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Tawas Area's Justin Bielby goes high for a throw from the outfield as W-P's Jamie Stachlewicz slides into third base. Bielby moved to the pitcher's mound in the third inning and picked up the victory for the Braves.
Dan Brown tries to tag out a Roscommon runner at third base.
Linda Eyer
Kevin Tanner comes in to score for W-P early in their district semfinal loss to Tawas.

WHITTEMORE-PRESCOTT - June 3, 2006 - For the second straight year, Roscommon got the best of three North East Michigan Conference teams and left Whittemore-Prescott with a district championship baseball trophy in hand.

Rosco scored five runs in the eighth inning to take a topsy-turvy 15-10 victory over the Braves in the title game. Earlier in the day, the Braves scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to top W-P 7-5 and Rosco eliminated Oscoda 9-3.

The Braves committed three errors in the five-run eighth inning as the Bucks took an insurmountable lead. Tawas went down in order in the eighth.

The Braves built an 8-2 lead by the fourth inning on the strength of three home runs. Shaun Jordan led off the first inning with a solo shot, and two-batters later Josh Thomas added a homer of his own. Scott Krasinski hit the first of his two home runs in the second inning, then added another run in the third and four in the fourth.

A six-run Rosco fifth inning tied it, but Krasinski gave Tawas the lead in the bottom of the fifth with his second home run, Thomas scored another run in the sixth for a two run lead.

The Braves couldn't hold the lead, though, as Roscommon scored twice in the seventh to tie it. Jordan ran down a fly ball to center with two on and two out to keep the Bucks from winning it in the seventh, but the Braves (10-16) left Chris Thoryk stranded on third base in the bottom of the seventh, setting the state for Rosco's game-winning rally.

"The boys represented our school with a lot of class in the tournament this weekend," said Tawas coach James Gorman.

Krasinski ended up with three hits, including the two homers, and two RBIs. Jordan drove in three runs with two hits, Thomas had two hits and two RBIs and Steve Stanley had two hits.

The Braves reached the final with a come-from-behind victory of their own over Whittemore-Prescott.

Jordan's two-run double scored J.D. Nordeen and Krasinski with the tying runs with no one out in the seventh, and Ty McCoy and Thomas followed with run-scoring hits to put the Braves up for good.

Justin Bielby came into the game in the third inning with the Braves down 4-3 and gave up one run on two hits over the final five innings to pick up the win. Bielby walked three and struck out eight.

Tawas took a 3-0 lead in the first as Thomas, Blair Conklin and Stanley strung together two-out hits and Bielby reached on an error.

W-P came back with two in the first and two in the second as Brett DeBoever delivered a two-run single in the first and another RBI single in the second. Kevin Tanner also had an RBI hit. Pete Jackson's runs-scoring double in the fourth put W-P by two runs. The score held until the Braves' rally in the seventh.

Stanley had three hits and Thomas two for Tawas, while Tanner had three hits and DeBoever two for W-P.

Oscoda fell to Roscommon 9-3 in the other semifinal. A five-run fifth inning broke open what had been a 3-2 game until that point.

Tony Nathaniel, who allowed three earned runs and walked four while striking out eight, had a hit and scored a run, while Steven Wiede also had a hit and scored a run. Mike Lamrock had an RBI single in the third inning.

Roscommon (16-11) advances to Saturday's Traverse City St. Francis regional.