Utah Tech baseball could not stop an eighth-inning Grand Canyon rally in suffering a heartbreaking 7-6 loss in the first round of the 2025 University Credit Union Western Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament on Wednesday at Hohokam Stadium.
 
Wednesday's setback moved the eighth-seeded Trailblazers (24-30) into the one-loss bracket to play against the loser of Thursday's winner's bracket quarterfinal match-up between No. 2 seed Abilene Christian and No. 3 seed Utah Valley in an elimination game on Thursday at 5 p.m. (MT). 
 
Utah Tech's late-inning collapse spoiled a solid start by junior righthander Dakoda West (ND), who struck out two and limited the Lopes to only two runs and four hits over five innings complete.
 
West breezed through the first three-plus innings of his start as he retired 10 of the first 11 GCU hitters he faced.
 
The junior did not surrender his first base hit until the bottom of the fourth when Eddy Pelc reached on a one out single. Pelc wound up stealing second later in the inning and would eventually score the game's first run on an Eli Paton double.
 
The Trailblazers quickly clapped back with two runs of their own one inning later off of GCU starter, and St. George native, Isaac Lyon (ND). Levi Randall kickstarted the rally with an opposite field double down the left field line, while Ty Johnsen walked and Petey Soto Jr. was plunked to load the bases. 
 
Kyle McDaniel followed with a run-scoring single to chase home Randall with the tying run, while Johnsen made it a 2-1 game when he scampered home on a Lopes' double play conversion one pitch later. 
 
After GCU (31-25) tied the at 2-2 in the home fifth, Utah Tech answered with two more runs in the sixth, and single runs in both the seventh and eighth frames to open up a 6-2 advantage.
 
The Blazers scored both of their sixth-inning runs thanks to four consecutive two-out singles. Finnegan Stewart and Randall both reached base ahead of Johnsen, whose high-chopper over the middle got through the infield to chase home Stewart.
 
Soto Jr. then followed suit when he blooped a 2-2 Lyon offering into right center, bringing Randall around to score to make it a 4-2 game.
 
Aaron Perez would pick up a two-out RBI of his own with a double to left center in the seventh, which was followed one inning later by a Kace Naone two-out, run-scoring single.
 
Meanwhile, Utah Tech's bullpen managed to navigate its way through the GCU sixth and seventh innings. However the unit ran into trouble in the eighth when the first four Lopes reached base, three of whom eventually scored on a Carson Ohland pinch-hit double, followed by a two-run Marcus Galvan single that trimmed the Blazer to 6-5 before the first out was made.
 
Then after a one-out Emilio Barreras walk, Pelc tied the game with at 6-6 with a single through the right side of the infield. Paton followed that with a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt one pitch later, which scored Barreras from third carrying the go-ahead run. 
 
GCU closer Walter Quinn (S, 11) came on in the ninth, and after he retired the first two Blazer hitters he faced, Stewart gave Utah Tech a glimmer of hope when he lifted a ground rule double down the right field line that bounded into the stands. 
 
Randall followed with a sharp grounder up the middle that was flagged down by Barreras at shortstop. Barreras fired the ball to the first base, which arrived at the bag at virtually the same time as Randall. However after a video replay review, the out call on the field was confirmed to end the game.
 
Utah Tech lost despite outhitting the fourth-seeded Lopes by a decisive 14-8 count. Both Stewart and Randall led the way with three hits apiece, while Randall wound up scoring three of the Blazers' six total runs. 
 
McDaniel finished the day going 1-for-4 at the plate with a walk to not only extend his hit streak to a career-best 13-straight games, but he also managed to extend two more record-breaking streaks. 
 
McDaniel's fifth inning RBI-single also extended his school NCAA Division I-era record on-base streak to 40-straight games, and in the process, vaulted him past former Utah Tech shortstop Tanner Morache (39 games, 2016) to become Utah Tech's overall NCAA-era school on-base streak record holder.
 
While McDaniel's streaks were extended, another long streak came to an unfortunate end as Ryan Kroepel saw his career long 17-game hit streak halted after he went 0-for-5 at the plate, though he did manage to score on Perez's double after he reach on a GCU error in the seventh.