Bowling

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, trying for his first Professional Bowlers Association Tour title after nine years, held off PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke by two pins to earn the top stepladder berth for the June 1 Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open finals at AMF West Friday night. Loschetter, who has finished second four times in his career, led the tournament from the second game, fighting off challenges all day Friday and clinging to the No. 1 position when Duke left a solid 8 pin in the 10th frame of his final game. Loschetter celebrated his 33rd birthday by finishing the Wolf Open, the second of four tournaments in the GEICO PBA Winter Swing presented by Lucas Oil with a 26-game total of 6,617 pins, including match play bonus pins, and a feeling that maybe it’s time to win his first PBA Tour title. “I’m definitely due,” he said. “I feel like I deserve a title more than anybody out here. I’ve worked hard. I deserve it. I hope this time it happens. I’ve had some horrible breaks on TV, but I think the time has come.” Loschetter will meet the winner of a stepladder field including Duke in second place; 20-year-old rookie E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind., in third place with 6,554 pins; PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., in fourth place with a 6,477 total, and Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., in fifth with 6,436 pins. As relieved as Loschetter was to hold onto the lead, Duke was stunned over his bad break. “That ball could have struck,” he said of the 8 pin that stood on a solid pocket hit. “Unbelievable. That was the third solid 8 pin I left in the last three games. They cost me 70 pins. “Mentally I’m exhausted,” he continued. “Physically I’m fine except my right thumb wants to fall off. I’m a little frustrated, but I’ll tell you, a lot of other guys are frustrated, too.” Missing the top position for the Wolf Open stepladder finals means there can’t be a showdown match for the title between Duke and Weber, each of whom owns 37 PBA Tour titles, tied for third best in PBA history behind Walter Ray Williams Jr. (47) and Earl Anthony (43). But the two hall of famers could meet in the semifinal match. “We haven’t bowled each other on TV in a long time,” Duke said, “but Pete and I have had some barn burners over the years. Pete’s one of the best that ever lived. We’re dear friends. We’re both aware of where we are in our careers, and to be mentioned in the same breath with him is really special.” Tackett, a two-time member of Junior Team USA, will be making his first television appearance in the Wolf Open finals on Saturday, June 1, at 2:30 p.m. CT. O’Neill is trying for his fifth PBA Tour title. The GEICO PBA Summer Swing now moves to AMF Bowlero in nearby Wauwatosa for the Lucas Oil Bear Open. Following a day off on Saturday, players will bowl practice and pro-am events Sunday followed by two five-game qualifying rounds on Monday. The top 24 will then advance to two eight-game match play rounds on Tuesday. The Bear Open is the final qualifying leg leading into the Lucas Oil Milwaukee Open which will be held Wednesday and Thursday, also at AMF Bowlero. The Milwaukee Open will feature the top 28 qualifiers based on total pinfall after 30 qualifying games from the Badger, Wolf and Bear “animal pattern” events. O’Neill leads the Milwaukee Open qualifying field after 20 games. Stepladder finals for all four PBA Tour events, plus the GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event, will be taped over two days by the CBS Sports Network June 1-2 at Bowlero for airing on five consecutive Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET beginning June 11. The GEICO Summer King of the Swing will include the four Summer Swing event champions plus the next highest points leader who hasn’t won a title. Those five will compete in a $25,000 stepladder final for a $10,000 first prize, concluding the summer series on June 2. LUCAS OIL PBA WOLF OPEN AMF West, Milwaukee, Wis., May 24 FINAL MATCH PLAY STANDINGS (after 26 games, including match

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, trying for his first Professional Bowlers Association Tour title after nine years, continued to bowl at a torrid pace and retained the lead in the Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open at AMF West heading into Friday night’s final eight games of match play. Loschetter, who is celebrating his 33rd birthday on Friday, won five of his eight matches Friday afternoon and tied another, averaging 247.33 to finish with an 18-game total of 4,617 pins and an 83-pin lead over PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla. Duke won seven of eight matches to advance from 16th place to second with a 4,534 total. Rounding out the top five heading into Friday night’s final match play round were Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., with 4,517 pins followed by 20-year-old rookie E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind., at 4,506 and PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., with a 4,426 total. Duke and Weber are tied for third on the list of PBA Tour all-time title winners with 37 each. Following Friday night’s final Wolf Open match play round, the GEICO PBA Summer Swing moves to AMF Bowlero in nearby Wauwatosa for the Lucas Oil Bear Open. Following Sunday’s practice and pro-am events, players will bowl two five-game qualifying rounds on Monday and the top 24 will advance to two eight-game match play rounds on Tuesday. The Bear Open is the final qualifying leg leading into the Lucas Oil Milwaukee Open which will be held Wednesday and Thursday, also at AMF Bowlero. The Milwaukee Open will feature the top 28 qualifiers based on total pinfall after 30 qualifying games from the Badger, Wolf and Bear “animal pattern” events. Stepladder finals for all four PBA Tour events, plus the GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event, will be taped over two days by the CBS Sports Network June 1-2 at Bowlero for airing on five consecutive Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET beginning June 11. The GEICO Summer King of the Swing will include the four Summer Swing event champions plus the next highest points leader who hasn’t won a title. Those five will compete in a $25,000 stepladder final for a $10,000 first prize, concluding the summer series on June 2. LUCAS OIL PBA WOLF OPEN AMF West, Milwaukee, Wis., May 24 MATCH PLAY ROUND ONE (after 18 games, including match play bonus pins; top five after Friday night’s final round advance to Wolf Open stepladder finals on Saturday, June 1, at 2:30 p.m. CT at AMF Bowlero) 1, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 5-2-1, 4,617. 2, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 7-1, 4,534. 3, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 5-3, 4,517. 4, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 5-3, 4,506. 5, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 6-2, 4,426. 6, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 4-4, 4,359. 7, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 5-3, 4,344. 8, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 5-3, 4,313. 9, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, Ill., 3-5, 4,306. 10 (tie), Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., 4-4, and Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 2-5-1, 4,301. 12, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 6-2, 4,287. 13, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 4-4, 4,258. 14, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 2-6, 4,249, $100. 15, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 2-6, 4,225. 16, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 4-4, 4,221. 17, Randy Weiss, Columbia, S.C., 4-4, 4,211. 18, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 5-3, 4,201. 19, Mike Fagan, Dallas, 3-5, 4,193. 20, Dan MacLelland, Canada, 3-5, 4,165. 21, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 2-6, 4,141. 22, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 4-4, 4,062. 23, William Guszczo, Orland Park, Ill., 2-6, 3,957. 24, Kenneth Kempf, Appleton, Wis., 3-5, 3,950. 300 Games: Mike Wolfe.

105 bowlers have qualified for the AZ Invitational Saturday June 8, featuring a $1,000 top prize per division. You can check your eligibility at the website, and below are also the qualifiers. If you think you're in and not on this list, please let us know. If you're on this list, you're crazy not to be there! Spread the word!!! Acuff, Derek Acuff, Steven Ailport, Lindsey Atherton, Robert Atkin, Alexis Badke, Kevin Bailey, Patrick Berg, Rachael Booker, DeeRonn Bryan, Jake Bunce, Stan Butturff, Jakob Callahan, Devin Camacho, Jacob Canfield, Ben Carlson, Megan Carnate, Lanndyn Carr, Savannah Chamot, Michael Chan, Oscar Cobine, Danny Colyer, Paul Coughlin, David Coyle, Gillian Dang, Anthony Dempsey, Riley Dempsey, Shelby Dempsey, Tessa Diana, Taylor Dorsey, Andrew Douglas, Lauren Duster, Kyle Dvorak, Rance Edgett, Kendra Ely, Brandon Evans, Marguerite Francone, Rachel Franz, Josh Fung, Keith Garcia, Kiana Gardner, Candace Glazer, Leah Goad, Kayla Grisham, Mike Haanpaa, Stephen Hatchett, Eric Hilburn, Ashley Hilton, Jake Irmawati, Chasanah Jacob, Tim Jenkins, Michelle Johnson, Destiny Johnson, Nathan Jordan, Rashaad Kalaf, Blake Karpovich, Kyle King, Kyle King, Taylor Klumpers, Ryan Knight, Bailey Lamb, Ashley Lamb, Stacey Laprell, Megan Lawrence, Connor Lawrence, Justin Lee, Kristen Lewandowski, Joe Lewandowski, Zach Lieber, Correen Lindeman, Curtis Luna, Dominic Majeske, Sven Martin, Ariel Martinez, KJ Munyon, Aaron Myers, Mark Norton, Alexis Nurhidayat, Syarif O'Neal, Carter O'Neal, Kristen Pellegrino, Alex Ponzo, Kyle Pursell, Erica Rapp, Zachary Rock, TJ Rouse, Christopher Satter, Tyler Schenck, Cortez Sellers, Sam Shultz, Kyle Smith, Cameron Sorce, Joey Stever, Marina Subeck, Ben Thompson, Austin Thompson, Trevor Tripi, Anthony Ulloa, Marcos Valleau, Shane Vargas, Sara Varholdt, Danny Walker, Jerod Watanabe, Alex Yamamoto, Aaron Zent, Ryan

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Nine-year Professional Bowlers Association veteran Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, averaged 250 over 10 games of qualifying Thursday at AMF West to lead the field of 24 players who advanced to Friday’s match play finals in the Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open. The Wolf Open, bowled on a 32-foot oiling pattern – the shortest ever in the PBA’s collection of “animal” lane conditioning patterns – is the second of four events that compose the GEICO PBA Summer Swing presented by Lucas Oil. In his nine-season career on Tour, Loschetter has yet to win a title, but he has finished second four times and had his best title shot of the 2012-13 season on another short oiling pattern in the Alka Seltzer Cheetah Championship where he finished fourth during the World Series of Bowling in November. On Thursday, Loschetter jumped into the lead in the five-game morning round and added games of 248, 268, 214, 259 and 238 in the evening session for a 10-game total of 2,508 pins, finishing 41 pins ahead of PBA Tour rookie E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind. Bill O'Neill of Langhorne, Pa., qualified third with 2,454 pins followed by a pair of left-handers, Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, Fla., at 2,445, and Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, N.Y., with a 2,392 total. After struggling on the longest oiling pattern in PBA history, the 52-foot Lucas Oil Badger Open pattern, earlier in the week at AMF Waukesha, Loschetter was looking forward to attacking the Wolf. “I really felt positive coming into this tournament,” Loschetter said. “I generally get a much better ball reaction on the shorter patterns and struggle a little bit on the longer ones. “Coming into this tournament I admit I was a little rusty, but this is a good confidence-builder. I’m getting sharper with every game so hopefully I’m going in the right direction for the rest of the tournament.” Tackett, 20, is a two-time Junior Team USA member who joined under the pro tour under the organization’s PBA24 low-cost membership program for aspiring young players. The former Indiana Purdue-Ft. Wayne student converted to full-time membership prior to the Detroit Winter Swing. His best finish in professional competition was 20th place in the 2011 U.S. Open in North Brunswick, N.J. “I’m not surprised I’ve done so well this week,” Tackett said. “I’ve always bowled well on the shorter patterns in Junior Gold tournaments and such. I was a little worried about this pattern only being 32 feet long, but after practice, I thought I’d be all right.” The short Wolf pattern proved to be a significant challenge for some of the PBA Tour’s most prominent power players, however. Missing the cut to match play finalists were Player of the Year contenders Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., who finished qualifying in 54th place and Australia’s Jason Belmonte, who finished 69th in the 90-player field. Following Thursday’s Wolf Open match play rounds, the GEICO PBA Summer Swing moves to AMF Bowlero in nearby Wauwatosa for the Lucas Oil Bear Open, the final qualifying leg leading into the Lucas Oil Milwaukee Open May 29-30, also at AMF Bowlero. The Milwaukee Open will feature the top 28 qualifiers based on total pinfall after 30 qualifying games from the Badger, Wolf and Bear “animal pattern” events. After 20 of the 30 animal pattern qualifying games, O'Neill led the Milwaukee Open qualifiers with a 4,821 total, 111 pins ahead of Anthony LaCaze of Melrose Park, Ill. Stepladder finals for all four tournaments, plus the GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event, will be taped over two days by the CBS Sports Network June 1-2 at Bowlero for airing on five consecutive Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET beginning June 11. The GEICO Summer King of the Swing will include the four Summer Swing event champions plus the next highest points leader who hasn’t won a title. Those five will compete in a $25,000 stepladder final for a $10,000 first prize, concluding the summer series on June 2. LUCAS OIL PBA WOLF OPEN AMF West, Milw

The 90-player GEICO PBA Summer Swing field moved to AMF West Lanes in Greenfield, Wis. for this morning’s first five-game qualifying round of the Lucas Oil Wolf Open and are returning to a synthetic lane surface on the new PBA 32-foot Wolf lane conditioning pattern. Looking for his first PBA Tour win, veteran Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, leads after the first round with a 1,281 pinfall total. He had games of 268, 259, 279, 247 and 228. In a nine-season career on Tour, Loschetter has finished second four times and his best finish so far this season was a fourth in the Alka Seltzer Cheetah Championship at the World Series of Bowling. After struggling on the long oil pattern in the recent Lucas Oil Badger Open, Loschetter was looking forward to the shorter Wolf oil pattern. “I really felt positive coming into this tournament,” Loschetter said. “I generally get a much better ball reaction on the shorter patterns and struggle a little bit on the longer ones. “Coming into this tournament I admit I was a little rusty but this is a good confidence builder and I’m getting sharper with every game so hopefully I’m going in the right direction for the rest of the tournament.” Rounding out the top five after the first round are: E.J. Hacket, Huntington, Ind., 1,261; Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 1235; Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,234, and Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 1,216. The 90-player field will bowl another five game qualifying round this afternoon at 5:30 p.m. after which the top 24 will be determined for Friday’s match play rounds. The Lucas Oil Bear Open follows Sunday through Tuesday at AMF Bowlero, followed by the Lucas Oil Milwaukee Open May 29-30, also at AMF Bowlero. The Milwaukee Open will feature the top 28 qualifiers based on total pinfall after 30 qualifying games from the three animal pattern events. Stepladder finals for all four tournaments, plus the GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event, will be taped over two days by the CBS Sports Network June 1-2 at Bowlero for airing on five consecutive Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET beginning June 11. The Badger Open stepladder finals will be conducted on June 1 at 11 a.m., the Wolf Open at 2:30 p.m. and the Bear Open at 6 p.m. on June 1. The GEICO Summer King of the Swing will include the four Summer Swing event champions plus the next highest points leader who hasn’t won a title. Those five will compete in a $25,000 stepladder final for a $10,000 first prize, concluding the summer series on June 2. QUALIFYING ROUND ONE (after 5 games; top 24 after 10 games advance to round robin match play Friday at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.) LUCAS OIL PBA WOLF OPEN AMF West, Milwaukee, Wis., May 23 1, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 1,281. 2, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 1,261. 3, Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 1,235. 4, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,234. 5, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 1,216. 6, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,206. 7, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,203. 8, Dan MacLelland, Canada, 1,194. 9, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 1,193. 10, Mike Fagan, Dallas, 1,191. 11, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,182. 12, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 1,177. 13, Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., 1,176. 14, Randy Weiss, Columbia, S.C., 1,170. 15, Kenneth Kempf, Appleton, Wis., 1,168. 16, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 1,157. 17, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 1,153. 18, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, Ill., 1,149. 19, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,148. 20, William Guszczo, Orland Park, Ill., 1,147. 21, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 1,141. 22, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 1,137. 23, Patrick Girard, Canada, 1,135. 23, John Szczerbinski, North Tonawanda, N.Y., 1,135. 25, Brett Cunningham, Clay, N.Y., 1,133. 26, David Labinski, Milwaukee, 1,128. 27, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 1,114. 28, Missy Parkin, Laguna Hills, Calif., 1,113. 29, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 1,111. 30, Mika Koivuni

Just wanted to note that the summer links transition in the “Author’s links” sidebar section is complete, with the Wed. Summer Mixed standings and BowlSK index added, and the winter league-related links removed.

With the Mojave Conference season complete, we now have our first 40 bowlers eligible for the 2013 Touring Players Championship! 40 more from each conference (minus overlaps) will qualify after each Invitational, and anyone in the top 60 in all-conference points will be added in after the last Invitational. Check out all the full statistics at the website, but here's the Mojave qualifier list: Acuff, Derek Atkin, Alexis Bouder, Zahn Butturff, Jakob Canfield, Ben Cardines, Cerell Cardines, Jeremy Carlson, Megan Chan, Oscar Dang, Anthony Evans, Marguerite Finkler, Kevin Franz, Joshua Galvan, David Gerencser, Joe Glazer, Leah Hatchett, Eric Hendrickson, Talon Leong, Dallas Lindeman, Curtis Lindsey, Brendan Lucente, Teddy Lusher, Donovin Myers, Mark Nagamine, Casey Pappas, Jason Peyton, Jamison Pineda, Crystalene Pollak, Nick Rock, TJ Russom, Brandon Satter, Tyler Schenck, Cortez Smith, Cameron Speiler, Randi Thompson, Austin Varholdt, Danny Watanabe, Alex Watkins, Aaron Weis, Gabriella

My Week 2 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet) My big problem was not stringing strikes together tonight, but, where I only missed one spare that wasn’t a split or washout, my spare game mostly saved me. Particularly, I left seven 10 pins tonight, and didn’t miss (the easy miss was a single 7). Result: 179-184-167=530 Average (6 games): 170 Next week’s AVG+1 score: 516 Mike joined us tonight, but two of us couldn’t repeat last week, so we were crushed in two of the games, winning only the second.

Here's the first of many videos from this weekend... will Jamison shoot his first 300? Check all our videos out at YouTube today! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw3RHubzjCQJBT at Texas 5-18-13 Jamison Peyton front 10 (junior pro bowwww.youtube.comWill Jamison shoot his first 300?