Dixie State dropped the third and final game of its home WAC series to Grand Canyon by a 6-5 count on Sunday afternoon at Bruce Hurst Field.
 
DSU (14-17/8-7 WAC) got off to a slow start offensively as GCU starter Connor Markl (ND) struck out six of the first seven Trailblazers he faced over the first two innings, with Tyson Fisher being the lone DSU hitter to put a ball in play with a two-out single in the second.
 
The Blazers did manage to solve Markl in the third, plating two runs on three hits to jump out to an early lead. Mathew Ivancich singled to lead off the frame and after a Jagun Leavitt sacrifice, Shane Taylor hit a bounding ball up the middle to drive in Ivancich carrying the game's first run.
 
Taylor later advanced to second on a wild pitch and would come around to score on a Parker Schmidt RBI single.
 
Meanwhile DSU starter Ryan Hardman (ND) matched his Lope counterpart in the early going, striking out four over three shutout innings to begin his day.
 
Unfortunately for the Blazers their lead would be short lived as GCU (23-11/13-2 WAC) struck for five unanswered runs over the next three innings to bolt to a 5-2 advantage.
 
GCU took advantage of two costly DSU errors to plate two runs in the fourth, and tacked on two more runs in the fifth to chase Hardman and take its first lead of the day. GCU lead off hitter Elijah Buries then added a fifth run in the sixth with a two-out lined shot off that caromed hard left center field wall, which allowed him to turn into an inside-the-park home run.
 
The Trailblazers countered with three runs of their own in the home sixth, thanks to a Lope error, a Taylor single and another GCU wild pitch that allowed Ivancich to score and tie the game at 5-5.
 
The game remained tied until the top of the ninth when Tyson Wilson reached on a one-out double and scored the Lopes' go-ahead run on a Cade Verdusco single.
 
Dixie State had a chance to tie the game or win it in the bottom of the ninth when both Schmidt and Zach Thomas both reached on base hits. However GCU closer Vince Reilly (S, 9) popped up Tyler Hollow on the infield to close out the Lopes' series sweep.
 
DSU lost despite outhitting GCU 14-13, with Taylor leading the way with three hits and two RBI, while Schmidt, Thomas, Fisher, Ivancich and Leavitt each collecting two hits apiece.
 
Dixie State heads back on the road for four-straight games this upcoming week, starting with a mid-week date at UNLV on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. (PT), at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas.