RENO, Nev. - Zeke Bayt of Westerville, Ohio, may not be old enough to enjoy some of the things Reno has to offer, but he's now the talk of the town and the envy of his fellow competitors at the 2013 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships after taking the lead in Regular Singles on Sunday night.

The 20-year-old right-hander put together games of 288, 268 and 239 for a 795 series at the National Bowling Stadium and passed Team USA member John Szczerbinski of North Tonawanda, N.Y., who set the bar with a 789 series April 21.

Bayt struggled on the 39-foot Sport Bowling-certified lane condition early in doubles, but a ball change helped blend out the pattern and gave him the opportunity to see his name at the top of the leaderboard.

"I switched balls in the last frame of the second game of doubles," said Bayt, who made his second USBC Open Championships appearance. "I noticed I was trying to make perfect shots with the same ball and was really trapping myself. No matter what I did, if I wasn't perfect, it was a split or something hard to pick up. I changed balls to blend out the backend. When I missed left, it stayed there, and when I missed a little right, it rolled enough to where it would fade into the pocket nicely."

When Bayt stepped up for his final frame of singles, he needed just five pins on his first ball to secure a tie for the lead, and anything more would propel him past Szczerbinski. Bayt got seven, leaving the 3, 6 and 10 pins on his initial offering. With the lead in hand, the spare would've given him a chance at the third 800 series of the 2013 tournament, but he missed all three pins.

"It was upsetting to end that way, but at the same time, I have to be very thankful to be in position to take over the lead," Bayt said. "Everything was bad. I didn't look at my target, and my timing was off. It was a bad spare shot. At the same time, I just shot 795 at Nationals, and that feels amazing."

Bayt nearly missed out on the 2013 event, but was asked to fill in with a group that included four-time Professional Bowlers Association titlist Mike Wolfe and collegiate standout Chris Hester after bowling with them in a tournament in Ohio. Their team event was shown live on BowlTVon Saturday.

"They actually picked me up in a Baker tournament in Columbus," Bayt said. "Dean Billings ended up putting us together. They asked me if I was bowling Nationals, and I wasn't at the time. They asked me to bowl, and there's no way I was going saying no to Wolfe, Hester and (Brian) Hatcher, so I felt lucky to be out here. They helped me out a bunch. It was very good bowling with them, and I had a lot of fun."

Bayt added 647 in team and 611 in doubles for a 2,053 all-events total. Szczerbinski leads Regular All-Events with 2,228, while Billings, who rolled a 300 game on the way to the first 800 series of this year's Open Championships (813 in team), is second with 2,214.

With the 2013 event winding down July 7, Bayt has less than three weeks to wait to see if he will claim his first Open Championships title.

"It would be huge," Bayt said. "It would be the biggest thing I've ever done. I've always wanted to prove myself in the bowling world, and if I was to do this and get the eagle, it would be something I could be proud of. I put two and two together for a day."
 
Presenting sponsors for the 2013 USBC Open Championships include Circus Circus Reno, Eldorado Hotel Casino Reno and Silver Legacy Resort Casino Reno.