A week after posting its first series sweep in Western Athletic Conference play, Dixie State suffered its fourth-straight loss to Grand Canyon, 6-3, in the four-game series finale played on Sunday afternoon at GCU Ballpark.

DSU (15-30/13-15 WAC) drew first blood in the game thanks to a Jake Engel RBI-single in the third inning that spotted the Blazers a 1-0 lead. Tyson Fisher was hit by a pitch with one out and advanced to second on a Mathew Ivancich infield single. Then with two outs in the frame, Engel fought off an 0-2 pitch and blooped it down the right field line to get Dixie State on the board.

The Antelopes quickly countered with three two-out runs of their own to wrestle the lead away in the home half of the stanza. Elijah Buries tied the game on a single to center ahead of Tayler Aguilar, who hit a towering two-run home run to right field.

Grand Canyon (30-17-1/23-5 WAC) tacked on a single run in the fifth and extended to its 6-1 lead in the sixth on a Juan Colato two-run homer.

DSU was limited to just one hit until the ninth, when Engel singled and Hank Dodson walked ahead of pinch hitter Landon Levine, who lined a two-out single to center that got past the Lope outfielder to wall, which allowed both base runners to score and cut the deficit to 6-3.

However any hopes of a Blazer comeback would be doused by GCU closer Frankie Scalzo (S, 8), who got Jagun Leavitt to fly out on three pitches to end the game.  

Engel finished the day with two of DSU's five hits and stole a base to go with his RBI, while Leavitt collected a single and stolen base.

Dixie State opens its longest, and final, homestand of the 2021 season next weekend, May 14-16, beginning with a four-game WAC series against Seattle U. DSU will then close out the home portion of its D-I debut season with four WAC games vs. Northern Colorado on May 20-22.