GCU run rules Northern Colorado, capping off sweep

Sunday, April 2

Phoenix, Ariz.

12:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

12-14, 0

Northern Colorado

11-15, 0

Northern Colorado

Grand Canyon

4/2/2017 3:58:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Josh Hauser

PHOENIX - Grand Canyon poured on the offense, scoring 12 runs for the second straight day and besting yesterday's season-high with 16 hits to cap off a series sweep of Northern Colorado on Sunday afternoon. The Lopes improved to 6-0 in conference play, their best start to a conference schedule since beginning California Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7-0 mark in 1999.

For the series, GCU outscored the Bears 31-5 and out-hit the visitors 40-17. It was the most runs scored in a series since also scoring 31 in a sweep at North Dakota last season.

"We swung the bats well, but it all starts on the mound," head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "Our guys did a great job of putting zeroes up. We're not chasing, we're getting a little toe-hold at the plate there and seeing the ball well. The guys did a nice job of finding their pitch and letting it go when they saw it. We like hitting here at Brazell."

For the third straight ballgame, hits were coming from seemingly everyone in GCU's lineup. Eight of the nine batters picked up a base hit in Sunday's game, with five players putting together multi-hit performances.

"A lot of guys were contributing," Stankiewicz said. "Tom Lerouge and Austin Bull up at the top did a great job, and it's good to see Zach Malis get a nice homer today. We need him to get going. Hitting is contagious."

While the bats got much of the spotlight, hitting .400 on the series, GCU's pitching staff was terrific throughout the weekend. The starting pitching trio of Jake Wong, Jake Repavich and Jack Schneider went 3-0 in the series, combining to toss 18.2 innings while allowing just 13 hits and four earned runs.

"They really set the tone," pitching coach Rich Dorman said. "You have to credit our offense for getting some runs early to allow us to settle in and be a little more aggressive with our fastballs. For the most part, we executed our game plan really well. Those guys are focused, they've been working hard between starts and they've been keeping that momentum going."

For Schneider, it was just his third career start. Starting in the finale of a WAC series for the second straight weekend, Schneider was able to pick up the win despite only throwing 4.1 innings because GCU ended the game in seven innings.

"I was attacking the zone today," Schneider said. "Whenever I go out there, I'm just trying to let my defense work because they're always great behind me.

"It's great to pitch on the weekends. I've always loved starting, so it's nice being that Sunday guy. So far we've been 2-0 going into both Sundays so getting that sweep is huge to keep that momentum going."

Grand Canyon opened the scoring with a two-run second inning. Bull and Lerouge reached base to lead off the frame with Ian Evans and Garrison Schwartz driving in runs behind them.

The Lopes really picked up the scoring in the fourth inning. Tyler Wyatt continued his hot hitting, reaching on a single to begin the fourth. Behind him stepped Malis, who hammered his fourth career home run and first of the season to right field.

"It was a change-up," Malis recalled. "Recently I've been working on staying balanced on those off-speed pitches. I was able to put a good swing on it. It felt pretty good off the bat."

A sacrifice fly by Lerouge upped GCU's lead to 5-0 out of the fourth inning.

The Lopes tacked on four runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to put the game out of reach quickly. Key hits came from everywhere in the lineup including an RBI single for Greg Saenz, an RBI single for Josh Meyer, a two-RBI double for Marc Mumper, an RBI double from Schwartz and an RBI single from Wyatt.

In the seventh with two outs, Wyatt came up with another RBI single, this one a de facto walk-off hit as the conference's 10-run mercy rule went into effect.

Evans, Wyatt and Saenz all logged three-hit days at the plate for GCU's red hot offense.

Josh Andrews and AJ Franks ensured that Grand Canyon's bullpen would close out a scoreless weekend. All in all, the Lopes' relievers tossed 6.1 innings of four-hit, shutout baseball over the weekend.

Grand Canyon hits another road-heavy portion of the schedule with eight of the next nine away from Phoenix. First up is a visit to Fayetteville, Ark. for a two-game mid-week series with No. 20 Arkansas. First pitch on Tuesday is set for 4:30 p.m. MST.