Tawas Area celebrates its district baseball championship after edging Oscoda 3-2 in Friday's championship game.
Jesse Siwek was untouchable in two appearances in Friday's district tournament, allowing no hits in his two appearances.
Jason Jimenez only allowed the Braves two hits in the district championship matchup with Tawas.
Linda Eyer
Whittemore-Prescott catcher Dylan DeBoever can only watch as Tawas Area's Jared Coffins scores during the Braves' district semifinal win over W-P on Friday.

OSCODA - May 30, 2008 - Tawas Area didn't hit the ball much in Friday's 3-2 district championship contest at chief rival Oscoda, but they did just enough to win.

Now the Braves face a regional semifinal matchup next Saturday against Elk Rapids in Kalkaska.

The homestanding Owls were up to the task of quieting the Tawas bats as Jason Jimenez allowed the Braves just two hits -- a pair of singles by Scott Krasinski.

But Tawas managed to scratch out single runs in three innings -- twice doing so without benefit of a hit -- and Alex Verlac and Jesse Siwek combined to limit the Owls to just four hits.

"I was very pleased with our players," said Tawas coach Jason Woelke. "We said at the beginning of the year that we wanted to get better with each game, and by the end of the season make a strong post-season run. We did a great job taking a big step this weekend."

Jimenez struck out the side in the first inning, but Tawas got a run anyway as Shaun Jordan was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, picked up a couple of steals and scored on a wild pitch.

Chris Thoryk walked and eventually scored on an error in the fourth, and Krasinski's leadoff single led to the Braves' third run in the fifth.

MIke Lamrock scored on Brett Leech's fielder's choice in the fourth to make it a 2-1 game, and after Tawas answered with a run the Owls threatened to take the lead as Dylan Kachur walked, Mike Wimmer and Parker Thompson singled and Lamrock walked to force in a run.

Siwek, who had started and pitched two hitless innings against Whittemore-Prescott in the opener, came on in relief of Verlac, got out of the jam and didn't allow an Oscoda baserunner in the final two innings.

"Alex and Jesse pitched great," Woelke said. "We knew Oscoda was going to play us tough since they were the tournament host. Jimenez pitched a very strong game, but our guys were able to manufacture just enough runs to get us the win."

Oscoda (19-22) got two hits from Jimenez, who while pitching gave up six walks and struck out 10.

The Owls advanced to the title game by defeating Roscommon.

Tawas crunched Whittemore-Prescott 14-0 in the other semifinal, scoring nine runs in the second inning and five in the third before the Braves emptied their bench.

Siwek pitched two perfect innings, striking out three, before giving way to Jordan, who earned the win in relief by allowing one hit in three innings of work with two walks and one strikeout.

Siwek and River Peludat each had three hits, including a double apiece, while Thoryk added a triple and Krasinski had two singles.

Dylan DeBoever had W-P's (8-24) lone hit. Kevin DuPuis started and took the loss for the Cardinals.