HOLYOKE — With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, the No. 3 Greenfield baseball team was clinging to a 1-0 advantage in the Western Massachusetts Class C championship game against No. 1 Drury – and the Green Wave needed senior Caleb Thomas to get them out of a jam to preserve the lead.

Thomas worked the count to three balls, two strikes on Drury’s Lucas Hamilton, and let rip his best fastball. Hamilton swung through it for the second out of the frame. Blue Devils cleanup hitter JJ Prenguber stepped into the box next. He hit a hard ground ball right back to Thomas, and it ricocheted off of his midsection and toward the third base line.

He charged at it, turned to first and threw. It was too late to get Prenguber as a run scored, and on the throw over to first, Drury’s Carson Rylander charged home as well – beating Green Wave first baseman Urijah Jenness’ toss back to the plate with a head-first slide. In the blink of an eye Greenfield’s 1-0 lead turned to a 2-1 deficit on a ball that never left the infield. Thomas forced a ground out on the next batter to get out of the inning.

Blue Devils pitcher Connor Hinkell retired the next six Greenfield hitters in order, and the Green Wave’s Western Mass. tournament run ended in anguish as they fell 2-1 on Wednesday night at Mackenzie Stadium.

“What it came down to with two outs was a swinging bunt with two outs – that was the difference,” Greenfield head coach Tom Suchanek said. “If the kid was bunting, it was a great bunt. He swung away and topped it, and probably the only play Caleb really had was to the plate and I’m not sure he would have had him because the kid was already there… It was a good high school game. Both pitchers pitched well.”

Following two scoreless innings to start Wednesday’s title tilt, Greenfield came to bat in the top of the third. With one out and nobody on, Chase Zraunig ripped a ball to deep left field, well over the Drury left fielder’s head as it rolled to the fence. Zraunig cruised into second with a double.

Two batters later, now with two outs, Thomas turned on an inside pitch and cleaned it out down the left field line. The hard hit ball chased well down the line and brought home Zraunig to put Greenfield in front, 1-0.

In the bottom of the frame, Thomas recorded one of his five strikeouts with Hinkell in scoring position to keep the Wave in front. An inning later, Drury’s leadoff hitter reached second on an error with nobody out. A sacrifice bunt moved him over to third, but Thomas forced a pop up to Conner Bergeron at short for out No. 2, and Greenfield’s Logan Moore charged on a hard-hit ball to center to make a terrific catch to end the frame and preserve the Wave’s lead.

Greenfield’s defense was spectacular behind Thomas, who gave the Green Wave a strong outing on the mound – going six innings, giving up only three hits and the two runs.

“To be honest, all year long we’ve played pretty good defense,” Suchanek said. “Our pitching has been pretty good too. I don’t think you can ask for much more. An eighth grader at shortstop, a freshman at third – I guarantee you not many teams have eighth graders or freshmen out there.”

That set the stage for the bottom of the fifth, which started with a leadoff walk from Brayden Canales before Thomas fielded his position well to throw out Canales on a sac-bunt attempt. Thomas then hit a batter and walked the bases loaded with one out. The strikeout on Hamilton brought Prenguber up and the unlucky bounce for Greenfield ensued.

After scoring their run in the third, the Green Wave didn’t record a base runner the rest of the way – as Hinkell recorded four consecutive 1-2-3 innings. Bergeron laced a hit in the first while Zraunig and Thomas tallied hits in the third, but no other Greenfield player could muster a hit against the hard-throwing righty.

“We could have hit the ball better, but that kid throws well,” Suchanek said of Hinkell. “He’s probably one of the top two or three guys we’ve seen all year. He pitched well.”

Greenfield (12-9) will now shift its focus to the MIAA Division 5 state tournament, where it checks in as the No. 8 seed. The Wave will host a Round of 32 game against the winner of No. 25 Ayer Shirley and No. 40 Atlantis Charter at a date and time to be announced.

“We can move on and get ready for the state tournament,” Suchanek said. “I’m disappointed we lost, but we were in the game. It could’ve gone either way here tonight, so we can say we played great but didn’t win and move on. Now we prepare for states.”