Lopes Drop Series Opener to Tennessee

Friday, March 6

Knoxville, TN

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

10-5

Tennessee

5-4

Grand Canyon

Tennessee

Bridgewater homered for the Lopes' lone run.

Photo by: Theon Carrier

3/6/2015 5:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

On a cold night in Knoxville, Tenn., Grand Canyon fell 4-1 to Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in the opening game of their three-game series. The first pitch temperature was a cool 38 degrees.

GCU falls to 10-5 with the loss, the Volunteers improved to 5-4 in winning their home opener.

Canyon was limited to just five hits on the evening, but took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Rouric Bridgewater solo home run. The Antelopes had loaded the bases in the first inning, but were unable to push a run across.

Andrew Naderer (3-1) was charged with his first loss of the season, despite allowing only two earned runs (four total) on five hits over 7.1 innings. He fanned six and walked one.

"Andrew pitched really well for us tonight and that is the frustrating thing about it," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "When your starting pitcher does well and you can't get him any run support. I'm proud of his effort tonight; unfortunately we just didn't help him out."

The Vols scored a pair of runs in third inning, collecting two hits, but were also aided by two GCU errors. After getting the leadoff hitter to pop out in the third inning, Naderer struck out the next batter but the ball was in the dirt and catcher Josh Meyer's throw got away, allowing the batter to reach. Later in the inning A.J. Simcox would record a two-run single to put the Lopes behind 2-1.

"We struck out too many times in this game," added Stankiewicz. "We made two errors that proved to be very costly. It was not a good night in those respects, but we get the chance to come back tomorrow and expect our guys to bounce back."

After the Bridgewater home run in the second, GCU would only manage to get one batter into scoring position the remainder of the night, that coming by way of a Chad De La Guerra double in the eighth inning. De La Guerra finished with a pair of hits, as did Bridgewater.

The two teams will look forward to warmer conditions tomorrow as first pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. (AZ time). Coley Bruns is slated to take the start for the Antelopes. Live audio and stats links can be found at www.gculopes.com, courtesy of Tennessee Athletics.

Tenn 4 GCU 1