Major League 5 Pin: The Official Site

The Brandon-based team of Trevor Rae, Gus Scaletta, Derek Sczesny and Kevin Balicki fought its way back into the Major League 5 Pin playoff hunt Sunday at Recreation Lanes with a gritty 23-point performance. Led by ML5 rookie Balicki, the Rae squad pulled off 5-0 sweeps in four of its seven matches to move within one point of the fourth and final playoff spot. Balicki came off the bench and averaged 261 for the day, winning three of five matches. Rae took five of his six head-to-head contests and Sczesny posted a 4-and-1 mark.

Minnedosa's Dave Mansell, Tracy Swift and Phil Syntak also picked up 23 points in Week Four and are now just five points behind Team Scherr of Carman in the battle for first place. Syntak beat all seven of his opponents Sunday and Swift chipped in with five victories. Ron Scherr, along with partners Ian Sylvester, John Stedman and Fern Kerr, has a season total of 82 points while Mansell and company stand at 77. Carman's Team McFarlane (73 pts.) holds down third spot and the league's other three teams are well back in the race for fourth place. Only one point separates Team Wilson (58 pts.), Team Clisby (58 pts.) and Team Rae (57 pts.) with two weeks remaining in the regular season.

ML5 play resumes on Sunday, November 20th (12:00 p.m.) in Carman. For all of the latest league information and up-to-date statistics, visit www.ml5online.com.

Spares and Strikes: Kevin Balicki opened his fourth game of the afternoon with six straight strikes en route to a 358 single...Brandon's Ted Popadynetz (Team Clisby) saw his first action of the ML5 season on Sunday. Popadynetz won his first five matches and finished with a seven-game total of 1731 (247 average), which included a 346 single...Steve Derksen (Team McFarlane) went 6-and-1...Team Wilson's first-game score of 881 was one of three singles over 800. Team Clisby rolled an 866 and Team Rae managed an 823.

2005 Major League 5 Pin Standings (as of Sunday, November 6th):

Team Scherr (Ron Scherr, Ian Sylvester, Fern Kerr, John Stedman) - 82 pts.

Team Mansell (Dave Mansell, Tracy Swift, Phil Syntak) - 77 pts.

Team McFarlane (Randy McFarlane, Mike Clarke, Steve Derksen) - 73 pts.

Team Wilson (Ken Wilson, Dean Owen, Christy Wilson, Bob Wilson, Lorie Chaikowski) - 58 pts.

Team Clisby (Bill Clisby, Bev Clisby, Shad Clisby, Brad Ball, Ted Popadynetz) - 58 pts.

Team Rae (Trevor Rae, Gus Scaletta, Derek Sczesny, Kevin Balicki, Krista Ready) - 57 pts.

2005 Major League 5 Pin Top Averages (as of Sunday, November 6th):

(minimum 13 games)

Brad Ball - 247

Ken Wilson - 245

Randy McFarlane - 242