LEXINGTON — Zeke Bayt and Dean Vargo have differing views when they look at match-play competition.
“I just like to face people in a fun, competitive way,” said Bayt, a 30-year-old Westerville right-hander. “I just enjoy heads-up competition. It’s just fun.”
Vargo calls match play “completely different … it’s more strategic.”
“There are times when two games are the fastest and slowest time period you will ever experience,” said Vargo, a 24-year-old Willowick right-hander and high school bowling coach at Willoughby South. “It’s slow when you want it to be quick, and fast when you need to slow it down. It’s almost guaranteed.”
How the pace went in Vargo’s mind was unclear Sunday, but he found it to his liking in earning a 497-481 victory over Bayt during the title match of the fifth annual BowlerX Ohio Masters at Lex Lanes.
Vargo, who stopped top-seeded Graham Fach 476-435 in the two-game semifinal round, completed his tournament run against Professional Bowlers Association pros by rolling 259 and 238 against Bayt, another PBA pro, without an open frame in the final match.
“It came down to just a lack of bad luck. That’s a good way to put it,” said Vargo, the No. 4 seed entering Sunday’s match-play rounds. “Even my bad hits didn’t put me in a bad position.
“I feel like I also got lucky. Most spares I went to were pretty close to the same all day and most pairs were relatively fresh (oil).”
Both players came out strong in Game 1 of the title match. After leaving a solid-8 pin in the second frame of Game 1, Vargo ran off five strikes in a row before leaving a 10-pin.
“Just missed it a little at the bottom,” Vargo said after the shot.
Bayt, after leaving a 9-pin in the second frame, ran off seven strikes in a row. But after Vargo finished with four strikes in a row, Bayt left a solid 10-pin on his first shot in the 10th before striking as the duo tied at 259.
“It looked like a great shot,” Vargo said of Bayt’s shot in the 10th frame. “In competition, you just hope for one break, something that gives you a chance, and it’s what I needed.”
After striking out in the 10th frame, Vargo said, “I did what I had to do.”
Bayt started with a double in Game 2 before leaving a 7-10 split in the third frame.
“It was a really good shot, but just a smidge firm. Because of the urethane on that pair before me, the 7-10 happened,” said Bayt, who used a Motiv Venom Shock and Blue Coral Venom. “On those kinds of shots, you hope to get a light diced 10 to kick out or just leave a 10.
“Unfortunately, I left both. Stuff happens.”
Meanwhile, Vargo ran off four strikes in a row, including breaking up a 4-6 split in the first and tripping a 4-pin during the string in the third frame.
“I just kept the ball in front of me all weekend. The biggest thing was my mentality was great,” said Vargo, who earned $2,200 for the win. “I was seeing the lane well and I was really confident. Everything was going my way.”
Following the split, Bayt ran off four strikes in a row before disaster struck in the eighth frame when he left a 1-2-4-10 washout. He converted the spare, but lost pin count.
“It was just a miss right. I had to be a lot steeper through the front on the right lane and I just happened to throw that shot on the left lane,” Bayt said. “I was targeting two different places … the lanes were about two boards different with my feet and three with my eyes.”
To complicate the problem, after a strike in the ninth frame, Bayt left a 10-pin on his first shot in the 10th frame.
The shot surprised Vargo, who left a 10-pin spare in the sixth frame and an 8-pin in the ninth.
“It didn’t look like he could miss the pocket at that point,” Vargo said after his Game 2 238-222 margin produced the victory. “Very seldom does Zeke throw a bad shot. That shot in the 10th was the biggest break, and it’s what I needed.”
Vargo had reached the finale by stopping Fach, who had taken the lead after Game 4 of the opening qualifying round and maintained it until his semifinal loss. The former took a 39-pin lead after Game 1 and rolled to the win.
“When you face Graham, you think you need to average 250, especially when he’s throwing urethane,” said Vargo, who used a Brunswick Attitude Control en route to the title. “(Lanes) 15 and 16 were the best pair for that match for me. It was the pair everyone was calling the outlier … one that was really squirrelly.
“My first couple of shots I was confused. But even though I wasn’t hitting it that well, I was still getting eight or nine and keeping myself in the match.”
Bayt advanced by stopping 27-year-old Deer Park right-hander Ric McCormick 435-416 in the semifinals. The latter had a chance to pull out a win, but left a 9-pin on the 10th frame following a double to fall short.
Sunday’s shot played into Vargo’s game plan coming into match play.
“When they reoil, they get tighter downlane, so I wanted to start right and throw urethane,” said Vargo, who was around the seventh board at his peak. “I wanted to get it rolling early and smooth and stay away from the hang spot downlane, and that’s what the ball did.”
Vargo called the victory “wonderful.”
“It’s always nice to win, but the Ohio Masters, in a field like this, gives you a sense that I’m among those people who have won it, and it’s great to be there.
“There were a lot of fantastic bowlers in the field and I faced a lot of them.”
Bayt, who won the 2018 Ohio Masters at HP Lanes in Columbus, knows what it takes.
““You have to hope you don’t meet that person that has the look. I averaged 240, which usually is good enough to win,” Bayt said. “But Dean was the one to beat and, unfortunately, I couldn’t beat him heads-up.”
NOTEBOOK
ROUND OF 24: With the top eight have a first-round bye, No. 22 seed Chad Roberts rolled a 300 en route to stopping his doubles partner, Dan Higgins, 529-483 to open play. The two paired up to claim the Akron Open doubles title at Stonehedge Family Fun Center. Higgins’ score would have been enough to win any other match except against Chris Via, who shot 495 in his opener. Also advancing were Chuck Reynolds Jr., Brandon Kennard, Ryan Liederbach, Ryan Ashby, Tim Voytko and Frank Testa.
ROUND OF 16: With the top eight back in the bracket, the group included 10 right-handers, with one two-hander. Of the six lefties, two were two-handers. … Liederbach and Davidson tied at 476, with the former throwing a strike on his final ball to force a two-frame rolloff. Both left 10-pins on their first shots, but Davidson struck out in the 10th frame while Liederbach left a 6-pin on his second shot to fall 50-40. … After Via threw 278 in his first game against Cherpeski, the latter came back with 289 in Game 2 to win the match 533-525. … Also advancing were Fach, Vargo, Bayt, Voytko and McCormick. No. 7 seed Michael Mossbarger didn’t have a mark until the sixth frame of Game 1 in a 387-278 loss to Voytko.
ROUND OF 8: Fach had a tight match with Cherpeski before stringing five in a row in the middle of Game 2 to pull out the win. Both Bayt and McCormick took 50-pin leads after Game 1 and rolled to wins.
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT: The tourney was open to all adult bowlers who are sanctioned and live in an Ohio USBC association area. It also was open to bowlers who have bowled a minimum of nine games in an Ohio sanctioned association during the 2021-22 season. No youth bowlers were permitted.
THE BOWLERX OHIO MASTERS
(At Lex Lanes, Lexington)
ROUND OF 24 MATCH PLAY
(Two-game pinfall totals; losers each win $240; seed is in parenthesis)
Chuck Reynolds Jr. (16) d. Brandon McVicker (17) 390-380; Chris Via (9) d. Dave Meadors (24) 495-400; Brandon Kennard (19) d. Jalen Mosley (13) 452-441; Ryan Liederbach (21) d. Nolan White (12) 450-426; Ryan Ashby (18) d. Gary Schluchter (15) 378-376; Tim Voytko (23) d. Jordan Richard (10) 456-417; Frank Testa (20) d. Simon Mote (14) 453-440; Chad Roberts (22) d. Dan Higgins (11) 529-483.
ROUND OF 16 MATCH PLAY
(Two-game pinfall totals; losers each receive $325)
Graham Fach (1) d. McVicker (17) 472-400; JT. Cherpeski (8) d. Via (9) 533-525; Dean Vargo (4) d. Kennard (19) 483-448; Michael Davidson (5) tied Liederbach (21) 476-476 (Davidson wins two-frame rolloff 50-40); Zeke Bayt (2) d. Ashby (18) 400-353; Voytko (23) d. Michael Mossbarger (7) 387-278; Testa (20) d. Cassidy Schaub (3) 484-434; Ric McCormick (6) d. Roberts (22) 485-469.
ROUND OF 8 MATCH PLAY
(Two-game pinfall totals; losers each receive $450)
Fach (1) d. Cherpeski (8) 484-459; Vargo (4) d. Davidson 507-454; Bayt (2) d. Voytko (23) 493-420; McCormick (6) d. Testa (20) 470-406.
SEMIFINALS
(Two-game pinfall totals; losers receive $599)
Vargo (4) d. Fach (1) 476-369; Bayt (2) d. McCormick (6) 435-416
CHAMPIONSHIP
(Two-game pinfall totals; winner receives $2,200; loser receives $1,150)
Vargo (4) d. Bayt (2) 497-481
OTHER CASHERS
(With 10-game total pinfalls)
25, (tie) Matt Diamond and Reginald Petty 2,142, $175 earnings