Behind Drew Christo’s arm and Tyler Stone’s bat, Huskers win Game 1 over Grand Canyon

Thanks to a strong outing on the mound from right-hander Drew Christo and the big bat of Tyler Stone, the Nebraska Cornhuskers beat the Grand Canyon Lopes, 7-2, in the first of a four-game series on Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark in Phoenix Thursday night.

Nebraska improves to 2-2 on the season while Grand Canyon drops to 4-1.

First pitch for game two is slated for 7 p.m. Friday night. Nebraska will send right-hander Brett Sears (0-0, 1.69 ERA) to the mound while GCU will go with RHP Carter Young (1-0, 1.80 ERA). Tonight’s matchup can be seen on ESPN+, while fans can listen to Greg Sharpe and Ben McLaughlin call the action on the Huskers Radio Network.

Christo picked up his first win of the season after tossing six innings. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Elkhorn product gave up seven hits but just one earned run while striking out four with only one walk. He coaxed seven groundouts and six fly outs.

Relievers Jackson Brockett and Tucker Timmerman finished off the Lopes down the stretch. Brockett allowed one hit and one earned run in 1.2 innings of work. The junior lefty from Omaha also plunked a batter and issued one walk. Timmerman, a freshman from Beatrice, threw 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball. He didn’t give up a hit and recorded one strikeout and one walk.

Stone, a 6-3, 235-pounder who spent last season at Iowa Western Community College and one year at Gonzaga before that, led the Husker offense by going 2-for-4 with three RBIs, a home run and a double. It was a homecoming of sorts for Stone, an Arizona native who went to Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, about 30 miles away from GCU’s ballpark.

After three scoreless innings to start, Nebraska got on the scoreboard by plating three runs on three hits in the fourth. Dylan Carey got the party started with an RBI double to left-center to give the Huskers a 1-0 edge. Stone drilled his two-run homer after that:

Josh Caron gave the Huskers a 5-0 lead in the fifth with an RBI triple that scored speedy Riley Silva, who scored three runs in the win, was hit by a pitch three times, got on base via a walk and stole two bases. Caron actually scored on his triple because of a GCU throwing error that hit him at third before rolling out of play.

A sacrifice fly in the sixth by Garrett Anglim pushed Nebraska’s lead to 6-0. Then Stone’s RBI double to left put Nebraska on top 7-2 in the ninth.