GCU erases 8-0 deficit, sweeps aside UTRGV

Sunday, April 23

Phoenix, Ariz.

12:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

19-19, 0

UT Rio Grande Valley

21-22, 0

UT Rio Grande Valley

Grand Canyon

4/23/2017 4:53:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Josh Hauser

PHOENIX - For the second straight day, the Grand Canyon baseball team walked off with a 10th-inning victory over UTRGV. The Lopes trailed 8-0 as late as the sixth inning before rallying and winning on a Garrison Schwartz walk-off single, driving in Preston Pavlica who doubled to lead off the frame. GCU remains a perfect 9-0 at home in WAC play, sweeping all three opponents it has faced.

The end of Sunday's game mirrored what went down on Saturday afternoon. GCU began the 10th inning with a double, this one a shot down the left field line by Pavlica. Schwartz stepped in right behind him and hammered a ground ball up the middle, sneaking it by the glove of the second baseman and allowing Pavlica to score from second.

"In the back of my mind I was wanting to end it," Schwartz said, speaking of when he entered the batter's box in the 10th. "With a runner on second and no outs, you want to get something to the right side of the field so he can advance to third with one out. I was hoping that I could hit something hard and sneak it through, and that's what happened and we scored and got the win."

UTRGV jumped on Grand Canyon early, using a pair of home runs including a grand slam to take a 7-0 lead in the second inning. The Vaqueros later plated a run in the fourth to extend their lead to 8-0.

"We just felt like we needed to put together quality at bats," assistant coach Gregg Wallis said. "Obviously, we didn't give up. We showed a lot of fight and grit as a team to come back from that big deficit. We just had to focus on winning every inning after going down by seven."

The Lopes got right back in the game with a six-run sixth inning. The first six batters in the frame recorded base hits, highlighted by an RBI single from Tom Lerouge, an RBI single from Pavlica, an RBI double from Schwartz, and a three-run home run by Ian Evans. Evans' blast -- his second of the season -- pulled the Lopes within two at 8-6. All six runs scored without the Vaqueros recording an out.

"Having those big innings early in the game by the other team is always tough, but it's still early," Schwartz said. "Our offense has been playing really well together. We trusted that if we kept putting good at bats together, we'd get some hits and score a bunch of runs. We did just that. We had just enough time to come back and win."

With time running out and still trailing 8-6, Grand Canyon put a pair of runs on the board to tie the game in the eighth inning. Pavlica and Schwartz proved to be the catalysts of the eighth as well, drawing a leadoff walk and a double, respectively. Evans again came up with a big RBI, pulling GCU within a run on a sacrifice fly to center. Zach Malis -- who ended the series with six hits -- pushed across the tying run on an RBI single.

Atop the mound, Degan Harte and AJ Franks had some heroics to keep UTRGV off the scoreboard. Harte had his best outing of the year, throwing three scoreless innings with three strikeouts. In the ninth, Franks was able to strand a runner 90 feet away after reaching third base with just one out in the frame. Franks tossed two scoreless innings and earned his fourth win of the year.

Grand Canyon went down in order in the home-half of the ninth, sending the game to extras and setting up the 10th-inning walk-off.

The Lopes tallied double-digit hits for the fifth consecutive game, using 12 to get the job done on Sunday. Schwartz had a three-hit game for the second straight day, while Lerouge and Pavlica also had multiple hits. Evans had four RBIs in the contest, the high for any GCU batter in a game this season.

Ivan Estrella was key for UTRGV, hitting a grand slam and a double in the contest, collecting five RBIs.

The Lopes remain 0.5 games ahead of New Mexico State for the lead in the WAC standings, setting up a huge showdown in Las Cruces next weekend. Prior to that WAC series, Grand Canyon will host Big 12 opponent, Kansas, for a pair of mid-week games at Brazell Stadium. First pitch on Tuesday is set for 7 p.m. MST before the series concludes on Wednesday at 1 p.m.