OREM, Utah — Grand Canyon fell in the opener of the regular season's final series on Thursday night, dropping a 16-11 shootout to Utah Valley at UCCU Ballpark.

GCU (32-21, 21-7 WAC) fell in an early 9-2 hole after three innings and could never fully recover, though the Lopes continually battled back within striking distance of Utah Valley (28-25, 18-10 WAC).

The Lopes got on the board first on a two-out RBI single by senior second baseman Elijah Buries.

Lopes sophomore starting pitcher Grant Richardson retired five via strikeout in the first two frames, but an error extended the second inning and led to two unearned runs scoring and a 3-1 Utah Valley lead.

Sophomore Zach Yorke narrowed the deficit to 3-2 with a leadoff homer in the third.

Utah Valley did the bulk of its damage with a six-run third inning and a five-run fifth inning.

GCU countered with a three-run fourth inning on the strength of home runs by senior right fielder Eddy Pelc and Yorke. The Lopes also used a six-run seventh inning to pull back within three runs. Six batters reached in a seven-batter span, capped off by a two-out, two-run homer by junior third baseman Eli Paton.

The Lopes out-hit Utah Valley 14-13 but GCU stranded 11 runners on base compared to the Wolverines' five.

GCU will look to even the series on Friday at 5 p.m. (Phoenix time) in an effort to keep its hopes of winning a 15th straight conference series alive.