Baseball Drops Series Opener at Northern Colorado

Friday, April 18

Greeley, CO

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

19-17, 8-5

Northern Colorado

6-31, 1-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Grand Canyon	0	0	2	0	0	2	2	0	0	6	10	0
Northern Colorado	0	3	0	0	1	3	1	0	X	8	13	4

David Walker went 2-for-4 in today's game at Northern Colorado

Photo by: Theon Carrier

4/18/2014 4:40:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Two teams meet again tomorrow at 11 a.m. (Arizona time)

The Grand Canyon University baseball team (19-17, 8-5) battled back from an early deficit but fell 8-6 in the first of a three-game series at Northern Colorado (6-31, 1-12). The Antelopes never led in the game, but tied the score in the sixth inning before the Bears outscored GCU 4-2 over the final three frames.

Click here for Michael Potter's postgame interview with assistant coach Gregg Wallis.

Starter Coley Bruns allowed four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts over 4.2 innings of work, but did not factor in the decision. Jaren Drummond was tagged with his first loss of the season after surrendering the go-ahead run in the sixth inning.

David Walker and Chad De La Guerra both collected two hits in the loss, while Paul Panaccione, Garrett Jeffries, Brian Kraft, and De La Guerra each had an RBI.

"We didn't play well today," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "I don't want to take away anything from them, their guy (Chris Hammer) pitched a great game and kept us off balance. Coley didn't pitch well. He was up in the zone and got hit a little bit, and then our relievers came in and had too many walks. We can't afford to walk guys. It was a poor played game all-around from the pitching to the offense. We didn't play well enough to win, and they did."

Walker opened the game with a double down the left field line, but was stranded at third base after Chris Hammer retired the next three batters.

In the bottom of the second, the Bears broke the scoreless tie on a two-out, two-run triple to right-centerfield to stake the 2-0 lead. A double then scored the third run of the inning for Northern Colorado as they built their advantage to 3-0 still with two outs on the board.

GCU responded by scoring two runs in the top of the third to pull within one of the Bears. Charles Wagner opened the frame by reaching via an error on the second baseman and moved to second on a bunt single by Josh Ethier. Walker moved those runners to second and third before Panaccione plated GCU's first run with a single to the shortstop, while Ethier scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of De La Guerra.

After the teams traded zeroes over the next two innings, the Bears tacked on another run in the fifth to make it a 4-2 game. Northern Colorado loaded the bases with two outs before Drummond induced a groundout to first base to end the frame.

Again, the Lopes responded in the next inning, this time collecting three consecutive singles from De La Guerra, Humberto Aranda, and Kraft to pull within one run (4-3). Aranda made it a tie ballgame after crossing home with two outs on the board in the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth, Northern Colorado once again plated a number of two-out runs as they built yet another three-run lead at 7-4.

Keeping with the game's pattern, the Lopes scored twice in the top of the seventh to pull within one run. Ethier reached second on a one-out error by the third baseman and came around to score on two-out RBI double by pinch-hitter Jeffries. De La Guerra picked up his second RBI with a single to right field and tried to tie the game on an error by the right fielder on the same play, but was just beat by the tag at home.

Northern Colorado loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom half of the frame and put a run on the board via a hit by pitch to make it an 8-6 game. Bears' starter Hammer tossed a scoreless ninth inning for his second complete game of the year.

"We will go back to the hotel and get some rest, regroup, and come back tomorrow and see what kind of fight we have in us for the next two days," added Stankiewicz.

The two teams meet again for the second game of the series tomorrow with first pitch slated for 11 a.m. (Arizona time). Fans can follow all of the action live by tuning in to Independent Talk 1100 AM KFNX (online at www.1100kfnx.com or via the TuneIn Radio app on any smartphone).

UNC 8, GCU 6