Jerry Schneider
Professional Bowlers Association
PORTLAND, Maine – PBA League quarterfinal action continues Sunday, April 24 at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN with the final two PBA League “best-of-two-game” quarterfinal round matches from Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine.
In Sunday’s first five-player Baker format match, BJ’s L.A. X, managed by Andrew Cain, will take on the Barbasol Motown Muscle managed by Del Ballard Jr.
BJ’s L.A. X will feature the international lineup of three-time reigning PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte from Australia; 13-time Tour winner Patrick Allen, the team’s lone American player; three-time Tour winner Andres Gomez, Colombia; one-time winner Stuart Williams, England, and Tour veteran Martin Larsen, Sweden. Barbasol Motown Muscle will field the lineup of three-time Tour winner Ronnie Russell, past PBA Rookies of the Year Josh Blanchard (2012) and EJ Tackett (2013), 2016 USBC Masters champion Anthony Simonsen, and women’s standout Danielle McEwan.
In the second match, Concrete Software Brooklyn Styles, managed by PBA Hall of Famer Johnny Petraglia, will meet GoBowling.com Dallas Strikers, managed by player-manager and PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke.
Bowling for Concrete Software Brooklyn Styles will be PBA Hall of Famers Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Parker Bohn III, nine-time Tour winner Sean Rash, and one-time Tour winners Jason Sterner and Jon Van Hees. Joining Duke in the GoBowling.com lineup will be 16-time Tour winner Tommy Jones, seven-time Tour winner Bill O’Neill, and rising stars Shawn Maldonado and B.J. Moore.
The winners of Sunday’s quarterfinal matches will meet in the second semifinal round match that will air on ESPN on Sunday, May 1, at 1 p.m. ET. The GEICO New York City WTT KingPins and the Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland Lumberjacks will meet in the first semifinal match on May 1. The semifinal round will determine the two teams advancing to the Elias Cup finale which will air Sunday, May 8 at 1 p.m. ET. The Elias Cup will be decided by singles, doubles and trios matches worth one point each followed by a three-point, five-player Baker team finale.
In the opening round of quarterfinal action on ESPN, the GEICO New York City WTT KingPins (Pete Weber, Scott Norton, Mike Fagan, Marshall Kent and John Szczerbinski) defeated the two-time defending Elias Cup champion bowlingball.com Silver Lake Atom Splitters (Chris Barnes, Tom Daugherty, Dick Allen, Jesper Svensson and Matt McNiel), 2-0, and the hometown-favorite Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland Lumberjacks (Bryon Smith, Wes Malott, Ryan Ciminelli, Osku Palermaa and Liz Johnson) eliminated the High 5 Gear Philadelphia Hitmen (Dom Barrett, Rhino Page, Tom Smallwood, Chris Loschetter and Dave Wodka), 2-0, in their best-of-two-game Baker team match.
The 2016 PBA League schedule, and complete rosters, are available by visiting http://www.pba.com/bowlers/theleague and follow the PBA League on all PBA Network outlets: http://www.pba.com/PBANetwork.
