Despite a mid-inning rally the Emery Spartans fell just short in a 3-2 loss to the Gunnison Bulldogs Tuesday afternoon on the road in 2A East Region play.

Trailing 2-0 going into the fourth inning the Spartans tied the game with one run in consecutive frames. Gunnison pulled away for good with a go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth. Tuesday’s loss removes Emery from the region title race.

Tel Gardner pitched five solid innings striking out 10, while allowing seven hits and two earned runs. Race Nielsen pitched the sixth inning in relief recording one strikeout, while allowing one hit and one run.

Jordan Baletka finished 1-2 at the plate, knocking a triple and notching one RBI. Colton Willson finished 2-3 with two singles, while Logan Labrum and Nielson also logged one hit. As a team the Spartans had several opportunities to produce runs, accumulating five hits and six walks.

Gunnison ace Drew Hill was awarded the win on the mound with a near complete game. Hill battled through control problems after walking seven and allowing two earned runs by striking out eight.

With the region championship now out of the reach the Spartans will turn their attention to a potential second place finish with the Grand Red Devils. Trailing Grand by one game, Emery will need to beat Gunnison and hope for a San Juan win in order to force a coin flip tiebreaker.