@NCBearsBaseball swept out of Phoenix

Sunday, April 2

Phoenix, Ariz.

1:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

11-15, 0

Grand Canyon

12-14, 0

Northern Colorado

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Rob Trubia

4/2/2017 3:32:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Northern Colorado was swept by Grand Canyon after a 12-2 defeat that ended after 7 innings.

By: UNCBears.com

Phoenix - Northern Colorado's weekend in Phoenix was cut short after Grand Canyon University managed to extend their lead to 10 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. The 10-run rule gave Grand Canyon the victory and the series sweep over the Bears with a 12-2 score.

How It Happened
For the third game in a row, Northern Colorado could not overcome an early deficit and was unable to stop Grand Canyon from padding its lead. In the first inning, Grand Canyon put its first three batters on base off of Connor Leedholm. The Antelopes scored a run on an Ian Evans single. A sacrifice fly from Garrison Schwartz gave Grand Canyon a 2-0 lead.

After the problems in the first, Connor Leedholm seemed to settle down and limit GCU to a couple of hits over the next two innings. The Bears had an opportunity in the second to puts some runs on the board after Nick Tanner and Matt Burkart had back-to-back singles, but they were unable to come up with any more hits.

The Antelopes padded their lead in the fourth when Zach Malis hit a two-run homer off of Leedholm. After than loading the bases, Leedholm's day was over and was replaced by Sam Leach. Leedholm's left the game after pitching 3.1 innings, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits with 2 walks, and no strikeouts. The damage was limited by Leach to only a sacrifice fly that scored another run and stretched the lead for Grand Canyon to 5-0.

Northern Colorado got back into the game in the fifth after Tyler Yamaguchi blasted a two-run homer of his own. It was Yamaguchi's second consecutive game with a home run.

Unfortunately for the Bears, Grand Canyon responded in the bottom of the inning with two walks and three consecutive hits that platted four more runs for the Antelopes. Issac Bracken would be called in to replace Sam Leach and try to stop the momentum, but Grand Canyon had already blown the game open with a 9-2 lead.

Anthony Brady replaced Bracken in the sixth, but was chased from the game after failing to record a single out. Brady gave up two runs and four hits along with one walk and left the game with the bases loaded. Karver Pate made his second appearance of the series to relive Brady and was able to prevent any more runs from scoring, but Bears still trailed 11-2.

There was controversy in the top of the seventh when Tyler Yamaguchi tried to score on an Evan Johnson single. Yamaguchi crashed into Antelopes catcher Josh Meyer and Home Umpire Gary Gilman initially ejected Yamaguchi from the game for the home plate collision. After discussing it with the other umpires and head coach Carl Iwasaki, Yamaguchi was allowed to continue playing.

Grand Canyon ended the game in the bottom of the seventh after scoring a run to give the Antelopes a 10 run lead over the Bears. The 12-2 score in the seventh meant the 10-run rule was in effect the Bears had no more outs to work with.

Game Changer
The four-run fifth inning for Grand Canyon ended any momentum the Bears had built up in the top of the fifth with Tyler Yamaguchi's home run. Grand Canyon was albe to string hits together and extend innings to consistently pressure the Bear's pitchers. UNC's offense could not get anything else going before the Antelopes offense finished the game in the seventh. Grand Canyon's starter Jack Scheider did not have a great outing for the Antelopes, but still managed to limit the UNC hitters and the bullpen kept them off the scoreboard.

Notes
• Tyler Yamaguchi's two-run homer was his third on the season and his second in two games.
• Alex Kiel recorded his fourth multi-hit game going 2-3 with two singles.
• Cole Maltese got on base every time he was at plate with one single and two walks.
• Northern Colorado was outscored 31-5 and out hit 40-17 by Grand Canyon over the weekend.

What's Next?
Northern Colorado will play one game against Air Force in Colorado Springs on Tuesday (4/4). The Bears then come home for five game, starting with a three game series against conference rival Seattle (4/7-4/9) over the weekend.