Baseball Falls to Riverside in Exciting Season Finale

Tuesday, May 20

Riverside, CA

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

30-23

UC Riverside

25-26

Grand Canyon

UC Riverside

Chad De La Guerra hit his third 3-run home run in his past four games against UC Riverside

Photo by: Theon Carrier

5/20/2014 6:06:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Lopes conclude season with impressive 30-23 overall record, second place finish in WAC

The 2014 season came to an end in thrilling fashion today for the Grand Canyon University baseball team (30-23, 19-8 WAC) with a dramatic, back-and-forth 8-6 loss at UC Riverside (25-26, 11-10 Big West) in a non-conference meeting at Riverside Sports Complex.

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

Chad De La Guerra walked up to the plate with two runners on and two outs on the board in the top of the ninth and connected for a three-run homer to turn a two-run deficit into a one-run lead for the Antelopes. However, the Highlanders responded with a three-run walkoff home run of their own in the bottom of the ninth for the win.

The Lopes concluded their return trip through Division I with a second-place finish in the 10-team Western Athletic Conference after winning eight of nine league series. GCU was also a member of the WAC in baseball from 1995-98.

"I'm extremely proud of the effort we had all year long," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "It's not easy moving up to Division I and playing so many games on the road. But these guys played hard every day. It would have been great to get a win at the end here, but the tough loss doesn't diminish what they accomplished this year."

"As a staff, we are very proud of how they have gone about it," added Stankiewicz. "They work hard and have great attitudes. Our goal this year was to begin to build a foundation of having a great program for years to come, and I think what we did this year put on the right track."

Starter Joey Wise did not factor in the decision after allowing four runs on three hits and two walks with a strikeout in 1.1 innings. Relievers Jaren Drummond, Coley Bruns, Malcolm Purdy, and Andrew Naderer combined to allow just one more run over the final 6.2 innings. Jorge Perez was tagged with the loss after surrendering the home run with one out in the ninth.

David Walker, Brandon Smith, and Jon Kealoha each posted multi-hit games with two apiece, while Walker, Paul Panaccione, and Smith collected an RBI.

Chad De La Guerra made sure his streak of reaching base would carry over into next season with a first inning single, brining that stretch to 30 consecutive games. De La Guerra claimed the honor of winning the batting title in conference play with an impressive .390 mark in 27 WAC games.

Today marked the 25^th double-digit hitting affair for GCU, meaning that they accomplished the feat in 47 percent of their games this season.

The Highlanders got on the board in the bottom of the first on an RBI single up the middle to stake the early 1-0 lead. UCR loaded the bases and got another run across before a nice relay from right fielder Smith to first baseman Michael Pomeroy to catcher Humberto Aranda ended the frame.

Josh Meyer opened the top of the second with a double to right field and stole third base before Smith plated him with an RBI single to right-centerfield. Charles Wagner drew a walk and Aranda singled to left-centerfield to load the bases, still with no outs on the board. Walker knotted the score at two with a single down the left field line and Panaccione handed the Lopes the 3-2 lead with a sacrifice fly.

UCR reclaimed the 4-3 lead in the bottom half of the frame and extended that to 5-3 with a solo shot to open the bottom of the fourth.

Neither team scored over the next three frames as they combined for just three hits in that time until De La Guerra placed a 3-2 pitch over the right-centerfield fence in the top of the ninth to put the Lopes ahead 6-5.

UCR put pressure on the Lopes in the bottom of the ninth, forcing them to make a play at home for the first out with runners still on first and second. Devyn Bolasky, arguably the hottest hitter for the Highlanders, then connected for a three-run homer over the right field fence to put an end to the thrilling game.

UCR 8, GCU 6