SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior shortstop Brad Hassey ropes one of his three hits yesterday during the Arizona baseball team's 17-8 win over Grand Canyon at Sancet Field.

The Wildcat baseball team may have taken its week-long break from conference play a little too literally yesterday against Grand Canyon.

Arizona came back from a dismal first few innings to win the game 17-8 after its slumbering offense awoke.

GCU (33-14 overall, 22-9 California Collegiate American Association) jumped out to an early third-inning lead with three singles and a double. Antelope catcher David Lopez grounded into a fielder's choice to put the Wildcats into an early 4-1 hole.

"I wasn't really happy with how we started - we needed to be a little more intense," said UA head coach Andy Lopez.

UA answered with seven runs in the bottom of the inning and batted around.

Center fielder Brian Anderson led off with a single, and designated hitter Chris Cunningham ripped his team-leading ninth home run to right field.

One out and one run later, catcher Ken Riley singled home first baseman Pat Reilly. After second baseman Moises Duran was hit by a pitch, shortstop Brad Hassey tripled to right, matching with the hit his season-high hitting streak of 12 games. Hassey finished the day 3-for-6 with 4 RBIs.

"I'm hitting the ball all right. (Last week) against Stanford and California, I did fine, but I still have some adjustments to make at the plate," Hassey said.

Cunninghham went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Arizona turned it on again in the fifth and scored nine runs.

Six consecutive Wildcat hitters reached base and scored, ending with a two-out grand slam to center field by Reilly. It was the freshman's first collegiate home run and scored three runs on the day.

"It felt pretty good. I wasn't worried about my first homer, but I knew that it was bound to happen," he said.

The Antelopes answered with four runs in the top of the sixth, but UA got three scoreless innings of relief from freshmen Hason Snyder and Wes Zlotoff and sophomore Brian Anderson. Sophomore Tony Sulser picked up his second win of the season.

The Wildcats continue their non-conference swing against California Riverside this weekend.

Lopez said he expects more from his team in its next action.

"We just want to try and play better baseball," Lopez said. "I was very disappointed with our at-bats in the first three innings. I hope our competitiveness will get better."