After cruising through the early part of the Babe Ruth state tournament, the Cranston 13-year-old all-star team saw its state title dreams come to a screeching halt on Saturday in dramatic fashion.

Needing only one win to claim the championship, while having to be beaten twice, Cranston dropped a tough 5-4 game to an upstart Warwick PAL club early in the day, then lost 14-12 in eight innings to end its tournament.

When it was all said and done, Cranston simply didn’t do enough to advance.

“They were sad, but I tried telling them that a loss like this makes you a bigger man than 10-running everybody,” said manager Mike Enright. “Next year you’ll be better for it.”

In the first game of the day, Cranston’s ace Jamie Pacheco took the ball and held Warwick scoreless through four innings, but hit his innings limit and had to be removed.

On the other side, Blake Roberge matched him, keeping the game tied at zero into the fifth.

Cranston took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth only to see Warwick answer back with five runs in the bottom of the inning.

“I think we made full use of our opportunities,” said Warwick manager Billy Piccirillo.

Cranston fought back with two runs in the sixth, but Warwick didn’t let anything else come across. Roberge pitched a complete game to earn the win, and Ryan Conley had two of Warwick’s seven hits at the plate.

“The kid Blake threw strikes, he mixed it up and he shut us down,” Enright said. “He did a hell of a job.”

That set up a winner-take-all game, and Warwick wouldn’t be denied. It jumped out to an 8-1 lead thanks to eight runs in the second inning, saw Cranston battle all the way back but stuck with it and scratched across two runs in the eighth to win it.

“We were crazy, running all over the field,” Piccirillo said.

Nick Laramee started the game for Warwick but went only two innings before his arm began to get sore and he was forced to leave the game.

Jacob Resendes came on to pitch and went the next four innings, but Cranston began to chip away at Warwick’s lead. Cranston scored one in the first, three in the second and two in the fourth to make it 8-6. Warwick got back on track with four runs in the fifth, upping its lead to 12-6, but Resendes ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh, as Cranston came all the way back to tie the score at 12 and force extra innings.

“It’s all them,” Enright said. “They came back, they got their hits. They put themselves in that situation, but it was nice to see them try to get out of it.”

Conley came on to retire the side before Cranston was able to take the lead, but plenty of damage was already done.

Still, Warwick didn’t quit, and it came right back with an eighth-inning that eventually gave it a state championship.

Mike Hampson led off the inning with a walk, and Jake Langevin followed that with a single. After a pair of steals, they each scored separately on groundballs by Roberge and Vincent Tinaro, giving Warwick the 14-12 lead.

Conley came back out to pitch the eighth and – after giving up a pair of hits – he got out of the jam.

“We had our chances in the bottom of the eighth, we just couldn’t get he runs across,” Enright said.

Warwick had come all the way back.

“We finally did it,” Piccirillo said. “It was very heartwarming.”

Josiah Johnson led the offense with three hits, while Hampson, Langevin, Roberge, Tinaro and Robert Thuotte each had two hits.

Warwick will now test itself against the best teams in New England. It leaves for Newtown on Friday and will open up the tournament with a game against the Eastern Mass. champion on Saturday at 4 p.m.

It will also play Sunday in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament.

Armed with plenty of momentum, Warwick will try to make some noise before it comes back home.

“Good luck to Billy out in Newtown,” Enright said. “They’re going to fight out there.”