PHOENIX – Rutgers baseball dropped a tight 7-6 contest to Grand Canyon on Friday night in the series opener. The Scarlet Knights (2-2) rallied from multiple three-run deficits to tie the game in the eighth, but the Lopes (3-2) scored the decisive run in the bottom of the eighth to win the game. 
 
Trevor Cohen got things going in the top of the first with a leadoff walk and quickly stole second. Ty Doucette later singled up the middle to bring home Cohen and make it 1-0 early.
 
GCU answered back in the second when a two-out error got through the infield to bring in a run. In the third, the Lopes hit a solo home run and a two-run single to take a 4-1 lead.
 
JT Thompson helped the Scarlet Knights chip away with an RBI double in the fourth and an RBI groundout in the sixth to bring it to 4-3. A two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth gave GCU a 6-3 lead.
 
After entering the game as a defensive replacement earlier in the night, Nick Tomasetto launched a bases-loaded double in the top of the eighth to score three runs and tie the game at 6-6.

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, the Lopes scored on a bang-bang play at home plate to take a 7-6 advantage. The RU bats went down in order in the ninth to end the contest.  

Rutgers and Grand Canyon continue their series with a doubleheader on Saturday, with game one set for 3 p.m. ET and seven innings. Game two will be nine innings and start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.

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