Baseball Drops Regular Season Finale to Dixie State

Saturday, May 4

Phoenix, AZ

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Dixie State

Harlyn Griffiths

Photo by: Theon Carrier

5/4/2013 4:13:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Will await postseason fate to be determined May 12

The No. 26 Grand Canyon University baseball team dropped their regular season finale, 3-2, to visiting Dixie State in a non-conference matchup at Brazell Stadium. The Antelopes close out the regular season with a 34-16 overall record and 26-10 mark in Pacific West Conference. The Red Storm finished 32-15 and 23-13 in conference play.

GCU has guaranteed themselves at least a share of the conference crown and could win the title outright with one California Baptist loss. The Lancers will play a doubleheader versus Point Loma on Monday. This marks the first co- or outright conference championship for GCU since joining the PacWest in 2008.

The 34 wins are the most for GCU since the 2002 squad won 38 contests, also the last season that the ‘Lopes reached the postseason.

Starter Coley Bruns did not factor into the decision, holding the Red Storm scoreless for the first six frames before a 2-run inning in the seventh. He issued 2 walks and collected a strikeout. Kyle Detwiler was tagged with his second loss after allowing the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

Paul Panaccione collected his 10th multi-hit game of the season, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Garrett Jeffries added 2 hits and Michael Pomeroy was responsible for an RBI.

“Dixie State kept themselves in it," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "They make pitches when they have to. They are very efficient and they have some hitters. They had that big base hit to go ahead in the eighth inning. This is a leasson for us. Dixie State has some older guys, and they have been through the ringer more than we have. We got taught a little lesson this weekend on how to be really efficient with the baseball. It is something that we will learn from as a team and it will make us better."

GCU manufactured a run in the first inning without recording a hit. Brian Kraft reached via a strikeout wild pitch to open the frame and moved to second on another wild pitch. Harlyn Griffiths moved him to third on a well-placed sacrifice bunt and Kraft scored on a groundout to first by Pomeroy.

In the fourth inning, Jeffries reached on an unusual double to right field with two outs and scored one batter later on an RBI single by Panaccione to nearly the same spot.

The Red Storm knotted the score at two in the seventh inning after the loading the bases with no outs on the board. A sacrifice fly and groundout each plated a run for Dixie State in similar fashion to GCU’s first inning as they did not collect a hit in the frame.

A leadoff double in the top of the eighth inning for Dixie State came around to score two batters later on an RBI single as the Red Storm claimed a 3-2 advantage. The Red Storm tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning to extend their lead to 5-2.

As they have in each game, the ‘Lopes threatened when facing their final three outs, putting runners on first and second with one out. However, a double play started by the shortstop secured the series sweep for Dixie State.

The ‘Lopes will now await their postseason fate, which will be announced on May 12 at 7 p.m. (Arizona time) on NCAA.com. GCU was third in the most recent NCAA West Region poll. The top-six teams advance to their respective regionals, slated to begin on May 16.

“The competitive person in you just thinks about what happened this weekend, but in the big picture, we have had a nice season."

DX 5, GCU 2