Bruns Guides Lopes to Win Over Omaha

Saturday, February 14

Brazell Stadium

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

2-0

Omaha

0-2

Omaha

Grand Canyon

Brandon Smith laced a pair of doubles in Saturday's win over Omaha.

Photo by: Darryl Webb

2/14/2015 8:28:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Senior tossed six scoreless innings Saturday

Backed by a four-run third inning and Coley Bruns' six innings of shutout ball, the Grand Canyon University baseball team (2-0) defeated visiting Omaha (0-2), 8-1, Saturday night at Brazell Stadium in day two of the GCU Classic.

Bruns fanned four and surrendered just three hits in six innings of scoreless work to pick up the win.

"Coley Bruns has been our Mr. Consistent on the mound and he didn't disappoint in his first time out in the 2015 season," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "He threw strikes, forced contact and we put together some good defense. He makes the hitter not feel comfortable in the batter's box and that's what he showed again tonight."

The Antelopes got on the board in the bottom of the second to jump out to an early 1-0 lead. Freshman designated hitter Garrison Schwartz doubled with one out and came around to score on a Charles Wagner RBI single to left.

Leading 1-0 heading into the home half of the third, GCU's offense erupted in the third with four runs.

Kai Kealoha and David Walker led off the inning with back-to-back singles and advanced to third and second, respectively, on a Maverick error to load the bases with no outs. Chad De La Guerra stepped in and recorded a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Kealoha for GCU's second run. Josh Meyer, the next batter, followed with a sacrifice fly of his own to score Walker and put the score at 3-0. Paul Panaccione, who reached on an error earlier in the inning and advanced to second with a Schwartz walk, stole third to set the table for Brandon Smith. Smith delivered a two-out double to left-center to plate Panaccione and Schwartz and extend Canyon's lead to 5-0.

"We have to be the team that understands who we are and part of what we do is really try to put pressure on the defense and the third inning was a pretty good illustration of how we have to play offensively and the guys really had some quality at-bats," said Stankiewicz.

A De La Guerra solo homer and a Smith RBI double in the bottom of the fifth put the score at 7-0 in favor of the home team. After Omaha got a run back in the top of the seventh to cut into the GCU lead, the Lopes answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning, using a Wagner RBI single to score Smith.

Freshman Jake Repavich saw his first collegiate action on the mound, entering the game in the seventh in relief of Bruns. Repavich settled in nicely, allowing just one run, while striking out a pair in two innings of action. Zebastian Valenzuela came in and pitched a scoreless ninth, recording two strikeouts.

"They (Bradley) are scrappy and they are aggressive with some guys who can really swing the bats," added Stankiewicz. "We're really going to have to pitch well tomorrow and play good defense and that will keep us where we need to be."

The Lopes will close out the weekend Sunday morning when they host Bradley (2-0) at 10 a.m. Fans unable to make it out can hear the game on KXXT 1010 or follow live stats with a link being available at www.gculopes.com.

GCU 8, Omaha 1