Nebraska fell 7-5 in the third game of its four-game series at Grand Canyon on Saturday night at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.
Nebraska (3-3) scored five runs on 11 hits and two errors, while GCU (5-2) totaled seven runs on 11 hits.
Will Walsh got the no-decision after giving up four runs, two earned, on six hits in three innings. Mason McConnaughey fell to 0-2 after surrendering two runs, one earned, on four hits in three innings of work. Evan Borst pitched 1.1 innings, allowing one run on one hit in his second relief appearance of the season. Kyle Perry recorded the final two outs of the night for the NU pitching staff.
Josh Caron went 2-for-5 at the plate with a home run, three RBI and a run scored. Cole Evans was 2-for-3 with a double and a run, while Cayden Brumbaugh and Will Jesske tallied two hits apiece. Riley Silva, Dylan Carey and Tyler Stone recorded one hit.
The NU offense picked up where it left off from Friday night, plating three runs on a trio of hits in the first to grab the early advantage. Brumbaugh and Carey reached on singles to set up Caron’s three-run homer over the wall right field.
Two unearned runs in the bottom of the first brought the Lopes within one after the opening frame. An NU error and a single, followed by Cade Verdusco’s two-RBI double to right-center made it a 3-2 game.
GCU snagged its first lead of the weekend after back-to-back solo homers by Zach Yorke and Beau Ankeney gave the Lopes a 4-3 lead in the third.
Evans led off the fifth with a double into the alley in left-center before advancing to third on Dylan Hufft’s sacrifice bunt. Evans evened the game at four after Brumbaugh lifted an 0-1 pitch to right field for a sacrifice fly.
The Lopes broke the tie with a pair of runs on three hits and an error in the bottom of the fifth. Consecutive one-out singles joined with an infield single and a NU throwing error plated GCU’s fifth run of the night. An RBI groundout to shortstop doubled the Lopes’ lead to 6-4.
The Huskers loaded the bases in the seventh after Jesske’s infield single and walks to Evans and Hufft. NU was only able to plate one in the seventh after Brumbaugh lifted his second sacrifice fly of the night to score Jesske.
GCU immediately got the run back in the bottom of the seventh after Eddy Pelc’s RBI triple to center made it a 7-5 game heading into the final two innings.
Nebraska loaded the bases for the second consecutive inning after two-out singles by Jesske and Evans and a walk to Case Sanderson, but the Big Red weren’t able to scratch across a run to cut into the deficit.
Silva began the ninth with a single up the middle, but the next three Huskers were retired in order to clinch GCU’s 7-5 win on Saturday night.
The Huskers and Lopes conclude the four-game series tomorrow at 1 p.m. CT. Sunday’s matchup can be seen on ESPN+, while fans can listen to Greg Sharpe and Ben McLaughlin call the action on the Huskers Radio Network.
