PHOENIX, Ariz. –The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley baseball team dropped the first game of a three-game series to Grand Canyon University (GCU) 9-4 on Friday at Brazell Stadium.
 
Senior Jose Garcia led UTRGV (21-20, 4-9 WAC) by going 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Senior Joseph Collazo went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
 
Garcia scored his first run in the first on an RBI-groundout by junior Ivan Estrella against Jake Wong (5-2).
 
Then, after GCU (17-19, 11-2 WAC) scored one in the first and three in the second, Garcia came up with an RBI-triple in the third. Collazo followed with a run-scoring single, and then, one batter later, junior Cris Castillo came up with an RBI-groundout to tie the game at 4.
 
GCU regained the lead in the bottom of the inning against senior Eddie Delgado (2-3) on RBI-singles by Josh Meyer and Tom Lerouge.
 
GCU added an unearned run in the sixth before Preston Pavlica hit a two-run home run in the seventh to complete the scoring.
 
UTRGV and GCU play the middle game of this three-game series on Saturday at 4 p.m.

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