The Gate City Grays seemingly had everything going their way in the first inning Thursday night with a 3-0 lead. But by the end of that same inning, they were watching yet another game slip away.

The Grays (8-14) closed the regular season with a 12-4 road loss to the Logan Royals.

Matt Azzarano drove in the game’s first two runs with a double, and Hudson John followed with an RBI single that had Gate City looking poised for a strong finish to the regular season.

That optimism was short-lived.

The Royals immediately answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring four runs to take a 4-3 lead and steal the momentum that would carry them through the rest of the game.

The Grays managed to tie it 4-4 in the second inning when Kyler Spracklen came home on a wild pitch, but that would be Gate City’s final run of the evening.

The Royals broke the game wide-open with an eight-run third inning and coasted to victory from there.

The team managed just four hits, with John collecting two of them to lead the Grays’ limited attack.

The loss wraps up a difficult regular season for the Grays, who only won back-to-back games once all year. But their focus now must shift to postseason baseball.

The Northern Utah League playoffs begin Monday, and Gate City will open up on the road in a best-of-three series against an opponent yet to be determined opponent.