Pinconning celebrates its 2-0 district championship victory over Ogemaw Heights on Saturday.
Ogemaw Heights players crowd the lip of the dugout and try to will their team to victory in the seventh inning of Saturday's district title contest.
Linda Eyer
Coty Swins dives into third base after an errant pickoff attempt and eventually scored the Spartans' first run of the game.

PINCONNING - June 2, 2007 - There haven't been too many years when Pinconning winning a district baseball title would be considered an upset. This year would be one of those exceptions.

Ogemaw Heights, which won the North East Michigan Conference with an unbeaten 12-0 mark in league play, was the clear favorite in Saturday's district tournament. But Pinny, relishing its underdog status, got clutch pitches from Tommy Rezler and big plays from its defense, and took advantage of four Ogemaw errors to scratch out a pair of unearned runs in a 2-0 championship-game victory over the Falcons.

"That was fun," said Pinny coach Jeff Sanak. "I don't think the kids really expected to win, but once we got the lead you could see their attitude pick up. If (Ogemaw) had gotten the lead I don't know what would have happened, because we're still pretty young and fragile.

"We've played really good baseball the past month or so. The middle of the order has been hitting well and the defense has been playing well. My freshman shortstop (Casey Pashak) has been unbelievable."

"You cant' win with a zero on the board," said Falcon coach Jeremiah Peace. "Jeff and I talked Monday and he said whoever got to three first was going to win. It turns out they just needed one."

If the Spartans are accused of playing possum a bit earlier in the season, Sanak will fess up to that. When the two teams played their NEMC doubleheader near the end of the year, Sanak didn't throw Rezler at the Falcons, knowing his team was out of the league race and looking ahead to a potential district tournament matchup.

"We did that for a reason," Sanak said. "The less looks they had at him the better, and I didn't feel they got a lot of good swings off him (Saturday). He didn't have as much velocity as he's had at times this season, but his control was spot-on, especially with his curve and change-up. They put the ball in play, but our defense played well and they didn't hit much hard."

"Tommy was very sharp and hit his spots," Peace said of Rezler. "We could've been a little more patient at the right times and a little less patient at the right times, but honestly there was nothing more we could do."

The Falcons had their chances, though Rezler allowed just five hits and two walks. Ogemaw had a runner thrown out at the plate by Kurtis Mowbray in the first inning and had six runners get into scoring position in the game, but couldn't get the clutch hit when they needed it.

In the fifth, Kyle Wangler led off with a double and was sacrificed to third, but Pashak hauled in Ryan Bragg's line drive that would have scored Wangler, and Rezler forced a pop-up to end the inning. In the sixth, Pashak made another big play after Matt Faiman had doubled, recording the second out of the inning and setting up a Rezler strikeout to strand Faiman at third.

And in the seventh, the Falcons loaded the bases with two outs, but Rezler pitched out of the jam, recording the final out of the game with Faiman lurking on deck.

The Spartans got their first run in the second inning after Coty Swinson singled, took third on an errant pick-off attempt and scored on another error. Pinny added a run in the fifth when Ryan Kleinhans singled, then came all the way around to score when he attempted a steal of second, continued to third on an errant throw and sprinted home with the insurance run as the throw from the outfield sailed to the fence.

"Rick (Dodridge) was throwing hard as I've seen him," Sanak said. "He's as good a pitcher as there is in high school right now; if we keep winning we won't see anyone like him for quite awhile. But he's not used to having guys on base, so we decided to try to steal bases like crazy and see what happened."

Dodridge suffered his first loss of the season despite allowing just five hits and one walk and striking out 10.

For the Falcons (29-8), it is a tough finish to what in just about every other way was a dream season.

"It's unfortunate for the group of seniors going out," Peace said. "They've given a lot to turn the program around. Most of them have been here for three years. In that time they've been leaders and winners and I'm proud of what they accomplished here."

Meanwhile, Pinny (23-12) moves on to face Benzie Central in a regional semifinal game on Saturday, June 9 at Gaylord.

"It's all icing on the cake from here on," Sanak said. "We know we can compete and we're going up there to win and we think we can win, but the pressure is off and we're excited to be there."

 

Semifinal: Ogemaw Heights 15, Gladwin 0

The Falcons rolled into the district title game with a 15-0, three-inning defeat of Gladwin.

Matt Faiman and Anthony Betancourt combined to retire all nine Gladwin batters they faced while the Falcons piled up 12 hits and drew six walks. An eight-run first inning gave Ogemaw a comfortable cushion, and the Falcons added four runs in the second and three in the third inning to end it.

Michael Pacella, Tyson Dantzer and Kyle Wangler each had two hits; Ryan Bragg, who had a double, drove in three runs; and Dantzer, Matt Faiman (triple) and Aaron Kihn each had two RBIs. Pacella also had two stolen bases.

Faiman struck out four in his three innings of work and Betancourt struck out all three batters he faced.

 

Semifinal: Pinconning 4, Houghton Lake 2

Kurtis Mowbray tossed a 10-strikeout one-hitter and gave up one earned run as the Spartans reached the district title game by defeating Houghton Lake 4-2.

Dakota Grappin had two hits, including a double, and drove in a run; Mowbray and Scott Staszak each had a hit and an RBI; Ryan Kleinhans had a hit and scored twice and Tommy Rezler had a walk, scored a run and drove in a run.