Grand Canyon University stayed in the MW race after Nevada’s late surge in the series opener, a game that turned on runs, doubles, stolen bases and unearned runs from both sides. The Lopes absorbed the push and came away still in position, even after Nevada kept pressing late.

Carson Ohland, Dominic Chacon, Mito Perez, Camden Bates, Tanner Johns and Jose Lopez III each drove in runs for Grand Canyon, while Griffin Cameron and Johns each stole a base. Nevada answered with RBI from Junhyuk Kwon, Jayce Dobie, Sean Yamaguchi, Jake Harvey, Jack Metcho, Mikey Cruz Jr. and Jackson Waller, and Kwon, Rominic Quiban and Cruz each doubled.

The opener had the feel of a game in which neither lineup was willing to blink. Grand Canyon put runs on the board first, but Nevada kept coming and trimmed into the margin late, turning what could have been a routine result into a back-and-forth fight that stayed open into the final stretches.

That mattered because the opener did not knock the Lopes out of contention. In a series with the MW race still hanging over every inning, Grand Canyon did enough offensively to survive a night when Nevada’s late surge and a handful of unearned runs could have changed the tone of the weekend.

The pressure now shifts to the rest of the series, where Grand Canyon has already shown it can score in bunches and Nevada has shown it can answer after taking a hit. The opener left the Lopes standing, but it also set up a series in which every run may matter just as much as the first one.