BAY CITY WESTERN - May 3, 2008 - Ogemaw Heights, coming off a nine-day break due to its senior trip, was a little slow getting going and dropped both games it played at Saturday's Bay City Western tournament.

The Falcons, who also had a Friday doubleheader cancelled by rain, lost to Freeland 9-3 and Petoskey 2-1.

Not much went right for the Falcons in the Freeland contest. Freeland's Falcons scored five runs in the third inning, but coach Jeremiah Peace said only one ball left the infield in that rally.

"A lot of wind-blown bloopers fell in, placed just right," he said. On the other hand, "We hit the ball hard, but didn't place it," he said.

Rick Dodridge started and pitched two shutout innings. Anthony Betancourt pitched the third and fourth and was the victim of the hard-luck rally. Alex Jennings finished up and allowed four runs -- one earned -- in his stint.

Chris Bones had two hits and two stolen bases, while Betancourt, Dodridge and Michael Noffsinger each had RBIs.

The second game proved even more frustrating as Ogemaw took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but had Petoskey scored twice in the top of the seventh to take a 2-1 victory.

The Falcons' Eric Noble and Petoskey's Tim Bellmer engaged in a pitchers' duel, allowing just five hits between them. Bellmer, though struck out 16 Falcons.

"Their kid threw a great game," Peace said. "He had a lot of late movement on the fastball. The guys really struggled picking it up, too."

Noble, for his part, allowed just three hits and had held Petoskey without a hit since allowing a first inning single. But a one-out error started things off for the Northmen in the seventh, and a Petoskey sacrifice and double left runners on second and third with two outs. An intentional walk loaded the bases for Bellmer, whose two-run double provided the game-winning runs.

"Eric got ahead 0-2," Peace said. "He missed his spot and the kid hammered it for a two-run double. It was really unfortunate because Eric didn't make a handful of mistakes all day, but that one he paid for."

Noble allowed three hits and two walks in the complete-game loss, striking out one.

Kyle Scott and Glenn Watchorn had the Falcons' hits, and Charlie Murdock scored the one run.

Ogemaw dropped to 11-6 with the losses. The Falcons face a crucial pair of NEMC doubleheaders, playing at Tawas Area on Monday and hosting John Glenn on Thursday, May 8.