By BILL SNIER
CANTON — Matt Frock now owns 32 career 800 series to go along with 78 300 games in his bowling career.
But even he admitted his latest ones to start the season in the Liberty Vending league at Eastbury Bowling Center meant just a little bit more.
The Canal Fulton right-hander became a senior player this season, turning age 50.
“Yeah, it means more,” said Frock, who had games of 266, 300 and 243 for 809 on his opening league night. “It’s just nice to see that I’m still doing it at age 50.”
The Shin-Etsu Silicones employee used a Roto Grip Red Hyped Solid for his latest milestone. It was a big change since Frock decided to drop from 15 pounds to 14-pound equipment this season. He did not bowl during the summer months.
“The ball is about two or three years old. A buddy of mine had it in the garage and he had stopped bowling,” said Frock, who will be bowling in three leagues this season including the Northeast Ohio Travel League.
“He asked me if I wanted his 14-pound equipment. I was thinking about dropping a pound and, so far, the results have been pretty good.”
What is the biggest difference for Frock?
“It feels a lot better on my arm … that’s where I notice it,” Frock said. “I used to wear a lot of tape on my arm, but now I don’t have to wear as much.
“But I think the biggest difference is that I feel like I’m staying underneath the ball and coming off the bottom of it instead of maybe being a little tired and cheating off the side. I’m noticing a lot more forward roll down the lane along with the arm feeling better.”
In Game 1, Frock ran the first five strikes before three straight spares. He then struck out.
Game 2 brought the 300, and he started Game 3 with the first two before throwing what he called “a bad one” — leaving a 3-6-7-10 split. But he covered it, which proved important.
Then came a “weak” 10-pin spare and an eight-count spare, before he went off the sheet for the milestone.
“I knew I had to sheet it in the 10th frame,” Frock said. “I told Roger (Webb) on the lane next to us that I know what I need to do now.”
With the equipment changes, the big start surprised Frock.
“I think I threw about 13 games before that first night,” Frock said. “I’ve never come out of the gate like that. I was shocked. The 300 was a big enough shock, but then adding the 800 …”
DIMARZIO HITS 300
In addition, 71-year-old Canton right-hander Jeff DiMarzio shot his 74th career 300 game the same night as Frock’s 800 in the Liberty Vending league at Eastbury.
He had 300 in Game 3 of his 734 series using a RotoGrip XCell. He owns 18 800 series, with a high of 856.
“There’s nothing memorable about the game itself, but this allows me to say that I have 300s in six consecutive decades both age-wise and calendar-wise,” DiMarzio said.