They've done it before, but it doesn't make it easier.
 
The Grand Canyon University Club Baseball team's rally from an eight-run deficit fell just short Friday as they were upset, 11-9, by 4^th-seeded UCLA in the opening round of the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) Southern Pacific (SoPac) Division I Regional Championship at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California. The loss drops the 2nd-seeded Lopes into the elimination round for the second time in three trips to regionals, forcing them to win four straight games to grab their third consecutive regional title.
 
Having not played a game since April 24, the Lopes spent the first four innings Friday fighting off three weeks of rust – and it showed. Normally rock-solid Lopes' starting pitcher Tyler Magin never found his comfort zone Friday, allowing 10 Bruins' hits and hitting three batters in just 3 2/3 innings. The Lopes' defense struggled to help him, committing four errors in the first four frames (including one by Magin). The Lopes' offense responded by capitalizing on a pair of UCLA fielding miscues, scoring a run in each of the first three innings. When the Lopes headed to the 5^th inning, though, Magin was gone, and they trailed, 11-3.
 
That's when the Lopes finally began to resemble the squad that won 14 of 15 conference games during the regular season en route to the SoPac South title. GCU relievers Luis Escamilla and Walter Quinn restored order on the hill, combining to blank the Bruins the rest of the way by scattering four hits while striking out five. That allowed the Lopes' bats to storm back, peppering (and eventually chasing) UCLA lefthander Alex Feinfield for six runs combined in the 5^th and 6^th innings on seven hits (including RBI triples from Connor Pedersen and Jeremy Aguirre).
 
The Lopes entered the 7^th inning with the momentum and continued to hit the ball hard. However, while UCLA reliever Brandon Louie dodged long-ball bullets right and left – including a shot to the warning track in center field by GCU catcher Connor Lawrence – the Lopes just couldn't find gaps in the outfield to rally, including the final out: a diving catch by UCLA rightfielder Marshall Dean on GCU shortstop Santiago Zuniga's liner to right center field. Louie retired the final eight men to face him to earn the save.
 
Eight of the nine Lopes' hitters contributed to the 13-hit attack, led by leadoff man Jacob Martinez's 3-for-5 day, with two doubles, a stolen base and two runs scored. The Lopes were undone by their five errors (leading to five unearned runs), combined with UCLA's 14 hits, including three each from David Orenstein and Jesse Beckel.
 
The Lopes will now have to channel the success of their 2018 squad, who likewise lost the first game of the tournament, then won four games in the span of 27 hours to advance to the NCBA D1 World Series. The 2022 Lopes' quest to repeat the feat begins at 1PM Saturday, when they face the loser of Friday night's other opening-round game, No. 3 University of California-Davis, who scored 15 runs but trailed most of the way against No. 1 California Polytechnic State University en route to a wild 25-15 loss. A win there sends the Lopes to another 4PM elimination-round game Saturday against either the Bruins or Cal Poly. The championship round begins at 9AM Sunday morning.