The Falcons' Chris Bones slides safely into third base during Saturday's regional championship game with Escanaba. Bones scored the only run in Ogemaw Heights' season-ending 5-1 loss.
Kelvin Page snags a grounder at second base in Saturday's regional championship game.
Ogemaw Heights defense was clicking in the opener as Andrew Funsch's throw to Chris Powley at third base was in time to catch a Big Rapids baserunner.
Brent Baker
Rick Dodridge put an exclamation point on the Falcons' 10-0 wion over Big Rapids with a two-run home run to cap the scoring.

BENZIE CENTRAL - June 7, 2008 - Ogemaw Heights' late-season surge revolved around solid defensive play that complemented the Falcons' always-strong pitching.

For one inning of Saturday's regional championship game, the Falcons' defense abandoned them, and it proved enough to scuttle their chances at a regional championship.

Even with ace Rick Dodridge on the mound, three first-inning errors were too much to overcome, keying Escanaba's 5-1 victory that earned the Eskymos the regional title and a trip to Tuesday's state quarterfinal game at Central Michigan University.

"We'd just been talking about how you never know which play will cost you," said Ogemaw coach Jeremiah Peace, whose team was coming off a flawless 10-0 semifinal victory over Big Rapids. "Then we go out and take about three plays off in the first inning.

"We made the physical errors, but those were set up mentally. We didn't maintain our focus to the ends of those plays. It was the worst game we've played in three weeks."

The Eskymos looked well-prepared to face Dodridge, who a day earlier was drafted by the Kansas City Royals. For the most part they didn't hit him hard, but concentrated on putting the ball in play, and in the first inning that was more than enough.

Leadoff batter Gaigy St. Cyr reached base on an error and took second on a sacrifice bunt. Doug Beattie roped an RBI single to center that was the only hard-hit ball of the inning, and Ryan Way and Chris Hillesheim followed with seeing-eye bouncers that just evaded Falcon infielders. Tony Ruleau followed with what should have been a double-play ground ball, but instead the throw sailed into the outfield. Instead of getting out of the inning, two more runs scored and Dodridge, though he kept the deficit at 3-0, had to throw another 20 pitches to get out of the inning.

The lead was enough for Escanaba pitchers Garrick Fisher and Doug Beattie, who held the Falcons to just five hits. More to the point, though Ogemaw batters struck out just four times, The Eskymos committed just two errors on 17 balls put in play. One of those came in the fifth, when Escanaba booted Dodridge's grounder and allowed Chris Bones to come into score Ogemaw's lone run of the game.

"They pick the ball up well," Peace said. "You're not going to get a lot of help out of them. They're a solid program. Every time they come down here, they come to play."

Dodridge allowed eight hits, walked two and struck out nine in the loss, allowing three earned runs.

Beattie pitched the final five inning in relief of Fisher to earn the win, giving up three hits and striking out four. Fisher, who tossed a shutout in the Eskymos' five-inning 11-0 semifinal win over Grayling, threw the first two innings.

Bones had two hits for the Falcons.

The Falcons seemed to have set things up perfectly for a strong outing in the regional final with their victory over Big Rapids in the opener.

Anthony Betancourt threw a three-hit shutout, striking out four without walking a batter, and the Falcons blew the game open with an eight-run third inning.

"Anthony pitched great," Peace said. "It was his second great one in a row. We played good defense behind him and we hit the ball well."

Kelvin Page and Chris Powley each had RBI singles in the second inning to give Ogemaw a 2-0 lead.

But in the third, the Falcons (28-11) strung together four hits, a walk, a hit batter and two Big Rapids error to blow the game open. Aaron Kihn had a double, Andrew Funsch ripped a two-run single and Dodridge capped the inning with a two-run home run.

"When the day set up, it looked like if we won the first game we'd probably face Escanaba," Peace said. "We had things going the way we wanted.

"But against a team like that, there's no room for error. And we gave them room."