MOREHEAD, Ky. — Kevin Hindman already has Pennsylvania high school and state tournament bowling titles in his back pocket.

Now the 2013 Knoch graduate is looking to be part of a national championship team in the sport.

Hindman, who finished second nationally in the NJCAA Men’s Bowling Championships with CCAC-Boyce last spring, is now at Morehead State University. The Eagles have one of the top club bowling teams in the country.

“The talent here is unbelievable,” Hindman said. “We have five guys who can average between 220 and 230. It’s exciting.

“This is a totally different world for me. I’m bowling in the lead-off position. I’ve never done that. I’ve always been at the bottom of the lineup.”

Hindman is part of a 24-man roster at Morehead State. His average is 193 so far this season.

The Eagles’ season runs from October to April. Morehead State practices during the week and travels to weekend tournaments.

“We go up and down the east coast,” Hindman said. “We’ve done well in some pretty big tournaments.”

Morehead State is ranked ninth among club teams in the country. The team finished third at a tournament in Louisville, third at one in Dayton, Ohio, fourth in Atlanta and second in Indianapolis.

The 24 bowlers on the roster are from 10 different states. Morehead State’s women’s bowling team has won four national titles. The men finished runner up in 2003, third in 2005.

“There is a lot of tradition here,” Hindman said. “Kelly Kulick is one of the top bowlers on the women’s pro tour and she bowled at Morehead.”

Kulick is one of four Morehead State graduates to bowl for Team USA. The program has produced 18 All-Americans.

“We’re talented enough to win the whole thing if we bowl to our capability,” Hindman said. “Mentally, we’ve been struggling and that includes me.

“Some of these lanes give you a real reality check. We’ve been bowling on a lot of hard patterns.”

Hindman is impressed by the skills of Eagles bowling coach Robert Brown.

“He knows more about bowling than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Hindman said. “It’s remarkable, the difference he makes.”

Hindman said Brown adjusts a bowler’s hand position “and it works right away. He’s always right.

“He’ll lean way down — like a golfer checking the green — to observe the lane pattern and he picks up things that he passes along to the bowlers.

“He told us where to throw from in the first frame on a new lane and we all got strikes. I’m trying to learn how he’s doing that.”

Hindman is majoring in sports management at Morehead.

“My coach at CCAC (Angelo Bordogna) told me about this place and I checked it out,” Hindman said. “I came down for a visit and fell in love with the place.

“I’ve learned so much more about bowling since I got here — things I haven’t even thought of before — and it’s making me better.”

Hindman won the Pennsylvania High School individual boys singles title in 2012 and the Pennsylvania State Bowling Association all-events handicapped crown in Erie in 2014.