Professional Bowlers Association

Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, ended his nine-year quest for a Professional Bowlers Association Tour title when he defeated four-time PBA Tour winner Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., 264-231, to win the Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open at AMF Bowlero.

The second of five GEICO PBA Summer Swing presented by Lucas Oil telecasts aired Tuesday on CBS Sports Network.

Loschetter, 33, who had finished second four times during a PBA Tour career that began in 2003 and included 153 previous events, followed a pair of poor shots in the third and fourth frames with a near-perfect finish to run away from O’Neill for the win. Loschetter entered the Wolf Open finals as the top qualifier, claiming that honor in the preliminary rounds at AMF West by two pins over PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla.

“I’ve put in thousands of hours in this game and to finally win is what matters to me,” Loschetter said. “To say I’m a champion is amazing. I didn’t think for a long time that was ever going to happen. It finally did.”

Loschetter admitted it was increasingly disappointing to know that O’Neill and Mike Fagan, among others – guys who started their careers about the same time he did – had titles while he was left behind.

“Bill’s an amazing bowler,” Loschetter said. “I got to see him and Fagan and all the guys coming up with me win, and it’s been very hard. I’ve been very happy for them because they’re great guys in addition to being great bowlers. But it’s been very hard to watch.

“I had a lot of people telling me to get that first win,” he added. “They mean well and I appreciated it, but it’s hard to keep hearing. I had to deal with all of those thoughts going through my head. I woke up at 7 this morning and I was thinking all of the crazy things that could happen. I had to let it go. I didn’t know if I could, but I did. Finally. I finally have a title. It’s my lifelong dream.”

Along with his first title, Loschetter qualified for the PBA Tournament of Champions for the first time and he secured a berth in the GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event, the concluding event of the Summer Swing.

O’Neill, who entered the finals as the No. 5 qualifier, nipped PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., 222-221, in the opening match. He then spoiled the PBA television debut of 20-year-old rookie E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind., 234-204, and used a string of six consecutive strikes to rally past Duke in the semifinal match, 233-206.

The Wolf Open was contested on a 32-foot lane conditioning pattern – the shortest in the PBA’s series of eight animal patterns.

The finals of the Lucas Oil Bear Open, the third event in the GEICO PBA Summer Swing series, will air next Tuesday, June 25, at 7 p.m. ET. The preliminary rounds of the Bear Open were contested on a flat 40-foot lane condition pattern – similar to the demanding pattern used in the U.S. Open – at AMF Bowlero. Advancing to the Bear Open finals were top qualifier Jason Belmonte, Australia; Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas; Loschetter; Dan MacLelland of Canada, and Tom Hess of Urbandale, Iowa.

To find CBS Sports Network in your home market, visit: http://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/channel-finder.

LUCAS OIL WOLF OPEN

AMF Bowlero, Wauwatosa, Wis.

Final Standings: 1, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, $8,000. 2, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., $5,000. 3, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., $4,000. 4, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., $3,000. 5, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., $2,000.

Stepladder Results: Match One – O’Neill def. Weber, 222-221. Match Two – O’Neill def. Tackett, 234-204. Semifinal Match – O’Neill def. Duke, 233-206. Championship – Loschetter def. O’Neill, 264-231.

NEXT TUESDAY ON CBS SPORTS NETWORK (7 P.M. ET)

Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open

(Event No. 2 from the GEICO PBA Summer Swing presented by Lucas Oil)

Tournament: Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open (second of five telecasts from the GEICO PBA Summer Swing presented by Lucas Oil.

Where: AMF Bowlero, Wauwatosa, Wis.

Finals Format: Five-player stepladder (two-hour telecast)

Television: CBS Sports Network (Tuesday, June 18, at 7 p.m. ET). Veteran PBA announcer Dave Ryan and PBA Hall of Famer Randy Pedersen will provide commentary.

Tournament Notes: Qualifying and match play rounds of the Wolf Open were conducted at AMF West in Milwaukee.

The Wolf Open was named for one of three new “animal” lane conditioning patterns introduced by the PBA specifically for the Summer Swing. The Wolf lane condition involved an application of oil to a length of 32 feet, the shortest oiling pattern of the eight PBA “animal patterns.” The Badger, Wolf and Bear lane conditions were the first new additions to the PBA’s “animal pattern” collection of lane conditioning patterns since the introduction of the Chameleon, Cheetah, Scorpion, Shark and Viper patterns in 2005. (The Cheetah pattern, at 36 feet, was previously the shortest pattern).

The Stepladder Finalists: In the opening match of the Wolf Open, No. 5 qualifier Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., 31, will make his 21st career PBA Tour television appearance and first since winning the 2012 Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Cheetah Championship during the 2012 PBA World Series of Bowling IV in Las Vegas last November (he defeated Mike Wolfe of New Albany, Ind., 243-192, for the title).

O’Neill’s opponent will be PBA Hall of Famer and 37-time Tour champion Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo. Weber, 50, is in his 33rd year of PBA Tour competition. His last victory was in the 2013 Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions in Indianapolis where he became the oldest player ever to win that event, claimed a record 10th PBA major title, and became the only player in PBA history to complete the “Triple Crown” (TOC, U.S. Open and PBA World Championship) twice.

The winner of the opening match will meet 20-year-old PBA Tour rookie E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind., who is making his PBA television debut. Tackett first joined the PBA under a new low-cost “PBA24 membership” program designed to encourage young players to try PBA competition, and converted that membership to “full” status prior to the PBA Winter Swing in Allen Park, Mich., where he cashed in three of four events with a best finish of 21st place in the Don Carter Classic. Tackett is a two-time Junior Team USA member (2011 and 2013), and a 2011 member of adult Team USA.

The winner of match two will advance to the semifinal contest against No. 2 qualifier Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla. The 49-year-old Duke, also a PBA Hall of Famer and tied with Weber with 37 Tour titles (third best on the all-time list), is making his 108th television appearance and first of the 2012-13 season. Duke is making his first TV appearance since finishing fourth in the 2011 Pepsi Elite Players Championship in Las Vegas.

Awaiting the winner of the semifinal match will be 33-year-old Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, who is trying for his first PBA Tour title after nine years on Tour. The former two-time Junior Team USA member has finished second four times in PBA Tour events, including a runner-up finish in the 2005 PBA World Championship. Loschetter won the top berth in the Wolf Open stepladder finals by two pins over Duke.

The next three consecutive Tuesdays will feature two-hour telecasts from the GEICO PBA Summer Swing: the Lucas Oil Bear Open on June 25, the Lucas Oil Milwaukee Open on July 2 and the GEICO PBA Summer King of the Swing presented by Lucas Oil on July 9. All shows will air at 7 p.m. ET. (“Encore”/re-airs will be announced periodically).

Three easy steps to enhance your PBA telecast experience:

1) Tune into pba.com’s Xtra Frame for bonus coverage/special commentaries (all preliminary rounds of GEICO PBA Summer Swing events also are archived on Xtra Frame).

2) Watch the CBS Sports Network finals of the Wolf Open finals on Tuesday, June 18, at 7 p.m. ET.

3) Follow the PBA Tour on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Get bonus commentaries, provide your personal feedback, ask questions and more.

# # #

In winning his second consecutive PBA Senior U.S. Open title, Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli joins Tom Baker and Wayne Webb as the third two-time winner of the event. All three are PBA Hall of Famers and all three have won the PBA50 Tour major in back-to-back years.

Baker won the Senior U.S. Open in 2005 and ’06, Webb won in 2008 and ’09 and Monacelli in 2012 and ’13.

● The Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open, presented by Storm, featured challenging lane conditions and failed to produce a 300 game. The high game in the tournament was 299, shot by Monacelli in qualifying and Tulsa’s Mike Edwards in match play.

● Among the match play finalists, Monacelli led the field with 218.2 average for the tournament, nearly seven pins more than Walter Ray Williams Jr., who had the second best average of 211.92. Ron Winger was the top super senior in the field, at age 71, making match play and finishing 24th. Robin Romeo was the top woman, finishing among the 53 cashers in 49th place.

AT&T U-VERSE AIRS SPECIAL ON PBA TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

AT&T U-Verse has produced an intriguing 22-minute special look at the PBA Tournament of Champions, including the inaugural PBA League Elias Cup finals. Use this link to view the program:

http://uverseonline.att.net/tv/show/pba-tournament-of-champions#play=dk___dk_exc_sp0607_jun13.mp4

PBA REGIONAL ROUNDUP: O’GRADY WINS FIRST PBA EAST REGION TITLE

● Matt O’Grady of South Amboy, N.J. defeated Gary Haines of West Babylon, N.Y., 224-207, to win his first PBA Regional title in the Port Jeff Eastern Open at Port Jeff Bowl in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., Sunday.

O’Grady, who had a 7-5 match play record, rolled 280 in the position round to move from third into the lead. He then met Haines, the PBA East Region’s leading rookie, in the title match after Haines won both of the preliminary matches. O’Grady, a former Junior Team USA member, earned $2,500 while Haines earned $1,300 as the runner-up.

● Alan Mojado of Pala, Calif., defeated Keith Laing of Los Angeles, 233-209, to win $3,000 and his first Professional Bowlers Association Regional title in the Billy Meyers Sr. West Open at Bowlium Lanes in Montclair, Calif., Sunday.

● With the July 15 qualifying deadline looming to earn points for the PBA’s new Regional Players Invitational program, a number of opportunities remain on the June calendar.

Over the June 14-16 weekend, the PBA East Region will conduct the Bethmann-Russell Eastern Open presented by DV8 at Flamingo Bowl in Liverpool, N.Y.; the Central Region will conduct the J.D. Producing Inc. Central Open presented by Hammer at Triway Lanes in Wooster, Ohio, and the West/Northwest Regions will combine for a big standard/PBA50 dual weekend at 20th Century Lanes in Boise, Idaho.

The June 21-23 schedule includes a pair of “reduced entry fee” one-day American Family Insurance Midwest Open events at Oak Forest Bowl in Oak Forest, Ill.; the PBA South Region will conduct the Reality Check Classic Series South Open and PBA50 Reality Check Classic Series Ichiban Cleaning South Open, both presented by DV8, at Brunswick Harbour Lanes in Melbourne, Fla.; the PBA East will host the Homefield Bowl Eastern Open presented by Hammer in Yonkers, N.Y.; and the PBA West/Northwest Regions will combine for Secoma Lanes PBA50 and standard tournaments in Federal Way, Wash.

Closing the month over the June 28-30 weekend, the PBA East will host the PBA50 Glassboro Eastern Open presented by Columbia 300 at Glassboro Bowl and Recreation Center in New Jersey; the PBA South will conduct the PBA50 High Point Bank South Open at Northside Bowling Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.; the PBA Central and South Regions will co-op the PBA University of Phoenix Central/South Open at Hooper Bowling Center in Fort Campbell, Ky.; the PBA Southwest Region will host a non-champions Astro Super Bowl Southwest Challenge in San Antonio, Texas; and the PBA Midwest will conduct a reduced entry fee Allstate Midwest Open at Landmark Lanes in Peoria, Ill.

For complete PBA regional schedule and entry information, visit pba.com and click on “Regional Tours” under the Schedules tab.

QUICK NOTES:

● PBA’s Xtra Frame online bowling channel will be on hand at Sawgrass Lanes in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., July 1-4 to cover the Teen Masters National Finals. The National Finals will qualify players who will advance to the Teen Masters Grand Championship Aug. 6-8 at Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Professional Bowlers Association will make its debut on CBS Sports Network on Tuesday, June 11, at 7 p.m. ET. The Lucas Oil Badger Open will be the first of five two-hour telecasts of finals conducted during the GEICO PBA Summer Swing.

The GEICO PBA Summer Swing, presented by Lucas Oil, will continue for five consecutive Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET, including the Lucas Oil Wolf Open on June 18; the Lucas Oil Bear Open on June 25; the Lucas Oil Milwaukee Open on July 2, and the GEICO Summer King of the Swing presented by Lucas Oil special event on July 9.

To find the channel and service in your area that carries CBS Sports Network, visit: http://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/channel-finder.

The Summer Swing featured the introduction of three distinctively different lane conditioning patterns and competition at three different Milwaukee area bowling centers. The Badger Open conducted at AMF Waukesha featured a 52-foot oiling pattern, the longest application of oil in PBA Tour history. The Wolf Open at AMF West in Milwaukee featured a 32-foot oiling pattern, the shortest of the PBA’s eight “animal patterns.” The Bear Open at AMF Bowlero is Wauwatosa used a 40-foot flat condition, very similar to the challenging oil pattern used in the U.S. Open. The Milwaukee Open used a combination of all three patterns.

All tournaments will be covered by the veteran PBA team of announcer Dave Ryan and color analyst/PBA Hall of Famer Randy Pedersen. NFL all-star wide receiver and PBA League team owner Terrell Owens will make a visit to the broadcast booth during one of the telecasts.

The Badger Open finals will feature three players who have never won a PBA Tour title (top qualifier and 2011-12 PBA Rookie of the Year Josh Blanchard of Gilbert, Ariz.; second-year player Jake Peters of Decatur, Ill.; and Saginaw Valley State collegiate star Aaron Lorincz of Belleville, Mich., the 2013 USBC Intercollegiate Singles Champion); three-time PBA Tour titlist Michael Haugen Jr. of Phoenix, and Kurt Pilon of Warren, Mich., who won his only PBA Tour title in the 2001 Peoria Open, the first tournament under the PBA’s “new” ownership group.

The Wolf Open finals will feature two players seeking their first PBA Tour titles (nine-year journeyman and top qualifier Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, and 20-year-old rookie E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind.), two PBA Hall of Famers who are tied for third place on the list of all-time PBA Tour title winners with 37 each (Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., and Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo.), and one of the Tour’s rising stars, former Saginaw Valley State collegiate star and four-time PBA Tour winner Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa.

The Bear Open finalists include PBA Player of the Year contender Jason Belmonte, a two-handed player from Australia; 14-time PBA Tour winner Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas; two non-titlists (Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio and Dan MacLelland of Montreal, who hopes to become the first Canadian ever to win a PBA Tour title); and Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, who won his only PBA Tour title in the 2011 USBC Masters.

The Milwaukee Open stepladder field will include Barnes, the top qualifier; Hall of Famers Weber and Duke; four-time titlist Mike Fagan of Fort Worth, Texas, and Jason Sterner of McDonough, Ga., who won his first PBA Tour title by rolling a 299 game in the title match of the 2013 Don Carter Classic.

The field for the GEICO Summer King of the Swing presented by Lucas Oil telecast will be decided at the conclusion of the first four events. The King of the Swing field will include the four event winners (runner-up if any player wins more than one event), plus a “wild card” player (the Summer Swing points leader). The winner of the special event will collect a $10,000 prize, but it is not a PBA Tour title event.

GEICO PBA SUMMER SWING PRESENTED BY LUCAS OIL TELEVISION LINEUP

CBS SPORTS NETWORK ON TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 7 P.M. ET
(Encore presentations: June 11, 10 p.m. ET; June 12, 4 p.m. ET)

Lucas Oil PBA Badger Open
1, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz.
2, Jake Peters, Decatur, Ill.
3, a-Aaron Lorincz, Belleville, Mich.
4, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix.
5, Kurt Pilon, Warren, Mich.

CBS SPORTS NETWORK ON TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 7 P.M. ET

Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open
1, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio.
2, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla.
3, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind.
4, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo.
5, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa.

CBS SPORTS NETWORK ON TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 7 P.M. ET

Lucas Oil PBA Bear Open
1, Jason Belmonte, Australia.
2, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas.
3, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio.
4, Dan MacLelland, Canada.
5, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa.

CBS SPORTS NETWORK ON TUESDAY, JULY 2, 7 P.M. ET

Lucas Oil PBA Milwaukee Open
1, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas.
2, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo.
3, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla.
4, Mike Fagan, Fort Worth, Texas.
5, Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga.

CBS SPORTS NETWORK ON TUESDAY, JULY 9, 7 P.M. ET

GEICO PBA Summer King of the Swing presented by Lucas Oil
(NOTE: The stepladder order among event winners will be based upon how each player ranked on the Summer Swing competition points list; if any player wins more than one event, the runner-up in that event will earn a berth in the King of the Swing stepladder finals. Chris Barnes, as points leader for the Summer Swing, is guaranteed a berth in the King of the Swing finals)

Badger Open winner
Wolf Open winner
Bear Open winner
Milwaukee Open winner
Wild Card: GEICO PBA Summer Swing points leader

WAUWATOSA, Wis. – Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas, started the final round of match play in the Lucas Oil PBA Milwaukee Open Thursday night with a 300-237 victory over E.J. Tackett and raced away from the field to capture the top qualifying berth for Sunday’s Milwaukee Open stepladder finals at AMF Bowlero.

Barnes, a 43-year-old 14-time PBA Tour champion, defeated PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., in his second match and toppled Weber from the lead one game later. Barnes, who hasn’t won a PBA title in the U.S. since the 2011 PBA World Championship, won seven of his eight matches in the Badger match play round to finish with a 59-game average of 228.83 and a total of 14,011 pins, topping Weber by 289 pins.

Weber, who led the field after the morning Wolf round, lost his first six matches, but had a big enough margin to hold onto second place with a total of 13,722 pins, 39 ahead of his long-time rival and fellow 37-time PBA Tour title winner, Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla. Duke won his first five Badger round matches to lock himself into the stepladder finals.

Barnes qualified for his second television final in the GEICO PBA Summer Swing series. He also was No. 2 qualifier for the Bear Open finals. Duke and Weber had previously qualified for Saturday’s Lucas Oil Wolf Open finals in the No. 2 and No. 4 spots, respectively.

“I’m the young guy among the top three, so I came out of the tournament in pretty good shape,” Barnes said. “I’m a practice guy anyway, so all of the games didn’t really bother me.”

As top qualifier, Barnes earned the right to select the lane condition that will be used in the stepladder finals, and he selected the Badger pattern.

“Tonight was pretty good. The Badger played a lot tighter here at Bowlero on the synthetic lanes than it did on the natural wood at AMF Waukesha,” Barnes said. “There aren’t 10 other guys who can adjust ball speed as well as I can, so I was able to keep my ball speed down without losing my rev rate. Combine that with a new ball I used, and things worked out pretty well.”

Barnes has historically struggled as the top qualifier – he’s 2-10 in that position – but he said that is no longer a problem.

“When you look at my whole history, when I started working with Mark Baker a few years ago, he caught a flaw that was happening to me on TV and since then, my record on TV has improved significantly. If not my record, at least my confidence has improved significantly. There was a time when there was a lot of baggage with being the top qualifier, but now I know who I am, where I come from and where my mistakes come from. I’m comfortable in my own skin now.”

Seven players battled throughout the final round for the final two berths in the Milwaukee Open finals before Mike Fagan of Fort Worth, Texas, and Jason Sterner of McDonough, Ga., won their position round matches – despite a 10-minute power blackout two frames into position round – to clinch the No. 4 and No. 5 berths. Sterner threw two strikes in the 10th frame to outlast Michael Haugen Jr. of Phoenix, 216-206, in the final match.

The Milwaukee Open was contested on a combination of three challenging “animal” lane conditions introduced for the four-tournament GEICO PBA Summer Swing: a 40-foot Bear lane conditioning pattern similar to the demanding U.S Open lane condition, a 32-foot Wolf pattern (the shortest application of oil of any of the eight PBA animal patterns), and a 52-foot Badger pattern (the longest oil condition the PBA has ever used). Milwaukee Open finalists qualified during the Badger, Wolf and Bear Open tournaments held over the previous 10 eight days at AMF Waukesha, AMF West and AMF Bowlero, respectively.

The stepladder finals for the Badger, Wolf, Bear and Milwaukee Opens will be contested Saturday at 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. respectively. The GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event will follow the Milwaukee Open finals Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The Summer Swing finals will air on five consecutive Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET beginning June 11.

LUCAS OIL PBA MILWAUKEE OPEN

AMF Bowlero, Milwaukee, Wis., May 30

Final Match Play Standings (after 59 games, top five advance to stepladder finals at noon Sunday at AMF Bowlero):

1, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 16-6-2, 14,011.
2, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 14-10, 13,722.
3, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 16-8, 13,683.
4, Mike Fagan, Fort Worth, Texas, 12-11-1, 13,590.
5, Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., 17-7, 13,508.
6, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 12-12, 13,459, $4,000.
7, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 13-10-1, 13,444, $3,600.
8, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, Ill., 14-10, 13,431, $3,000.
9, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 10-13-1, 13,370, $2,700.
10, Dan MacLelland, Canada, 12-11-1, 13,337, $2,400.
11, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 10-14, 13,271, $2,200.
12, Aaron Lorincz, Belleville, Mich., 13-11, 13,258, $2,100.
13, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 13-11, 13,236, $2,000.
14, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 10-14, 13,224, $1,900.
15, Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 12-12, 13,118, $1,850.
16, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 9-15, 13,071, $1,800.
17, Jon VanHees, Charlestown, R.I., 11-13, 13,063, $1,750.
18, Jake Peters, Decatur, Ill., 11-13, 12,974, $1,700.
19, Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 15-9, 12,942, $1,650.
20, Patrick Girard, Canada, 10-14, 12,941, $1,700.
21, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 9-15, 12,901, $1,650.
22, x-Osku Palermaa, Finland, 3-5, 12,829, $1,400.
23, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 6-18, 12,678, $1,450.
24, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 8-16, 12,650, $1,500.
25, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 9-7, 11,246, $1,240.
25, Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich., 0-0, 7,489, $1,000.

x-Palermaa replaced Jones, who withdrew due to injury.

300 Games: Chris Barnes, Jason Sterner.