PBA Heads To Portland For Today's Draft, PBA Playoffs
PBA Heads To Portland For Today's Draft, PBA Playoffs
If the crowd scene at the USBC Masters finals gave you heartburn, you may want to stock up on antacids for today’s PBA League Draft and PBA Playoffs shows.
If the crowd scene at the USBC Masters finals gave you heartburn, you may want to stock up on antacids for today’s PBA League Draft and PBA Playoffs shows.
The PBA Tour makes its return today to Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine, and home of the “BoPo” (Bowl Portland) fans, some of whom made the journey to Las Vegas for the Masters finals, causing some on social media to lose their minds.
First up is the PBA League Draft, which takes place at 4 p.m. Eastern live on FloBowling. There are 21 players eligible for the draft and 17 of them will be selected as teams fill out their rosters for the 2019 PBA League.
That will be followed by the first PBA Playoffs show featuring the opening matches of the Round of 24. It will air live at 7 p.m. Eastern on FS1 for U.S. audiences and on FloBowling for international audiences.
The remaining PBA Playoffs shows encompassing the Round of 24, Round of 16 and Round of 8 will all be taped this week and broadcast on Mondays throughout April and May on FS1 and FloBowling. The four finalists will return to Portland on June 1-2 for the live final four and championship round.
Here are the four matchups for tonight’s PBA Playoffs show:
Chris Barnes vs. Kyle Troup
Barnes and Troup will battle for the unenviable right to take on top seed Jason Belmonte in the next round.
Barnes is having a decent season but has yet to make a television appearance. He finished sixth at the PBA Players Championship, which is as close as it gets. He made three of the four cuts at the World Series of Bowling but then finished 113th at the Masters.
Troup has made three shows so far this season and made a splash in TMZ and Barstool thanks to his afro. He finished third in Lubbock and at the Players Championship, while taking fourth at the PBA Scorpion Championship. Like Barnes, he failed to make the cut at the Masters, finishing in 137th place.
Kris Prather vs. Darren Tang
Prather has been one of the steadiest players on tour and hasn’t finished lower than 38th all season long. He finally got the monkey off his back and won his first career title at the PBA Scorpion Championship.
Tang was the last man into the bracket and has Jakob Butturff to thank for making the PBA Playoffs. Had anyone but Butturff won the Masters, Tang would have been out. Tang’s best finish this season has been eighth twice, at the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship and the PBA Tournament of Champions.
The winner of this match faces Tom Daugherty.
Rhino Page vs. Shawn Maldonado
Aside from Butturff, Page has been the pride of the left side this season, making four championship round appearances. That’s the good news, the bad news is it hasn’t gone so well for Page on television. He’s 0-4 on TV this season and will look to turn that around today.
Maldonado, a two-hander from Texas, has cracked the top 10 four times so far this season but has yet to make a show. He has a pair of seventh-place finishes this season in Indianapolis and in the PBA Scorpion Championship.
Anthony Simonsen awaits the winner of this match.
Dick Allen vs. Andres Gomez
Allen especially loves Portland after winning the Xtra Frame event there last season. He enters this event having won two titles this season for the first time since 2010-11. Mysteriously, he skipped the Masters, perhaps to prepare for Portland?
Gomez had a chance to win his fourth career title at the PBA Chameleon Championship but couldn’t find a way to take down Belmonte. He also finished seventh at the PBA Tournament of Champions and 18th at the Masters.
The winner will take on EJ Tackett in the next round.