Behind the Numbers: 2012 Citizen Masters part 3
Before we get to the matches, I have some numbers for you. Mike Rouse averaged 233 for the tournament, including qualifying and lost both of his matches. His lowest series for the tournament was 687. Someone should at least buy the unlucky bowler a Bud Light or two. Of the eight finalists, four of them either have been a Runner Up or past Champion. Two of them are first time qualifiers and are both in the Winner's Bracket. One of them is a second time qualifier and the other one has been in the final eight more than once. Rick Lambrecht averaged 240 for two years at Cedar House and is the only finalist that bowls in a league there. All finalists are averaging over 220 while four of them are over 230 throughout the tournament.
There were a few good matches to mention from Saturday. Jamie Mills fired the tournament's first 300 game and also a 695 series to eliminate Rick Liccion. Shawn Hastings bowled the highest series of the day on games of 233, 289 and 258 for a very nice 780 series. Defending champion Tom Knapp defeated fellow lefty, Ed Wasilenko , 751-674, to keep his hopes alive of winning back to back titles, a group of only three bowlers to ever do that (Lenny Charles '73&74, Steve Capella '89&'90 and Steve Feldman '97&'98. John Ashby was the only bowler to shoot over 700 in both matches on Saturday. He fired a 715 series against Brad Jordan in the first squad and eliminated Don Johnson on the second squad with a 741 series. In a good come from behind match, Steve Suslik was trailing Chris Gomez after two games, 456-490. Staying true to his style, the third game went down to the end and Tiger rolled a big 256 to Chris' 208 to win the match, 712-698.
On Sunday, there wasn't any shortage of intensity either. Mike Sheehan showed us why he is a Hall of Famer, he won five straight matches in the losers bracket this weekend averaging 234 at Falcon Lanes. He bowled three matches on Sunday and scored 700 or better on each match and eliminated some big names like Defending Champ Tom Knapp, Mike Deuce Walker, Young Dan Bibbens, George Pidlypchak and Pete Greene. Also winning three matches this weekend was second time qualifier Nick Kilmer. What's even more special is that Nick was in a very bad accident earlier this year and is very lucky to be bowling today. It looks like he recovered very well by beating guys like Jeff Matty, Chris Gomez and Sweet Lou Tabone. A valiant effort by Tim Bachman Sr. to dig deep in game three after being down by 68 pins to Tiger Suslik. He fired a big string of strikes to even the match but a stubborn nine pin hit cost him the match. Mike Walker had the highest series of the day with 765 on games of 248 280 and 237.
Looking on to the upcoming final weekend, there are some great matches on hand. We will also be joining the women's finalists. The numbers in () are their career win/loss record followed by their average in the masters. In the Loser's Bracket, we have 2009 Champion vs. 2001 Champion, Suslik(59-30, 219) vs. Lambrecht(28-16,221), and the only lefty finalist, Sheehan(31-25, 212) vs. Nick Kilmer (7-3, 214). In the Winner's Bracket, we have the current tournament high average leader with 240, Slater(29-16, 218) vs. Nate Breese(4-0, 228) in a revs vs. revs match. Josh Devlin(4-0, 225) will square up against Mike Ryan(73-23, 227). Be sure to come down and cheer everyone on. Try to guess who will finish as Top Dog this year. Lots of Bowler of the Year points are awarded here as well. Let's make it a year not to forget. See you all there.