April 10, 2025 Nolan Hughes

Twenty-year-old Ethan Fiore continues to lead the PBA Players Championship, the fourth major of the 2025 season, at David Small's JAX 60 in Jackson, Mich.

Through 32 games, Fiore has averaged more than 228 to accumulate a total pinfall of 7,308 (+908) on the 37-foot Don Carter oil pattern.

Fiore leads the field entering Friday’s round-robin match play, which features the top 16 players following Thursday evening’s cashers round.

Two past champions of the event, Kevin McCune (2023) and Anthony Simonsen (2019) sit in second and third, respectively. Arturo Quintero and Nick Pate round out the top five.

Alec Keplinger, TJ Rock, Ryan Barnes, Tim Foy Jr., Chris Via, Boog Krol, Jason Belmonte, Andrew Anderson, Patrick Dombrowski, Stu Williams and Jason Sterner also advanced to match play.

All qualifying rounds and match play rounds through Friday will be livestreamed on BowlTV.

The two-part championship round includes the prelims Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern time on FS1 and the finals Sunday at noon ET on FOX.

FORMER SHOCKER TEAMMATES EXCEL

Keplinger, Rock and Barnes, who currently occupy sixth through eighth place, were teammates at Wichita State University from 2020-2023. They won the 2021 and 2023 Intercollegiate Team Championships titles and finished runner-up in 2022 during their time together. (Barnes bowled on the developmental team in 2021.)

Their collegiate success has translated to the professional ranks, which is no shocker (pun intended) to anyone familiar with the program's rich history of producing elite talent.

Barnes and Rock made match play in the PBA Players Championship as amateurs last season, which was held in Wichita; Keplinger finished as the runner-up for PBA Rookie of the Year honors.

Rock said their individual and team successes at Wichita State pushed each other to be better.

“It's like metal on metal,” Rock said. “We're always fighting each other and trying to get better. We always want to be the best one, and that's what gets us ready for (the PBA Tour). There's no other place that can do that because that's the caliber of bowlers we have.”

Rock found himself in the top five late in Thursday’s advancers round, but ended the block with games of 194 and 151 and slipped to 16th place. He then started the cashers round with games of 165, 191, 213 and 176 to drop to 23rd place and almost 100 pins outside the cut.

Rock responded with 257, 222, 269 and 289 to climb all the way into seventh place and secure his second consecutive match play appearance in the major championship.

“I was starting to doubt myself a little bit, but I’ve got to have more confidence in myself,” Rock said. “It’s been a long week and a first year on tour for me. I did not know the scores were that low, so I did not know where I was (near the end of the cashers round) and I thought I needed a big number. After Game 7, I saw it, so I just had to go get it.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The 16 match play finalists go head-to-head in Friday’s two round-robin match play rounds, which begin at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern time.

The top nine players after 48 games, including bonus pins, will qualify for the two-part championship round.

The prelims round, a stepladder featuring the fifth through ninth qualifiers, will air live Saturday, April 12 at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

The winner will meet the top four qualifiers in Sunday’s championship round, airing live on FOX at noon ET.

Tickets to watch the PBA Players Championship are $15 for a daily pass, $40 for a weekly pass (all rounds through Friday) and $75 for both televised rounds. Contact David Small's JAX 60 for more information.

Match Play Advancers | 32 Games
  1. Ethan Fiore, 7,308 (+908)
  2. Kevin McCune, 7,153 (+753)
  3. Anthony Simonsen, 7,143 (+743)
  4. Arturo Quintero, 7,083 (+683)
  5. Nick Pate, 7,075 (+675)
  6. Alec Keplinger, 7,065 (+665)
  7. TJ Rock, 7,064 (+664)
  8. Ryan Barnes, 7,061 (+661)
  9. Tim Foy Jr., 7,058 (+658)
  10. Chris Via, 7,051 (+651)
  11. Boog Krol, 7,045 (+645)
  12. Jason Belmonte, 7,019 (+619)
  13. Andrew Anderson, 6,992 (+592)
  14. Patrick Dombrowski, 6,989 (+589)
  15. Stu Williams, 6,942 (+542)
  16. Jason Sterner, 6,941 (+541)
Tournament Schedule

David Small's JAX 60 | Jackson, Mich.

All times Eastern/local

Friday, April 11 | BowlTV
11 a.m. — Match Play Round 1 (eight games)
6 p.m. — Match Play Round 2 (eight games)

5th-9th qualifiers players advance to prelims; 1st-4th qualifiers advance to finals

Saturday, April 12 | FS1
7 p.m. — Prelims (stepladder finals)
Winner advances to finals

Sunday, April 13 | FOX
12 p.m. — Finals (stepladder finals)

More information on the PBA Players Championship is available here.