PBA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Bowlingball.com L.A. X Qualifies No. 1 for OceanView at Falmouth PBA League Playoffs

Internationally-dominated team begins quest for first Elias Cup Saturday

PORTLAND, Maine (April 20, 2018) – The internationally-dominated bowlingball.com L.A. X team, which is trying for its first Elias Cup, qualified as the No. 1 seed for this weekend’s OceanView at Falmouth PBA League finals, averaging 234 as a team Friday night to pace the eight teams of Professional Bowlers Association stars who bowled for seeding positions during an eight-game Baker format qualifying round at Bayside Bowl.

The L.A. X, as the No. 1 team, will meet the No. 8 Barbasol Motown Muscle in their opening match of the single-elimination bracket competition that begins Saturday. L.A. X’s lineup includes Australia’s Jason Belmonte, England’s Stuart Williams, Sweden’s Martin Larsen, Finland’s Osku Palermaa and one American, left-hander Jakob Butturff of Tempe, Ariz. L.A. X will kick off PBA League competition Saturday against Motown’s lineup of EJ Tackett, Francois Lavoie, Anthony Simonsen, Shota Kawazoe, and Josh Blanchard. Motown also is trying for his first Elias Cup, awarded to the winning team.

PBA League competition will involve best-of-two-game Baker format matches in which requires each of the five players will bowl two frames to complete a game. In the best-of-two-game competition, if a match ends in a tie, one player from each team will throw one shot in a sudden-death roll-off until the outcome is decided.

While Friday night’s session included some bonus prize money for the top three teams, the “seeding tournament” was more about experimenting with lineups to try to find the best lineup arrangement for competition that begins for real on Saturday.

“This event was where you find out how your guys relate to each other, but tomorrow will be different,” noted Barbasol Motown Muscle manager Del Ballard. “We’ll find out during the practice session tomorrow morning how we want to set up our lineup.”

Following the L.A. X vs. Motown match, the OceanView at Falmouth Brooklyn Styles will bowl the Go Bowling! Silver Lake Atom Splitters in the second opening-round match. The GEICO NYC WTT KingPins, which won the inaugural Elias Cup title in 2013, will meet the two-time defending champion Shipyard Dallas Strikers in their opening match Saturday afternoon.

“This is a good night to find out where you want to put guys in your lineup tomorrow,” said Sysco Philadelphia Hitmen manager Jason Couch, whose team qualified in the No. 3 position and will face the hometown favorites, the Port Property Management Portland Lumberjacks, in the final opening round match.

The quarterfinal rounds will be contested at noon and 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday. Saturday’s winners advance to the semifinal round matches at noon. Sunday, followed by the Elias Cup championship match at 3:30 p.m.

The new Elias Cup finals format will be an extension of the previous rounds, except teams will bowl two best-of-two-game Baker format matches. If either or both match ends in a tie, it will be decided by a one-ball sudden-death roll-off. If both teams are tied at the end of two matches, the Elias Cup will be decided by a one-ball roll-off.

All PBA League matches will be recorded for delayed telecast on ESPN on Sundays at 1 p.m. ET, beginning this Sunday, and they also will be live-streamed on ESPN3/WatchESPN as they happen. The OceanView at Falmouth PBA League is part of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule.

OCEANVIEW AT FALMOUTH PBA LEAGUE ELIAS CUP

Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine, Friday

OceanView at Falmouth PBA League Qualifying Results (after 8 Baker format games; finishing position determines the team’s bracket position for the PBA League finals):

1, bowlingball.com L.A. X (manager Andrew Cain; players: Jason Belmonte, Stuart Williams, Martin Larsen, Jakob Butturff, Osku Palermaa), 1,872, $12,000.

2, GEICO NYC WTT KingPins (manager Carolyn Dorin-Ballard; players: Pete Weber, Marshall Kent, Sam Cooley, BJ Moore, Anthony Pepe), 1,807, $6,000.

3, Sysco Philadelphia Hitmen (manager Jason Couch; players: Dom Barrett, Tom Smallwood, Ronnie Russell, Matt Sanders, Chris Loschetter), 1,791, $3,000.

4, OceanView at Falmouth Brooklyn Styles (manager Johnny Petraglia; players: Parker Bohn III, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Sean Rash, Matt O’Grady, Jason Sterner), 1,774.
5, Go Bowling! Silver Lake Atom Splitters (manager Mark Baker; players: Chris Barnes, Jesper Svensson, Tom Daugherty, Dick Allen, AJ Johnson), 1,741.
6, Port Property Management Portland Lumberjacks (manager Tim Mack; players: Ryan Ciminelli, Wes Malott, Kyle Troup, DJ Archer, Jojoe Yannaphon), 1,733.
7, Shipyard Dallas Strikers: (player-manager Norm Duke; players: Tommy Jones, Bill O’Neill, Rhino Page, Kyle Sherman), 1,722.
8, Barbasol Motown Muscle (manager Del Ballard Jr.; players: EJ Tackett, Francois Lavoie, Anthony Simonsen, Shota Kawazoe, Josh Blanchard), 1,625.

SATURDAY, APRIL 21 (PBA League Quarterfinals)

Noon – OceanView at Falmouth PBA League Quarterfinals (live on ESPN3/WatchESPN; ESPN telecast Sunday, April 22 at 1 p.m. ET)

            Match One: bowlingball.com L.A. X vs. Barbasol Motown Muscle.

            Match Two: OceanView at Falmouth Brooklyn Styles vs. Go Bowling! Silver Lake Atom Splitters.

3:30 p.m. – OceanView at Falmouth PBA League Quarterfinals (live on ESPN3/WatchESPN; ESPN telecast Sunday, April 29 at 1 p.m. ET)

            Match Three: GEICO NYC WTT KingPins vs. Shipyard Dallas Strikers.

            Match Four: Sysco Philadelphia Hitmen vs. Port Property Management Portland Lumberjacks.

                                                                                                           

SUNDAY, APRIL 22 (PBA League Semifinals and Finals)

Noon – OceanView at Falmouth PBA League Semifinals (live on ESPN3/WatchESPN; ESPN telecast Sunday, May 6 at 1 p.m. ET)

            Semifinal Match One: Winner Match One vs. Winner Match Two.

            Semifinal Match Two: Winner Match Three vs. Winner Match Four.

3:30 p.m. – OceanView at Falmouth PBA League Elias Cup finals (live on ESPN3/WatchESPN; ESPN telecast Sunday, May 13 at 1 p.m. ET)