlight three guys who cleared the 22.0 KPM mark, don’t overlook the season Erik is having. Tonight he posted with a 16.9 KPM, better than guys like JV, Galz and Dan and topped by only the three flame throwers already discussed. His 76% accuracy, 5.4 points per round and 1.17 cornholes per round are indicative of top-5 talent. Though Erik finds himself at #9 in the Power Rankings, he’s ratcheting up down the stretch after a sleepy start to the season. Erik never crossed the 15.0 KPM threshold through the first nine weeks of the season (albeit, he only played in three of those nine weeks). However, in the last three weeks he has recorded KPMs of 18.2, 15.3 and 16.9, respectively. If Erik was a stock, he’d have a “buy” recommendation right now.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Game 10 earns this week’s Game of the Night, which featured Dan and JV versus Bushie and Erik. If you look-up “marathon” in the dictionary you’ll find a picture of this game. This bout lasted 11 innings, which equates to 22 rounds if counting by American Cornhole League standards.

Through four innings, Bushie and Erik held a 7 – 6 lead, with neither team scoring more than two points in a given round. Dan and JV created some separation in the fifth and sixth innings when they ham-and-egged their way to a 9 – 1 run to take a 15 – 8 lead.

Bushie and Erik combined to score five points in the seventh inning and tacked on another point in the eighth inning, climbing back in the game 15 – 14. Erik tied the game, 15 – 15, in the top of the ninth inning with an 8 – 7 advantage over JV. But Dan answered in the bottom of the ninth with three clutch points, vaulting he and JV to an 18 – 15 lead.

JV made it 19 – 15 in the top of the 10^th with a 6 – 5 round win, but he missed a final bag airmail that could have won the game (it stuck on the board hole-high for one point, instead).

Bushie and Erik took full advantage of the life JV gave them by missing that airmail. Bushie scored one in the bottom of the 10^th, it was 19 – 16. Then, in the top of the 11^th, it was JV vs. Erik, again. This is like the third or fourth week in a row where we’ve had this end of game situation. Once again, it was Erik who came up clutch to win the game, a trend that might be on the verge of being a mental obstacle for JV. Erik dropped the hammer, scoring an 8 – 0 round and lifting his team to a 21 – 19 frantic finish!

Erik finished the game with 64 total points and 16 cornholes, averaging 5.82 points per round. His partner, Bushie, finished with 40 total points and 8 cornholes, averaging 4 points per round.

Dan paced the opposition with 50 total points and 11 cornholes, averaging 5 points per round. Meanwhile, JV scored 49 total points and 13 cornholes, averaging 4.45 points per round. Worst of all, he walked away frustrated about the missed airmail to clinch the game, followed by scoring a donut, allowing Erik to close the game.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT

This might be the most unique MSM in history. In Game 2, Galz and Dan battled JV and Rich. Going into the bottom of the second inning JV and Rich had a 7 – 0 lead, in large part because of Rich’s 4-bagger in the top of the inning (he netted 5 points, beating Dan 12 – 7).

JV had thrown all of his bags and only scored two points in the top of the third inning. With one bag in his hand, Galz held a 3 – 2 advantage and had an opportunity for a hard push shot to up his lead to 8 – 2 (at worst, 8 – 4 if he dragged one of JV’s bags in the hole with him).

For the first time in history, in any aspect of his life, Galz went conservative. He safely boarded his final bag for a 4 – 2 win in the round, cutting his team’s deficit to 7 – 2.

JV asked, “What the hell was that?!?!” and the spectators booed. Galz was direct in his response, “I could’ve pushed my bags off the boards and washed the round! It’s early in the night, I’m not ready to take my clothes off,” referencing the punishment for getting bun run.

“Dude, it’s the second inning!” KP yelled back. “Nah, that was the smart play,” Galz assured.

Sure as shit, Galz was right. Rich subsequently scored round of 9, 10 and 10 points, which netted him/his team 16 points to win the game 21 – 2.

Galz wins this week’s MSM for foreshadowing a bun run, and his conservatism to avoid it!

NEWS AND NOTES

• Like Erik, JV continues to play well of late. Tonight he finished 3 – 1 with a 16.1 KPM, 5.0 points per round, 62% accuracy and 1.26 cornholes per round. Honestly, the only blemish was the way he ended the Game of the Night, and even that is so minor that it doesn’t tarnish the totality of his performance.
• Galz also posted a 16.1 KPM with 5.1 points per round, 68% accuracy and 1.18 cornholes per round. He ended with a 2 – 5 record, but probably had the most difficult strength of schedule by having Rich as his opponent four times, KP twice and Nick once.
• Bushie ended the night at 14.2 KPM, 4.5 points per round, 60% accuracy, 1.03 cornholes per round and a 2 – 3 record. Not his best effort.
• Dan finished with a 14.8 KPM, 4.7 points per round, 68% accuracy, 1.0 cornholes per round, and 1 – 2 record. The numbers aren’t great for Dan, compared to what he’s shown in the past. But the numbers are actually better than what one might’ve guessed using the eye test. The game looked hard for Dan tonight, which is something we all go through from time to time.
• Brent rounds out the group with a 3 – 2 record, 15.4 KPM, 4.9 points per round, 69% accuracy and 1.06 cornholes per round. Another guy who struggled tonight, particularly at making cornholes. It’s quite uncommon to see such a low cornhole rate from Brent.