Lopes furious ninth-inning rally falls short

Wednesday, May 4

San Jose, Calif.

6 P.M.

Grand Canyon

22-21-1

San Jose State

15-30

Grand Canyon

San Jose State

5/4/2016 6:52:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Josh Hauser

SAN JOSE, Calif - After being held scoreless and limited to just two hits through eight innings, Grand Canyon's furious ninth-inning rally fell 90 feet short as the Lopes fell to San Jose State 7-6 on Wednesday evening. The Spartans forced a split of the two-game series.

"We have to be more consistent throughout the game," assistant coach Gregg Wallis said. "We just have to come out with more fire in our belly. It is the second game in a mid-week series, but it's not an excuse to come out flat."

Grand Canyon plated six runs on five hits in the top of the ninth inning, all of the action ocurring with two outs. Down to their last out of the ballgame, the Lopes had seven consecutive batters reach base with four via base hits, two via walks and one on a hit by pitch. Paul Panaccione -- back in the lineup after missing nine games -- singled in Thomas Lerouge for GCU's first run of the game. Brandon Smith singled in Panaccione to make the score 7-2. After Greg Saenz and Tyler Wyatt drew free passes to load the bases, a two-RBI single by Jared McDonald pulled GCU within three runs. Ben Mauseth drove in two more runs on his second double of the year, pulling the Lopes within a run at 7-6. With the bases loaded for Panaccione, the senior stung a ball at the third baseman who initially misplayed the ball but recovered in time to touch third and get the game-ending force play.

San Jose State freshman left-hander Zach Wallace entered in the third inning for the Spartans and was effective over his 6.2 innings of work. Wallace limited Grand Canyon to just three hits with two coming in the ninth, but he ended up being tagged with three earned runs after he exited the game with the bases loaded.

The Spartans got to work early with three runs off of GCU starter Brick Paskiewicz, making his first start for the Lopes after 11 appearances out of the bullpen. The extended half-inning featured two hits, two walks, two stolen bases, a wild pitch and an error, resulting in an early 3-0 lead for San José State. SJSU picked up another run in the third inning on a leadoff double followed by an RBI single.

Trailing 4-0, the Lopes turned to their bullpen and lefty Gabe Benavides, who held the Spartans scoreless for the remaining of the third inning as well as the fourth inning. The bullpen combined to put zeros on the board for Grand Canyon in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

Into the seventh, San Jose State padded its lead with a two-run half-inning off of Jaren Drummond. Two of the first three batters in the inning drew walks with both eventually coming around to score.

At the time, a run in the bottom of the eighth seemed to be simply insurance for the Spartans. But it proved to be the game-winning run as San Jose State emerged victorious by just one run.

After splitting with the Spartans, Grand Canyon returns to WAC play with a three-game series in Greeley, Colo. against the University of Northern Colorado. The series includes games on Friday at 2 p.m. MST, Saturday at 1 p.m. MST and the series finale on Sunday at 11 a.m. MST. All three games will be carried live on the GCU Radio Network.