By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — There was a time this season that Mark Suchan contemplated walking away from the Northeast Ohio Travel League.
“It’s funny because I started the season bowling really well,” the 54-year-old Uniontown right-hander said. “But probably the last two months I thought about quitting because my average is so far down.
“It wasn’t because I was throwing the ball bad. I just had no carry whatsoever. I was shooting literally 10-to-15 10-pins a night. I’m a low-rev player anyway.”
But things changed the past several weeks for the construction inspector after going to an old ball that he “inherited” from Canton left-hander Jason Gribble about four years ago.
“No matter what ball I went to, I just had no carry whatsoever,” Suchan said. “That’s when I decided to bring out the (Roto Grip) UC3. The last two months, I’ve had five or six 700s and a lot of 680s.”
He started with the first nine strikes on at least three occasions but came up short in his quest to add to his 29 300 games. In fact, two days prior to this milestone, he had the front eight strikes in league play at Station 300 in Akron.
But “throwing the ball the best I’ve thrown it in maybe two or three years,” Suchan had games of 268, 290 and 279 for 837 in the Pizza Oven Classic league at Park Centre Lanes. He was just two off of his career high of 839 for his seventh career 800.
“That ball probably hooks more than anything else I have,” Suchan said. “I never moved the whole night and just had perfect ball reaction … no slow racks or pins except the ones I left obviously. Everything was packed.
“I’ve thought about getting something new, but I’m afraid to. The way lanes are now, everything is so dry on the outside and I don’t have enough hand to move in and play deep like a lot of these people. If I get to the point where I have to swing it to the dry, it’s high risk, high reward. If I throw it great, it strikes. If I miss by a hair, I split or washout. I’ve always been a straight player.”
Suchan’s night started with a 10-pin — what else? — in the first frame of Game 1. He then ran off the next eight strikes before a 7-pin stopped his run.
In Game 2, he started with a 7-pin spare.
“I threw enough pins at it, but nothing took it down,” said Suchan, who then struck out.
He started Game 3 with the front six strikes before another 10-pin — one he feels he deserved.
“It kind of fell off my hand a little and the guys on the next pair were laughing about it a little. I left a flat-10,” said Suchan, who then ran strikes the rest of the way.
“It was probably the most relaxed I’ve been for an honor score,” said Suchan, who bowls in three leagues. “I had 558 after two and knew I only needed the 240s to get there. After the front five, I was feeling really confident.”
Suchan, who considers himself an “underestimated player because I don’t bowl a lot of tournaments,” is averaging between 215 and 225 in league play.
“I came into the year with the intention of increasing my rev rate a little, and I still need to do that,” Suchan said. “I also wanted to increase my ball speed, and I’ve done that. I’m around 14.8 (mph), which is a full mph higher. That has helped some.
“At this point, I’m feeling good physically and can throw the ball harder. I still want to work on the rev rate, but I don’t think I want to throw it any harder.”
His last 800 came in November 2021 while he was wearing his late father Tom Suchan’s 800 ring from 1979. This latest 800 was an emotional reminder.
“As a senior player, it means a little more. I’m 54 now, and after that last 800, I didn’t know if I was going to have another one or if I’m going to shoot another 300,” Suchan said. “But 800 is way better than 300. I took over high series in the league with that.
“Doing something like that … and it wasn’t lucky. I would be the first to admit it if it was. Just the fact that I was throwing the ball and every shot was right there means a lot.”