The stars of the Professional Bowlers Association return to ESPN on Sunday, March 29 at 5 p.m. ET with the first in a four-week series of PBA League telecasts, concluding with the Elias Cup finals on Sunday, April 19, at 1 p.m. ET.

All PBA League competition will take place at Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine, as part of a six-day "Maine Event" which gets underway on Thursday, March 26.

The PBA's first national tour visit to Maine will be an extended fan-oriented weekend hosted by an upscale bowling facility, beginning with an opportunity for grassroots bowlers in Maine to bowl alongside the world's greatest bowlers in a special pro-am event on Thursday, March 26.

Friday's schedule is dominated by practice sessions for individuals and teams, giving fans and the news media a chance to meet players for autographs, photos and interviews.

Competition officially gets underway on Saturday, March 28, with two PBA League quarterfinal round elimination matches. PBA League elimination matches will be best-of-two-game Baker format matches. If a match ends in a tie, a one-ball sudden-death roll-off will determine the winner.

The 2015 Elias Cup competition will begin with the 2013 Elias Cup-champion GEICO New York City WTT KingPins, led by PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber, bowling the first PBA League quarterfinal match at noon against the BROOKLYN STyLES, led by 2012 PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash.

Immediately following the KingPins-STyLES match, the defending Elias Cup champion Silver Lake Atom Splitters, led by 18-time PBA Tour champion Chris Barnes, will meet the Philadelphia Hitmen, led by England's Dom Barrett. Both matches will air on ESPN on Sunday, March 29, at 5 p.m. ET.

At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, quarterfinal competition will continue with the Pittsburgh Jack Rabbits, led by former PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott, meeting the Dallas Strikers, led by player-manager and PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke (who ironically teamed with Malott to win the Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship in February).

Closing the quarterfinal round will be a match between Detroit's Barbasol Motown Muscle, led by 2013 PBA Rookie of the Year EJ Tackett, vs. Wheaties L.A. X, led by two-time reigning PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte. Both matches will air on ESPN on Sunday, April 5, at 3:30 p.m. ET.

On noon on Sunday at Bayside Bowl, the KingPins-STyLES winner will bowl the winner of the Hitmen-Atom Splitters match, followed by the second semifinal round battle between the Jack Rabbits-Strikers winner vs. the Muscle-L.A. X winner.

The Elias Cup, named in honor of PBA founder Eddie Elias, will be decided in a special singles, doubles, trios and Baker team showdown at 3:30 p.m. between the two semifinal round winners. The semifinal round matches will air on ESPN on Sunday, April 12, at 2 p.m. ET and the Elias Cup finals will air on Sunday, April 19, at 1 p.m. ET.

The Maine Event continues Monday and Tuesday, March 30-31, with the Xtra Frame Maine Shootout, a best-of-three-game single-elimination singles match play tournament that will be covered exclusively on PBA's online bowling channel, Xtra Frame.

It will be open to a field of 64 players, and it will involve four rounds of eight matches in the Round of 64 starting at 9 a.m. ET, followed by two rounds of eight matches in the Round of 32 on Monday.

Competition continues with two rounds of four matches in the Round of 16, starting at 10 a.m. ET, followed by a Round of 8, a semifinal round and a championship match on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The winner will earn a PBA Tour title.

The Maine Shootout will be part of hundreds of hours of PBA Tour, PBA50 Tour and regional action in 2015 available exclusively to Xtra Frame subscribers at a monthly rate of $7.99, or for a 12-month XF Season Ticket price of only $64.99 (less than $5.50 per month).

For admission ticket and pro-am information for the Maine Event weekend, contact Bayside Bowl at 207-791-2695.

 

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2015 PBA Maine Event Schedule

Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine (all times listed are Eastern)

Thursday, March 26, 2015
7 p.m. – Pro-Am squads

Friday, March 27, 2015
10 a.m.-4 p.m. – Open practice session (interviews, photo and autograph sessions included)
6:15-6:45 p.m. – BROOKLYN STyLES, GEICO New York City WTT KingPins team practice
7-7:30 p.m. – Philadelphia Hitmen, Silver Lake Atom Splitters team practice
7:45-8:15 p.m. – Pittsburgh Jack Rabbits, Dallas Strikers team practice
8:30-9 p.m. – Detroit Barbasol Motown Muscle, Wheaties L.A. X team practice

Saturday, March 28, 2015
(best of two games, Baker format; one-ball roll-off to break ties)
Noon – Quarterfinal Match One: Brooklyn STyLES vs. GEICO NYC WTT Kingpins
Quarterfinal Match Two: Philadelphia Hitmen vs. Silver Lake Atom Splitters
3:30 P.M. – Quarterfinal Match Three: Pittsburgh Jackrabbits vs. Dallas Strikers
Quarterfinal Match Four: Detroit Barbasol Motown Muscle vs. Wheaties L.A. X

Sunday, March 29, 2015
Noon – Semifinal Match One: Winner Match One vs. Winner Match Two (best of two games, Baker format; one-ball roll-off to break ties)
Semifinal Match Two: Winner Match Three vs. Winner Match Four (best of two games, Baker format; one-ball roll-off to break ties)
3:30 p.m. – Elias Cup Finals: Winner Semifinal One vs. Winner Semifinal Two, total pinfall
(singles, 1 point; alternate-shot doubles, 1 point; trios, 1 point; Baker team, 3 points; one-ball roll-off if necessary to break tie)

 

PBA Xtra Frame Maine Shootout Schedule

Sunday, March 29, 2015
7 p.m. – Match Play Draw Party (to determine Maine Shootout match play bracket pairings; live coverage on Xtra Frame)

Monday, March 30, 2015
9 a.m. – Round of 64, round one (8 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Round of 32)
11 a.m. – Round of 64, round two (8 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Round of 32)
1:30 p.m. – Round of 64, round three (8 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Round of 32)
3:30 p.m. – Round of 64, round four (8 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Round of 32)
6 p.m. – Round of 32, round one (8 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Round of 16)
8 p.m. – Round of 32, round two (8 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Round of 16)

Tuesday, March 31, 2015
10 a.m. – Round of 16, round one (4 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Round of 8)
11:30 a.m. – Round of 16, round two (4 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Round of 8)
2 p.m. – Round of 8 (4 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Semifinal Round)
6 p.m.– Semifinal Round (2 best-of-three-game matches; winners advance to Championship Match)
7:30 p.m. – Championship Match (best-of-three-games)

PBA League Rosters

BROOKLYN STyLES (manager Johnny Petraglia): Sean Rash, Tom Smallwood, Parker Bohn III, Jason Sterner, Walter Ray Williams Jr.
Pittsburgh Jack Rabbits (manager Tim Mack): Wes Malott, Dan MacLelland, Ryan Ciminelli, Osku Palermaa, Bryon Smith.
Wheaties L.A. X (manager Andrew Cain): Jason Belmonte, Stuart Williams, Martin Larsen, Patrick Allen, Andres Gomez.
Silver Lake Atom Splitters (manager Mark Baker): Chris Barnes, Mika Koivuniemi, Tom Daugherty, Dick Allen, Craig Nidiffer.
Philadelphia Hitmen (manager Jason Couch): Dom Barrett, Chris Loschetter, Dave Wodka, Ryan Shafer, Rhino Page.
Barbasol Motown Muscle (manager Del Ballard Jr.): EJ Tackett, Ronnie Russell, Josh Blanchard, John Szczerbinski, Mike DeVaney.
Dallas Strikers (player-manager Norm Duke): Bill O'Neill, Tommy Jones, Michael Haugen Jr., Norm Duke, Shawn Maldonado.
GEICO New York City WTT KingPins (manager Carolyn Dorin-Ballard): Pete Weber, Mike Fagan, DJ Archer, Scott Norton, Amleto Monacelli.