Lopes fall one run shy to No. 13 Arizona

Wednesday, March 29

Tucson, Ariz.

6:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

9-14

Arizona

17-7

Grand Canyon

Arizona

3/29/2017 9:49:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Josh Hauser

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Grand Canyon baseball team fell one run shy on Wednesday night, dropping a mid-week contest to No. 13 Arizona 3-2 at Hi-Corbett Field. The Lopes kept the nation's third-ranked offense in check, holding the Wildcats well under their season average of 9.4 runs per game. The Wildcats did all of their scoring in a three-run fourth inning.

"Young Tyler Hansen did well for us. He competed well," head coach Andy Stankiewicz said of the freshman, getting his first collegiate start. "We had that little hiccup there when Arizona scored the three. We've got to command the ball better in that situation. He pitched fine, we just didn't string some at bats together."

Hansen threw 3.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. The back-end of GCU's bullpen -- AJ Franks, Gabe Benavides and Mick Vorhof -- continually threw zeroes up on the board, giving the offense a chance to tie the score. The three pitchers combined to throw 4.1 scoreless innings.

After falling down 3-1, Grand Canyon immediately narrowed the gap to a single run. With two outs, Tom Lerouge scored Marc Mumper from second base on an RBI single. The Lopes' fifth-inning run would be the last scored in the ballgame, with Arizona holding on to a 3-2 win.

"That was a big base hit there," Stankiewicz said. "That got us back into it. It's good that Tom's starting to get going a little bit. He's got to continue moving forward."

Grand Canyon struck first in the top of the fourth inning thanks to heads-up baserunning by Garrison Schwartz. After drawing a walk, the junior stole second and ended up at third on an error. He came in to score the first run of the game on a wild pitch.

Arizona took advantage of some walks in the fourth inning, using two hits and three drawn walks to plate three runs. Franks came on in relief and limited the damage for GCU, needing just two pitches to claim the final out.

GCU was only able to post three hits, with Lerouge, Tyler Wyatt and Ian Evans all collecting knocks.

"It's a tough one. You either win or you lose, there's no consolation prize," Stankiewicz said. "We're not playing baseball just to be competitive, we're playing to win."

For Arizona, it was the first win over Grand Canyon in its last three tries. The Wildcats last beat GCU in 2002. The Lopes will get their shot to avenge Wednesday's loss when Arizona returns to Phoenix on April 11.

After Wednesday's brief break from conference play, the Lopes welcome in Northern Colorado for a three-game WAC series at Brazell Stadium beginning on Friday. First pitch between the Lopes and the Bears in the opener is set for 7 p.m. MST on the WAC Digital Network.