The Emery Spartans suffered its third consecutive region loss, this time falling to the North Sanpete Hawks 3-2 Tuesday afternoon in Castle Dale.

Struggling to find consistency at the plate the Spartans were held scoreless throughout the first five innings of the game.

Faced with a 2-0 deficit in the sixth, Emery chopped the North Sanpete lead to one. The Hawks added one more in the top of the seventh, which ultimately proved to be the difference maker. The Spartans fought to get within one once again, but could not bring in the tying run.

“It basically comes down to putting the ball in play when we have runners in scoring position,” said manager Rob Smith. “We have to limit the strikeouts and the pop ups and just put the ball in play.

Cade Brazier was charged with the loss on the hill despite delivering a quality start. In seven full innings of work Brazier allowed just six hits and three earned runs, while striking out four.

“Our pitchers are keeping us in every game and have been throwing really well,” said Smith. “They’ve given us a chance to win several games. All we have to do is help them out and score some runs.”

Easton Gordon finished 2-4 at the plate with a solo home run. The other RBI was recorded by sophomore Brax Jensen, who finished 1-1 with two walks.

Tuesday’s setback drops Emery to 3-6 in division play, giving the team just a one-game lead over Manti and San Juan for one of the final two playoff spots awarded to the division. With only three games left the Spartans will have another opportunity to top North Sanpete, while also facing second place Richfield twice.

“We know when we play our game we are good. We just have to have that mindset and forget everything else,” Smith said. “Hopefully this is just a little bad streak and we can figure how to break out of this before Friday.”

Emery will resume league play on Friday with a road trip to Mount Pleasant for the final meeting with North Sanpete this season.