Freshman T.J. Ostrom had the only sub-par round of the day at the Country Club of Salisbury, a 1-under 70, leading coach Tommy Addison’s Blue Hose to a two-stroke lead in the closest SAC Tournament in history.

Presbyterian, which won SAC titles in 1996 and 1997, had a 300 team score — high compared to past SAC events — entering today’s 1 p.m. second and final round. Gardner-Webb was second with 302, but it was far from a two-team race.

Carson-Newman held third place at 304, followed by Mars Hill at 305. Defending champion Catawba and Wingate shared fifth with 306s. Gardner-Webb was seventh at 308 but very much in the running for the title.

Ostrom, from York, Pa., played the front nine in even par 35, then had a 1 under 35 on the back side for his 70 on the Country Club’s 6,558-yard, par-71 layout.

Defending SAC champion Adrian Marbry and teammate Christopher McCoy of Catawba shot 73s for a tie for second place with Carson-Newman’s Mark Sweeney(2000 Player of the Year), Gardner-Webb’s Jason Fulbright, Lenoir-Rhyne’s Craig Sparks and Mars Hill’s Shawn Walsh.

“We didn’t play very well, but thank goodness, nobody else did, either,” said coach Addison of Presbyterian. “When I was on (No.) 18, I thought maybe we would be in third or fourth place. It was a shock.”

He wasn’t shocked at the play of Ostrom, a 1998 high school graduate who won the Pennsylvania state championship as a senior and also won the York County Men’s Amateur Tournament. Ostrom played golf for a year before entering college, waiting to make the right decision.

“T. J. saved us,” said the Blue Hose coach. “That’s a kid that’s far more mature than his age. He works unbelievably hard on his game. Sometimes he works too hard on his game. But it paid off right now, and that’s a credit to him. He’s a leader on this team, and he’s just a freshman.”

Ostrom wound up at Presbyterian, because his father researched schools on www.GOLFSTAT.COM on the Internet and contacted Addison.

“I started digging into his AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) scores and said, ‘Hey, this is who I’m interested in.’I think T. J. at that point was interested in Presbyterian, Catawba, West Florida and South Alabama. I’m glad to have him,” said Ostrom.

“I did pretty well in Pennsylvania,” said Ostrom in an understatement. “I’ve been struggling a little bit this year trying to get the grades I want. I just haven’t had my mind where it should be when I’m on the golf course and my mind where it should be in academics, just getting it all together.

“I finally started putting good for the first time this year. I’m using a long putter now. It went real well,” said Ostrom.

Ostrom made birdies on Nos. 3 and 10 and had his only bogey on No. 7 while shooting his second competitive sub-par round of the season.

“We’re playing pretty good,” said Ostrom of his team. “Hopefully, tomorrow we can all play a little bit better.”

Jimmy Shaw, another freshman from Oklahoma City, Okla., shot a 76 for the Blue Hose, as did freshman Bryan Kelley from Spartanburg, S.C. Andrew Gardner, a junior from Spartanburg, shot a 78, and Thomas Addison III, the coach’s son from Clinton,S.C., had an 81.

Marbry, a senior from Albemarle, and McCoy, a senior from Salisbury, flirted with par before losing strokes late in their rounds, but kept Catawba in the hunt.

Teammates Derek Camps (freshman from Sanford, Fla.) and Nick Schiavone (junior from Bangor, Pa.) each shot an 80. Sophomore ClaytonPeterson, the Indians’ leader during the fall season and a contender for Player of the Year at that point, tried to play with a wrist injury and shot an 83.