Upcoming Event: Baseball at Hawai'i on March 25, 2027
Baseball
at Hawai'i
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, April 11
Brazell Stadium
6:30 p.m.
Grand Canyon
17-14, 7-3
3
vs
2
Sacramento State
20-13, 9-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sacramento State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| Grand Canyon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
Michael Pomeroy plated the game-winner in tonight's 3-2 victory over Sacramento State
Photo by: Theon Carrier
Baseball Walks Off Against WAC-Leader Sacramento State
4/11/2014 9:57:00 PM | Baseball
Come from behind in the ninth inning to win 3-2
As would be expected between two of the top teams in the Western Athletic Conference, the game between WAC leader Sacramento State (20-13, 9-1 WAC) and Grand Canyon University (17-14, 7-3 WAC) came down to the last few outs tonight at Brazell Stadium. The Antelopes used a ninth-inning rally to defeat the Hornets, 3-2, en route to handing Sacramento State their first loss in conference play.
The win was also the seventh straight at home for GCU.
Click here for Michael Potter's postgame interview with assistant coach Nathan Choate.
For the second time in as many home series, Michael Pomeroy came through with the game-winning knock, this time plating pinch-runner Josh Ethier on an RBI single to left field. GCU loaded the bases with nobody out and trailing 2-1 in the ninth. Garrett Jeffries drew a walk to score Chad De La Guerra, who led off the frame with a single into right field. That brought Pomeroy to the plate, who two weekends ago came through in the 11th inning with the game-winner over Chicago State.
Starter Jorge Perez induced the first out of the game before exiting due to an undisclosed injury. Coley Bruns, slated to get the start on Sunday, came in to pitch, tossing 6.2 solid innings. He allowed six hits and two runs, both unearned, while walking three and striking out seven.
Malcolm Purdy evened his record to 2-2 with 2.0 scoreless innings of relief.
"It's not easy to have a chart in your hand thinking that you are pitching on Sunday and then all of a sudden we look over at Coley and tell him he is in the game," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "To his credit, he jumped on the mound and threw strikes. He pitched great and kept us in the ball game."
Offensively, De La Guerra and Pomeroy both collected two hits in the victory. Humberto Aranda scored the first run of the game for the Lopes with his second home run of the season in the seventh inning.
The teams traded zeroes to open the game before the Hornets broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning with the help of two GCU errors. The leadoff man reached via an error by the third baseman and moved to second on a pickoff attempt error. That runner eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 1-0 in favor of Sacramento State.
"We played good defense to keep it close, but poor enough defense on some plays to help them get a lead," added Stankiewicz.
Bruns got out of a jam in the sixth inning to keep the Hornets within a run, highlighted by a great diving play in center field by Jon Kealoha to strand runners on second and third.
"Jon made some big plays in the outfield tonight," said Stankiewicz. "He played great."
In the bottom half of the sixth, GCU threatened with runners on second and third, but Hornets starter Brennan Leitao induced a strikeout to get out of the inning.
Aranda connected for a long ball that hit off the right field foul pole to lead off the seventh and knot the game at one. However, Sacramento State got that run back to stake the 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth. The Hornets looked to add more in that frame, but Purdy retired his three final batters to get end the threat.
That led to the bottom of the ninth, where GCU scored both runs with no outs on the board to improve to 10-2 on their home field.
"Chad with the leadoff knock in the ninth was big," Stankiewicz said. "And then things got interesting. And that's all you want to do - you want to keep yourselves in the game late to have a chance. I'm really proud of the guys. We have talked about winning the one-run games, and it was nice to get one tonight."
The series continues tomorrow with game time slated for 1:30 p.m. The game can be heard live on Independent Talk 1100 AM KFNX (online at www.1100kfnx.com or via the TuneIn Radio app on any smartphone).
GCU 3, Sacramento State 2
Â
The win was also the seventh straight at home for GCU.
Click here for Michael Potter's postgame interview with assistant coach Nathan Choate.
For the second time in as many home series, Michael Pomeroy came through with the game-winning knock, this time plating pinch-runner Josh Ethier on an RBI single to left field. GCU loaded the bases with nobody out and trailing 2-1 in the ninth. Garrett Jeffries drew a walk to score Chad De La Guerra, who led off the frame with a single into right field. That brought Pomeroy to the plate, who two weekends ago came through in the 11th inning with the game-winner over Chicago State.
Starter Jorge Perez induced the first out of the game before exiting due to an undisclosed injury. Coley Bruns, slated to get the start on Sunday, came in to pitch, tossing 6.2 solid innings. He allowed six hits and two runs, both unearned, while walking three and striking out seven.
Malcolm Purdy evened his record to 2-2 with 2.0 scoreless innings of relief.
"It's not easy to have a chart in your hand thinking that you are pitching on Sunday and then all of a sudden we look over at Coley and tell him he is in the game," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "To his credit, he jumped on the mound and threw strikes. He pitched great and kept us in the ball game."
Offensively, De La Guerra and Pomeroy both collected two hits in the victory. Humberto Aranda scored the first run of the game for the Lopes with his second home run of the season in the seventh inning.
The teams traded zeroes to open the game before the Hornets broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning with the help of two GCU errors. The leadoff man reached via an error by the third baseman and moved to second on a pickoff attempt error. That runner eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 1-0 in favor of Sacramento State.
"We played good defense to keep it close, but poor enough defense on some plays to help them get a lead," added Stankiewicz.
Bruns got out of a jam in the sixth inning to keep the Hornets within a run, highlighted by a great diving play in center field by Jon Kealoha to strand runners on second and third.
"Jon made some big plays in the outfield tonight," said Stankiewicz. "He played great."
In the bottom half of the sixth, GCU threatened with runners on second and third, but Hornets starter Brennan Leitao induced a strikeout to get out of the inning.
Aranda connected for a long ball that hit off the right field foul pole to lead off the seventh and knot the game at one. However, Sacramento State got that run back to stake the 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth. The Hornets looked to add more in that frame, but Purdy retired his three final batters to get end the threat.
That led to the bottom of the ninth, where GCU scored both runs with no outs on the board to improve to 10-2 on their home field.
"Chad with the leadoff knock in the ninth was big," Stankiewicz said. "And then things got interesting. And that's all you want to do - you want to keep yourselves in the game late to have a chance. I'm really proud of the guys. We have talked about winning the one-run games, and it was nice to get one tonight."
The series continues tomorrow with game time slated for 1:30 p.m. The game can be heard live on Independent Talk 1100 AM KFNX (online at www.1100kfnx.com or via the TuneIn Radio app on any smartphone).
GCU 3, Sacramento State 2
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Purdy, Malcolm (2-2)
L: McLoughlin (2-1)
Batting:
2B: R. Hoskins 1
RBI: R. Hoskins 1 ; W. Soto 1
SF: W. Soto 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Del Grande 2
Batting:
HR: Aranda, Humberto 1
RBI: Aranda, Humberto 1 ; Jeffries, Garrett 1 ; Pomeroy, Michael 1
SH: Walker, David 1
Base Running:
RUNS: De La Guerra, Chad 1 ; Ethier, Josh 1 ; Aranda, Humberto 1
SB: De La Guerra, Chad 1 ; Ethier, Josh 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
ph/lf
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Friday, June 05
Monday, June 01
Saturday, May 16
Sunday, May 10