TUCSON, Ariz. -- Grand Canyon scored a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning and defeated the Arizona baseball team 3-1 Tuesday evening at Hi Corbett Field.
Locked in a 1-1 tie, Paul Panaccione opened the ninth by drawing a walk from Arizona reliever Tyler Parmenter. After a pitching change, Chad De La Guerra singled off left-hander Xavier Borde to place runners at the corners.
The Wildcats then turned to closer Bobby Dalbec, who threw a wild pitch to allow Panaccione with the eventual game-winning run. Michael Pomeroy later added a run-scoring single to drive in De La Guerra with an extra insurance run.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jorge Perez set down the Wildcats in order to preserve his first save of the season. It was the first frame all night that Arizona did not put a runner on base after squandering a handful of chances through the game.
Arizona (11-12) out-hit the Antelopes 8-7 in the game, but left eight runners on base. The Wildcats went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and batted just 1-for-10 with two outs.
Grand Canyon (10-9) plated two of its runs with two outs, including its initial run in the top of the third. Pomeroy, who was 3-for-4 in the game, led off with a single and later was driven in by Panaccioneâs single through the left side.
That was the only run of the game allowed by Wildcats starter Tyger Talley, a sophomore who turned in his longest career outing. The right-hander pitched 7.2 and scattered five hits and a walk, while collecting four strikeouts.
Arizona tied the game with its only run of the game in the home half of the fourth. Trent Gilbert opened the frame with a double to right field and later scored on a wild pitch thrown by Grand Canyon starter Ethan Evanko.
Evanko was solid in six complete innings of work. The lefty scattered six hits, while striking out four and issuing no walks.
Reliever Scott Serigstad (W, 1-1) earned the win for his 0.2 innings of work in the eighth. He entered with Zach Gibbons on first base with one out, but Gibbons was thrown out trying to steal. Serigstad then induced a groundout by pinch-hitter Riley Moore to send the Antelopes to bat in the decisive ninth inning.
Parmenter (L, 0-2), who recorded the final out of the eighth in relief of Talley, suffered the loss after walking the eventual game-winning run to open the ninth.â
Tuesdayâs meeting was the first between the two in-state schools since 2003, when Grand Canyon defeated Arizona, 4-0, in Tucson. The Antelopes are playing their first season as a Division I member in the Western Athletic Conference since previously participating in the league from 1995-98.
Arizona, which completed a 23-game home stand to open the season, hits the road for a three-game Pac-12 Conference series this weekend at Washington.
