GCU recovers from late rally, tops Central Michigan

Saturday, February 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 P.M.

Grand Canyon

4-3

Central Michigan

0-6

Central Michigan

Grand Canyon

2/27/2016 6:50:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Josh Hauser

PHOENIX - Behind another seven innings of shutout work from Jake Repavich, Grand Canyon recovered from a late Central Michigan rally to defeat the Chippewas 3-1 in front of 1,022 fans at Brazell Stadium on Saturday night. Repavich has allowed just five hits in 14.0 innings of work to begin 2016.

"Jake is a sharpshooter. He commands the ball well," head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "He keeps hitters off-balance so well. We needed that again and he stepped up big time for us. I was proud of the fact that, even though we weren't swinging the bats really well in the early part of the game, the defense made some nice plays, we got some bunts down and gave ourselves a chance to score three runs late to win the game."

It was a quiet game through five innings with both starting pitchers cruising their way through the contest. Between Repavich and Central Michigan starter Nick Deeg, both offenses were held scoreless.

The first significant threat of the game came in the top of the fifth for the Chippewas. Logan Regnier led off the frame with a double deep down the left field line and moved to third on a groundout. Repavich coaxed a strikeout for the second out of the inning before the Lopes tagged out Regnier at the plate after an attempted double steal.

In the home-half of the fifth, Matt Haggerty recorded the Lopes' first base hit of the game on an infield single to short. Haggerty was stranded at second base to keep the game scoreless through five innings.

The Lopes finally broke the scoreless tie in the sixth inning. Austin Bull opened the frame with a line-drive base hit into left field, just over the reach of the second baseman. Bull eventually came into score on a sacrifice fly by Thomas Lerouge.

Central Michigan tied the score with a single tally in the top of the eighth inning. The Chippewas used a pair of singles and a run-scoring double to even the score.

Grand Canyon did not wait long for a rebuttal, reclaiming the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Bull once again opened the inning with a hit, racing to second on his first career double. History repeated itself as Bull came into score on an RBI by Lerouge. The Lopes added an insurance tally later in the inning with a run-scoring single into left field by Paul Panaccione to push the lead to 3-1.

"Austin is a freshman who has some moxie to him," Stankiewicz said. "He brings a lot of energy on the field for us. That was an aggressive play to stretch a single into a double. That was a hustling double. He's always looking to try to get the extra base, and that comes up big."

Despite allowing two singles in the top of the ninth inning, Mick Vorhof recorded the final three outs to earn the victory.

"Mick stays in control of himself very well," Stankiewicz said. "He's our guy that we go to at the end because there's a trust factor he's built with our staff."

Haggerty, Bull and Pannacione were responsible for all six of Grand Canyon's hits, with each batter collecting two. Lerouge was involved in all three of GCU's runs, driving in Bull twice and scoring once himself.

The Lopes are back in action in the final game of the GCU Classic on Sunday, hosting Saint Mary's. The Gaels come into Sunday's contest with a 5-2 overall record and a 1-1 mark in the GCU Classic. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. with freshman Tyler Wyatt getting the nod for Grand Canyon and Saint Mary's sending out Cameron Neff.