Antelopes Pounce On Anteaters In Series Finale

IRVINE, Calif. --- Evan Brock suffered his first loss of the year and UC Irvine was unable to complete the sweep, losing to Grand Canyon 9-1 Sunday at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark.

Brock lasted just three innings for his shortest outing this season and gave up five runs on eight hits to fall to 4-1.

The Anteaters were quiet offensively, held to just one run on six hits as Antelope starter Coley Bruns went the distance for a complete-game effort to remain undefeated at 4-0.

GCU, which had been held scoreless for the first 18 innings of the series, jumped on Brock in the first as Matt Haggerty and Michael Pomeroy hit consecutive one-out, RBI singles to give the Antelopes a 2-0 lead.

Brian Kraft doubled in Garrett Jefferies in the top of the second and plated GCU's fourth run after scoring on a single by Ben Mauseth. Josh Ethier led off the fourth with a double down the right-field line to chase Brock from the game. It was Kraft again as the outfielder greeted reliever Matt Fielding with an RBI hit to right, widening the margin to 5-0.

UCI managed a run in the bottom of the fourth as Taylor Sparks hit a one-out double to left centerfield and came around to score on a single by Connor Spencer, who was 2 for 4 on the day. Jerry McClanahan followed with a single but Bruns popped up Jonathan Munoz (2 for 4) and struck out Evan Cassolato to end the inning.  

GCU continued to pressure the Anteater arms in the fifth, scoring three runs in the inning. Kyle Davis gave up his first runs of the year, ending his scoreless inning streak at 14.2 innings.

Mitch Merten, Max Winestein and Jimmy Litchfield combined for 3.1 hitless innings in relief for UCI.

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