LORAIN — Brent Boho came to Rebman Recreation after putting the finishing touches on “the worst season of my career.”
The 25-year-old Colgate, Wis., two-handed right-hander, a former bowler at St. Ambrose (Iowa) University, had always planned on joining the PBA Tour.
But this season, despite bowling in 13 events, he ranked 112th in the PBA Tour rankings with no cashes. The past two weeks, he had finished 109th in the PBA Players Championship and 45h with doubles partner Benjamin Sobel in the PBA Roth-Holman Doubles, averaging just under 210.
“I’ve been bowling full-time with very little success,” Boho said.
What a difference that first victory can make.
After finishing 13th during the seven-game qualifier and earning a match-play spot by just 18 pins. Boho earned his first pro victory Saturday during the PBA Ohio Lottery/Baldo Campana & Dave D’Entremont Memorial Central Open.
Using a combination of Storm Fast Pitch balls and a Storm Pitch Black, Boho stayed unbeaten in four matches, stopping another non-winner in third-seeded Cody Reed 200-173 in the title match.
“I needed a combination of a few different urethanes with fresh surface to make this happen,” an emotional Boho said. “I think I literally bowled more regionals than anyone in the country last year. This just feels awesome … there are no words.”
Boho was sitting well within the number after five qualifying games, but had to change his game plan for the final game and a half to survive.
“The urethane started going away in Game 6 and these ball returns here are longer than I’m used to,” said Boho, whose best previous pro finish was second last season in a Fort Wayne, Ind., regional. “I never wanted to go inside and throw reactive like others did because I don’t have the ball speed. I was only around 14.6 (mph) and 13.6 (mph) if I stood in front of the returns.”
So Boho turned to throwing plastic, finishing Game 6 with 170 and then continuing to use it during the final qualifying game, throwing the last four strikes for 196 to survive the cut during the seven-game qualifying round.
Boho then stopped his first two match-play opponents in the best-of-three match play by 2-0 scores before reaching the semifinal round and a one-game match with No. 4 seed Sam DeWitt iii of Pittsburgh. That game, he finally got on a roll.
After a spare in the first frame, Boho struck on his next nine shots en route to a 279-202 win and a spot in the finals.
“I just found that the rack was very good on that pair,” Boho said. “I was able to drive the 5 (pin) into the 7 almost every time, and he didn’t do that because of his faster ball speed,” Boho said. “His ball kept deflecting, but I was able to get off of it enough to do that.”
PART-TIME PLAYER REACHES FINAL
Reed, a 35-year-old Willard right-hander, has been bowling regional qualifiers and tourneys for the past 12 seasons, adding he qualifies for the field “about 50 percent of the time.”
The No. 3 seed after averaging 227.57 during qualifying, he had never finished higher than 27th in any of his PBA appearances.
This time, he went 5-1 to reach the title match, stopping No. 15-seed Craig LaMond and No. 5 seed Jonathan Kleer before a one-game showdown with Northfield two-handed lefty Ryan Liederbach, the No. 4 seed.
Despite splits in the eighth and ninth frames, Reed survived with a 204-188 win as Liederbach had splits in the second through fourth frames and left a solid 10-pin on his first shot in the 10th frame that would have given him a chance after stringing four strikes in the sixth through ninth frames.
“I tried to throw it away, but I got that double late (ninth and 10th frames),” Reed said. “The nerves were absolutely there all day. But that’s how I operate and I just work around it.”
TITLE MATCH
Reed started the title match with a double, but then failed to convert 1-2-8 and 10-pin spares in the third and fourth frames. He didn’t strike again in the match.
“That pair, everything just kind of stopped hooking for me. I kind of knew that because I really don’t have a ton of equipment to work with,” Reed said. “So I was just kind of guessing. But when it’s falling off your hand and you’re asking if you need to point it a little more or slow everything down … that’s how you pop out a 170.
“But this is absolutely a boost of confidence. I don’t bowl too many regionals … just tournaments around the Willard area.”
Boho also had trouble finding a line early, leaving a 2-4-8-10 split in the fourth before finally getting his first strike in the fifth frame on the front end of a double. He also posted a double late.
“There was just something with every re-oil, and the lanes sitting for awhile. They just kept getting tighter and tighter down lane,” Boho said. “The third frame wasn’t terrible, but they just never hooked. I think it was a combination of the pattern sitting, being laid out so many times and me throwing urethane in practice.
“I made a ball change in the fourth frame and went to a fresh surface urethane and I was fine. Once the surface started wearing off, it didn’t want to read down lane.”
But one thing this win does do for Boho — he now can bowl the pre-tournament qualifier for the PBA Tournament of Champions next season as a regional winner.
“I felt terrible coming into today so this really does a lot for my confidence,” Boho said. “It’s not going to raise the roof, but it gets me off the floor because that’s where I’ve been.
“It’s just very ironic that that this season ended very poorly and this weekend ended so well.”
NOTEBOOK: The one-day event drew a 117-player field. … Australian Sam Cooley led qualifying with 1,603, an average of 229.00 on the Don Johnson 40 oil pattern. He finished just four pins ahead of Frank Snodgrass. Cooley fell in the second round to DeWitt while Snodgrass fell in three games to Liederbach in the opening round. … There were no 300 games shot. … Many players in the field earned spots through a pre-tournament qualifier. Four non-members — Reed, Brookpark’s Tim Jones, Brunswick’s Eric Bator and Cuyahoga Falls’ Tyler Meredith — made the cut. Meredith earned the final match-play spot by just three pins over Zac Tackett. … Mentor’s Kevin Oravecz, another nonmember, earned the final cash spot in 39th place with 1,418. Also cashing was Uniontown’s Dave Mramor Jr. in 31st place with 1,447. … Among area players, Doylestown’s Joe Bailey finished 83rd (1,300) and Massillon’s Jesse Gonzales was 85th (1,295).
See complete scoring and payouts here: