Arizona lost momentum from its first 2026 winning streak with a 7-5 loss to Grand Canyon on Tuesday. Arizona defeated Vanderbilt and UC-Irvine in their final two games at the Live Like Lou Classic in Las Vegas on Saturday and Sunday.
The wins over Vanderbilt and UC-Irvine improved Arizona to 3-8 in 2026 and were their third in five games. Arizona appeared to have turn the season around with wins over teams with traditionally strong baseball programs. The loss to Grand Canyon is another step back in 2026.
The game was back and forth with Arizona rallying after losing a 1-0 lead. A Tony Lira RBI single drove in Nate Novitske in the bottom of the first inning to give Arizona a 1-0 lead. Grand Canyon scored two runs in the second inning and two in the third to take a 4-1 lead.
A Dom Rodriguez sacrifice fly scored Lira in the bottom third inning to cut the Arizona deficit to 4-2. Novitske drove in Cash Brennan and Beau Sylvester with a single in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at four. The game stayed tied until the ninth inning.
Final: Grand Canyon 7, Arizona 5
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) March 4, 2026
Decisive ninth inning
Grand Canyon scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 7-4 lead. Jackson Forbes hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to close the Arizona deficit to 7-5. After a Calen Danzeisen walk, Novitske struck out swinging and Lira flew out to left field to end the game.
Collin McKinney started and lasted two innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs with one strikeout for Arizona. All three runs in the ninth inning for Grand Canyon were unearned. Grand Canyon took the lead in the top of the ninth inning on an error by catcher Roman Meyers.
An error by Brennan with two out scored the final two runs for Grand Canyon. Four Grand Canyon players had multiple hits, led by Jake Sanko with three, plus a run scored and a run batted in. Grand Canyon used three pitchers, with Nicholas Robb getting the win and Billy Gregory the save.
Arizona struck out 10 times against Grand Canyon and left seven runners on base. Lira led Arizona with three hits and Novitske had two to combine for half of the 10 hits by the Wildcats. Arizona is 278th in the updated RPI from 11point7.Com.
Arizona plays its final weekend non-conference series when it hosts Fresno State from Friday through Sunday. Fresno State has seven wins, four losses and is 221st in the RPI. Arizona needs a successful weekend against Fresno State with games at Arizona State on Tuesday and a three-game series at Utah next weekend.