GCU Wins Series at Bakersfield

Sunday, March 16

Bakersfield, CA

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

9-9, 2-1

Bakersfield

7-11, 1-2

Grand Canyon

Bakersfield

Humberto Aranda went 4-for-5 in today's win over CSUB

Photo by: Darryl Webb

3/16/2014 3:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Take two of three from WAC preseason favorite Roadrunners

In their first Western Athletic Conference series since last competing in the conference in 1998, the Grand Canyon University baseball team (9-9) won the rubber match, and the series, following their 9-2 win over Bakersfield (7-11) today at Hardt Field in Bakersfield, Calif.

The Antelopes last won a WAC series from May 1-3, 1998, sweeping three games at Air Force.

Coley Bruns retired the first seven Bakersfield batters and nine of his first 10 after allowing the first hit to the 'Runners with one out in the third. He tossed his third quality start of the season and first complete game. He allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts to improve to 3-0.

"Coley gets overlooked sometimes because of our first two starters, but he is competitive and gets a great rhythm going," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "He was pitching down in the zone today. I'm happy for him because he's worked hard. Complete games are not easy to come by, and today was huge for us that he gave us a chance to win the game. He was great today."

Offensively, Humberto Aranda led GCU after going 4-for-5 with two doubles. David Walker and Paul Panaccione added three hits, while Panaccione and Josh Ethier each had two RBI. It was the seventh game for GCU with double-digit hits as they collected 14 in the win.

Walker opened the game with a single through the left side and after two consecutive pop ups, Aranda plated GCU's first run with a two-out double to right center field to hand the 'Lopes an early 1-0 lead.

The 'Lopes looked to add another run in the third when Panaccione singled to left field and was able to move to third on a two-base error with two outs on the board. After Chad De La Guerra drew a walk, Panaccione was caught at home on a double-steal attempt for the third out of the frame.

CSUB had runners on second and third with nobody out in the fourth following a leadoff single and an error by Bruns on a throw to first. The 'Runners knotted the score at one with a sacrifice fly to right field before the frame was over.

GCU almost got the run back in the fifth, but Walker was called out at home plate after trying to score the go-ahead run from first on a two-out double to right-center off the bat of Panaccione.

In the next frame, the 'Lopes had their turn with runners on second and third and no outs after De La Guerra and Aranda had back-to-back hits, including Aranda's second double of the day. A fielder's choice erased De La Guerra at third, but Michael Pomeroy was promptly hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. Both Aranda and Brandon Smith, who reached on that fielder's choice, came around to score on wild pitches, while Pomeroy's run on Jon Kealoha's single to center field made it 4-1 in GCU's favor heading into the bottom half of the sixth.

CSUB once again put runners on second and third, this time with one out in the seventh and got one run across on a sacrifice fly to centerfield before Bruns ended the inning with his fourth strikeout. The 'Lopes answered by also putting runners on second and third with one out in eighth and cushioned their lead to 6-2 on Ethier's two-RBI single to right field. Panaccione made it an 8-2 game with a two-run single up the middle to plate Ethier and Walker.

The 'Lopes tacked on another run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly for Smith to plate Aranda.

GCU will next travel down Interstate 10 to take on the Arizona Wildcats on Tuesday with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. Fans can tune into Independent Talk 1100 AM KFNX (online at www.1100kfnx.com or via the TuneIn Radio app on any smartphone) beginning at 5:50 p.m. to listen to the pregame show with Michael Potter.

"It's exciting to get this win, but at the same time, you don't want to get too far in front of yourself," added Stankiewicz. "But we will enjoy this. We had a number of big hits and we played really good baseball all weekend. We pitched great all weekend, played good defense, and got clutch hits when we needed them. We will take the day off tomorrow and head out to Tucson on Tuesday."

GCU 9, CSUB 2