Lopes fall victim to pitching gem

Friday, March 11

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 P.M.

Grand Canyon

8-5

Cal Poly

11-3

Cal Poly

Grand Canyon

3/11/2016 7:52:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Josh Hauser

PHOENIX - The Lopes were the victim of a brilliant pitching performance by Cal Poly's Kyle Smith, as Grand Canyon dropped the series opener 7-0 to the Mustangs in front of 1,403 fans at Brazell Stadium on Friday night. Smith tossed a 9.0-inning complete game shutout, limiting the Lopes to five hits on the night.

"He threw a great game," pitching coach Nathan Choate said of Smith. "He was changing speeds, keeping the ball low in the zone, stuff we typically try to do as a pitching staff."

Cal Poly immediately got on the scoreboard with three runs in the first inning, forcing GCU starter Jorge Perez to throw 41 pitches.The Mustangs used three hits and a Lopes' error to do the first-inning damage. Grand Canyon has now allowed the opponent to score in the first inning three times in the last four games.

"We just left some balls over the plate," Choate said. "It's been a little bit of a problem for us, not getting stops early in the game."

Grand Canyon had its fair share of scoring opportunities to match the Mustangs in the early going, collecting hits in each of the first five innings and advancing a runner into scoring position in three of the innings. But the Lopes finished the night 0-for-8 with runners on base en route to being shut out for the first time this season.

The Mustangs extended their lead in the seventh inning, using a pair of two-out doubles including a bases-clearing double to jump out to a 6-0 advantage. Cal Poly tacked on a run for good measure in the eighth.

Perez fell to 0-3 on the season, facing an uphill battle after tossing 41 pitches in the first. The right-hander recovered nicely, however, stretching his start out to six full innings and not allowing any further damage.

Grand Canyon and Cal Poly will meet again on Saturday night from Brazell Stadium. The Lopes will send out Ethan Evanko (1-1, 5.84 ERA) while the Mustangs toss Cam Schneider (1-0, 5.63 ERA). First pitch is set for 7 p.m. MT and will once again be available on the airwaves on KXXT 1010 AM with Michael Potter on the play-by-play.