GCU drops 13-inning affair

Saturday, April 13

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

17-17, 5-6

UT Rio Grande Valley

22-12, 8-3

UT Rio Grande Valley

Grand Canyon

4/13/2019 10:08:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Lopes score 5 in 5th to erase early deficit

By: Josh Hauser

The Grand Canyon baseball team dropped a 13-inning game to UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday night at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.

GCU did all of its scoring in a five-run fifth inning to erase an early 5-0 UTRGV advantage. Jonny Weaver, Brock Burton, Quin Cotton and Kona Quiggle all came up with run-scoring hits to fuel the Lopes' rally. Quiggle's hit was a two-run single with two outs to tie the game.

The Lopes and Vaqueros traded seven consecutive scoreless innings as the game progressed to the 13th inning. The visitors broke through for three runs in the 13th, aided by a pair of walks, a misplayed bunt and an errant throw on a would-be double play ball.

Until the 13th inning, GCU's bullpen was extremely effective to hold UTRGV in check. Cole Hoskins, Coen Wynne, Frankie Scalzo and Nick Ohanian combined for six innings of hitless and scoreless relief with six strikeouts. Ohanian was especially effective, retiring six of the seven batters he faced with four coming on strikeouts.

In their effort to break the 5-5 stalemate, the Lopes had leadoff baserunners in the seventh, ninth and 11th innings. A walk and single put GCU in a good position in the seventh, but a pair of strikeouts and a fly out ended the threat. GCU drew two walks and hit a single early in the ninth, but a double play thrwarted the rally. Three straight well-struck line-outs ended a threat in the 11th.

GCU broke out of a hitting funk with 13 hits on the night, but never picked up multiple hits in an inning with the exception of the five-run, six-hit fifth. Cotton, Quiggle, Weaver and sophomore catcher David Avitia each picked up a pair of hits.

The Lopes look to salvage a win in the three-game series with a noon finale Sunday at GCU Ballpark.