The Unaka and Cloudland baseball teams were unable to record opening-round wins in the District 1-A tournament on Thursday.
The upset-minded No. 3 Rangers dropped an 8-5 decision to No. 2 North Greene, while No. 4 Cloudland was unable to keep pace with No. 1 University High in a 32-0 decision.
Cloudland and Unaka will square off in an elimination game on Saturday at 11a.
North Greene 8, Unaka 5
It was a battle between the two squads.
After the Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Unaka countered as Austin Lambert hit a single to score Rylan Crabtree to tie things up at 1-1.
The Huskies, however, added a run in the bottom of the second to regain the lead.
Unaka struck again in the top of the fifth as Brandon Buckles scored after Crabtree put the ball in play, and Robert Humphrey scored off a fielder’s choice when Bailey Cannon hit the ball into the infield. That gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead after four and a half innings.
North Greene battled back once again with five runs in the home side of the innings and added a single run in the sixth to take an 8-3 lead into the seventh.
Unaka, however, didn’t go quietly.
Crabtree and Humphrey got on base with two-out singles, and the duo scored after Cannon hit a single to left field. The Rangers were unable to keep the inning going.
Humphrey went 3-for-3 to lead Unaka, while Cannon had three RBI on two hits. Crabtree added two hits and an RBI. Lambert finished with a hit and an RBI as well.
Brycen Eggers and Buckles each recorded a hit.
University High 32, Cloudland 0
The ‘Landers were unable to keep pace with a torrid UH offensive attack on Thursday.
UH jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first and added two more in the second to take control.
Walker Gouge and Brayden Whitaker each had a hit for the ‘Landers. In two innings of work, Thomas Job allowed three earned runs on seven hits with a strikeout.