Joe Ciccone of Buffalo, N.Y., struggled to retain his lead in the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes Saturday, but the player he was most concerned about was the guy in ninth place.

Ciccone, who is trying to regain an exemption to bowl on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour for the 2009-10 season, finished Saturday's Scorpion lane condition round with a 36-game total of 7,884 pins, a 219 average. He held a 23-pin lead over George Lambert IV of Hamilton, Ontario, but in this event, eighth place is as good as first, and Ciccone was 265 pins ahead of fellow Buffalo resident Dan Patterson, who sat in ninth place.

For Ciccone, finishing among the top eight in the Tour Trials means an exemption to bowl as a full-time touring player for the seventh year in a row. He failed to earn enough points during the 2008-09 season to maintain his exemption.

"It's nice to know there's a cushion, but that's not something I think about," Ciccone said. "I don't want to think too far ahead. Tomorrow is a different day."

"I struggled quite a bit today," he said. "I couldn't get comfortable with my match up to the lanes. I was fortunate to be able to grind away. My game plan is to keep the same frame of mind tomorrow. The Shark pattern? I've had some success on all of the PBA patterns, and I've had problems with all of them, too. I try not to come into any round with preconceived notions about how the lanes are going to play."

"But any time I can be in the press room at the end of a round, it's a good day," he grinned.

Heading into Sunday's final nine games on the Shark lane oiling pattern, the eight players in position to earn exempt PBA Tour berths were: Thomas Smallwood, Flushing, Mich.; Stevie Weber, Chalmette, La.; Cassidy Schaub, Ashland, Ohio; Tim Mack, Indianapolis; Dan McLelland, Windsor, Ontario, and Stuart Williams, England. Williams led Patterson by 16 pins in the race for the eighth exemption.

Fresh off his victory Monday in the Professional Bowlers Association Regional Players Championship, Joe Ciccone of Buffalo, N.Y., charged into the third-round lead in the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes Friday.

Ciccone, 34, is bowling to regain a PBA Tour exemption he lost after six years on tour. He was in fourth place after two rounds and finished the Chameleon lane condition round with a 27-game total of 6,038 pins, a 223 average. First-round leader Cassidy Schaub of Ashland, Ohio, remained in second place with 5,925 pins.

"After winning the Regional Players Championship, everything has been rolling," Ciccone said. "I don't mind when things go good. Success is good no matter what and can prepare you for more success down the road."

"I used the same ball today that I used in the Regional Players tournament," he added. "A few weeks of bowling regionals has given me a better feel that has carried over this week."

"The biggest thing about this week was getting a spot in the Tournament of Champions by winning the Regional Players Championship. I have always wanted a chance to bowl in that event since I was just a kid."

Ciccone, who experienced the multi-lane condition format used in the Tour Trials when he bowled in the Etonic Marathon Open on the national tour last season, said that event is helping him this week.

"I am trying to take the experience I learned in Indianapolis where he had a similar format," the former Erie Community College and Arizona State University All-American said. "My target is to be among the top eight or 12 every day. That was my thought leading into this event and I will take that forward over the next two days."

Rounding out the top five were Thomas Smallwood of Flushing, Mich., with 5,917 pins; second-round leader Stevie Weber of Chalmette, La., with 5,907 pins, and George Lambert IV of Hamilton, Ontario, with a 5,897 total.

Eight PBA Tour exemptions are at stake in the five-day, 45-game Tour Trials which continues through Sunday. The field of 97 U.S. and international players will bowl nine more games Saturday and Sunday over the next three days on the Scorpion and Shark patterns, respectively. Total pinfall for 45 games will determine the exempt berths.

Stevie Weber of Chalmette, La., broke a tie with first-round leader Cassidy Schaub of Ashland, Ohio, in the final game Thursday to take the second round lead in the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes.

Weber, a member of Team USA 2005, finished the Viper lane conditioning segment of the tournament with an 18-game total of 4,049 pins, a 224.94 average. Schaub, a two-handed player who throws the ball from the left side of his body, was second with 4,007 pins. Thomas Smallwood of Flushing, Mich., was third with 3,985 pins and Joe Ciccone of Buffalo, N.Y., who won the PBA Regional Players Championship on Monday, sat in fourth place with a 3,982 total.

"I didn't even know I was leading. When I left I didn't even look at the scoreboard," the 39-year-old Weber said after shooting a 209 final game to Schaub's closing 167. "This is a marathon and we are only in, like, the 12th mile. I'm not concerned about leading; I'm more worried about the ninth place number."

"It was an interesting day. I figured the scoring pace would be lower than it was yesterday," he added. "I prefer the scoring pace today."

Weber has been through the Tour Trials experience before, surviving the 2007 contest to earn an exemption on the 2007-08 PBA Tour.

"The experience I have gained is helping me out right now," he said. "My game has changed. I adjusted my grip to get a cleaner release. I have learned to play the patterns straighter earlier to keep out of trouble. If you can avoid the big splits and only leave a 2 pin, that will keep you out of trouble."

The day's top round was posted by Dan Patterson of Utica, N.Y., a three-time Team USA member, who averaged 219.4 for a 1,975 nine-game total to move up from 31st place to fifth.

"This is my first crack at Tour Trials. Making the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour is my main goal," Patterson said. "It's a natural progression. I have gone from PBA regionals to Team USA and this year I decided to give the national tour a try. If it takes me 10 years to make it I am going to keep trying."

Scoring during the Viper round was lower for most players than Wednesday's Cheetah pattern, but it worked better for Patterson. "Yesterday you could throw at the gutter and score. Today that same shot went in the gutter," he said. "My strategy was to stay straight through the front part of the lane. With no one playing the extreme outside, that shot was open to me. I used the same ball all day. It allowed me to go straighter and longer with the shot."

His success, he said, was in great part due to the experiences he had as a Team USA member.

"The coaching available as a member of Team USA is superb," Patterson said. "The training I have received allows me to prepare to deal with what's going on around me. It allows me to have a looser swing and calms me down."

Eight PBA Tour exemptions are at stake in the five-day, 45-game Tour Trials which continues through Sunday. The field of 97 U.S. and international players will bowl nine more games each day over the next three days on the Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark patterns, respectively. Total pinfall for 45 games will determine the exempt berths.

Cassidy Schaub of Ashland, Ohio, averaged 243 on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour's Cheetah lane conditioning pattern Wednesday to take the first round lead in the PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes. He leads by seven pins over Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, N.Y.

Schaub, a two-handed player who throws the ball from the left side of his body, is hoping to join Australia's Jason Belmonte and Finland's Osku Palermaa as the third two-handed technician to earn an exemption for the PBA World Series of Bowling to kick off the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season.

Eight PBA Tour exemptions are at stake in the five-day, 45-game Tour Trials which continues through Sunday. The field of 97 U.S. and international players will bowl nine more games each day over the next four days on the Viper, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark patterns, respectively, with total pinfall for 45 games deciding the exempt berths.

"You can't win the tournament on the first day, but you can try to put a hurtin' on the field," Schaub said after posting his 2,187 total. "I only threw one ball all day. I played out to the gutter with minimal movement across the house."

Schaub is happy to have a cushion because he hasn't found the lane conditioning patterns he'll face the next two days especially friendly during early practice sessions.

"I didn't have a good look on the Viper or Chameleon patterns earlier, so I am drilling up a few new balls and will try them (in practice tonight) to see what works," he said. "We'll see what part of the lane works and go from there."

"Knowing what you are competing for - the opportunity to bowl with the greatest bowlers in the world - is really special," he said of his first Tour Trials experience. "I'm trying to look around and stay on my own pace and do my own thing, do what's true to you."

Nothing would make him happier than expanding the two-handed movement as a full-time touring player, bowling with Belmonte and Palermaa.

"The two-handed explosion has been awesome," Schaub said. "I'm happy to jump on that bandwagon. We have a lot more attention being paid since Jason's win (in The Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic) and his appearances on E:60 and Good Morning America. A lot of people are trying it and talking about it."

Trailing Schaub and Ciminelli after nine games were Thomas Smallwood of Flushing, Mich., with 2,171 pins; Stevie Weber of Chalmette, La., with 2,152, and newly-crowned Regional Player Championship titlist Joe Ciccone of Buffalo, N.Y., with a 2,128 total.

Joe Ciccone of Buffalo, N.Y., defeated Jim Tomek Jr. of Camp Hill, Pa., 184-161, to win the Professional Bowlers Association Regional Players Championship and its $9,000 first prize at Thunderbowl Lanes Monday.

Ciccone, who recently failed to earn enough points to maintain his Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour exemption after six years as a touring player, also earned an expenses-paid trip to bowl in the 2010 PBA Regional Players Invitational where the top seven players will win exemption to bowl on the national tour for the 2010-11 season. He also won his first trip to bowl in the PBA Tournament of Champions, an event for the PBA's elite champions.

"I'm very happy," the 34-year-old former Erie Community College and Arizona State University collegiate star said. "And the Tournament of Champions is a very nice bonus, the icing on the cake."

Ciccone is hoping he won't need to cash in on the Regional Players Invitational package, however. If he can regain his exemption in the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials later this week, he won't be eligible for that regional players-only event.

"I'm here, so I might as well bowl (the Tour Trials)," he said. "(Losing my exemption) wasn't the result I was hoping for last season, but a lot of other guys were impacted the same way. There's nothing specific about the way I bowled that I can put my finger on, but it would be nice to have the opportunity to do better next season than I did last. I'll bowl the Tour Trials and if I don't make it, it's nice to have the RPI to fall back on."

The PBA Regional Players Championship drew a field of 207 competitors. Most of the players will now focus their attention on the five-day, 45-game Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials which runs Wednesday through Sunday at Thunderbowl Lanes. The top eight Tour Trials finishers will earn exemptions to bowl full-time on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour next season.