Unaka’s upset bid came up painstakingly short Thursday night.
The Rangers dropped a hard-fought 5-2 decision to North Greene on Thursday evening in the opening round of the District 1-A tournament at Sullivan East.
With the loss, the Rangers moved into Saturday’s elimination game against Cloudland.
The Rangers opened the game with a Jaycob Nidiffer single, but the Rangers were unable to move the runner. After the Huskies got a man on base after a hit-by-pitch, Unaka forced two groundouts to end the inning.
Rylan Crabtree hit a leadoff second in the top of the second. However, UHS was unable to push the run across.
North Greene opened the scoring in the bottom of the second as J Duffy hit a triple that plated Don Stansfield and Mason Smith before Unaka was able to limit the damage with two strikeouts and a flyout to keep the deficit 2-0 heading to the third.
The Huskies plated a run in the third to increase the lead.
The Rangers kept battling.
In the top of the fourth, Robert Humphrey reached base after being hit by a pitch and Logan Lewis hit a single to left field to get runners on first and second. A Fielder’s Choice and a strikeout ended the frame before Unaka could get on the board.
After North Greene added two runs in the bottom of the fourth, Unaka closed the gap in the fifth.
Micah Gray recorded a one-out single and Conner Vines was hit by a pitch. That set the stage for Nidiffer to hit a two-out single to plate the two runs and close the gap.
The Rangers were able to get the tying run at the plate in both the sixth and seventh innings but were unable to mount a late rally.
Nidiffer went 2-for-4 with two RBI for the Rangers. Cameron Prince, Gray, Crabtree, and Lewis each had a hit.
On the mound, Lewis allowed just four earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
Stansfield led North Greene with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate.
