#2 Vols Fall in Tight Contest at Grand Canyon, 4-3

Saturday, February 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

8 PM

University of Tennessee

0-2

Grand Canyon

2-0

Tennessee

Grand Canyon

February 18, 2023 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PHOENIX, Ariz. – A pair of late inning errors proved costly as No. 2 Tennessee fell short in a tightly-contested 4-3 loss at Grand Canyon in front of a raucous sold-out crowd of 4,457 fans at GCU Ballpark on Saturday night at the MLB Desert Invitational.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Volunteers scored three straight runs to take a 3-1 lead into the sixth. Junior college transfer Cal Stark hit his first home run in a Tennessee uniform with a two-out, two-run blast in the fourth to give the Big Orange a one-run lead.

Christian Moore extended the UT lead with a clutch two-out RBI single in the fifth. The sophomore fouled off multiple pitches before lacing a base hit into left field to score Jared Dickey, who reached on a triple earlier in the inning.

Grand Canyon scored one run in each of the next three innings to regain the lead, two of which were aided by a pair of Tennessee errors.

GCU reliever Daniel Avitia held the Vols scoreless and allowed just two hits over the final three innings to pick up the win. Andrew Lindsey was stuck with the loss for UT despite not allowing an earned run. The transfer right hander gave up two unearned runs on three hits over three innings of work.

Chase Burns got the start for UT and struck out six in 4.2 innings. The Gallatin, Tennessee, native allowed two runs on three hits and a walk in his first outing of the year.

Tennessee outhit the Lopes, 9-6, and had eight different players record a base knock, led by Moore's two hits. Zane Denton also had a productive night at the dish, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances with a single and three walks to go along with a run scored.

Star shortstop Jacob Wilson led the GCU attack with a pair of hits, a run scored and an RBI. Leadoff hitter Cade Verdusco also had a pair of hits for the Lopes.

The Vols will look to salvage a game from this weekend's tournament on Sunday afternoon when they take on UC San Diego at 2 p.m. ET at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. The game will be streamed live on MLB.com.