Lopes rally late to beat SJSU on Senior Day

Wednesday, May 10

Phoenix, Ariz.

2:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

25-23

San Jose State

16-31-1

San Jose State

Grand Canyon

5/10/2017 4:53:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Alex Nash

PHOENIX - The Grand Canyon baseball team said farewell to Brazell Stadium on Wednesday in story book fashion. The Lopes scored three in the eighth and AJ Franks, who was honored prior to the game as the only senior on senior night, earned his second save of the year en route to an 8-5 victory over San José State.

GCU pitching was led by Degan Harte who earned his first win as a Lope. Harte faced seven batters in his two innings of work and gave up only one hit during a crucial part of the game when the score was all tied up.

Franks, when asked about how it felt to close out the game, said, "It was really special. Like you said, this is my last one, so I really enjoyed closing this one out."

The bats came alive in this one with nine Lopes batters recording a hit. The offense was led by Austin Bull who went 3-for-5 with one run scored, and Tyler Wyatt who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs by way of a long home run.

For the second straight day the Lopes used a second inning rally to take the lead early. Preston Pavlica doubled to start the inning, followed by a Greg Saenz single and a Josh Meyer sacrifice fly to score the first run of the game. One pitch later, Wyatt came up huge and launched a moon shot to left center to increase the lead, 3-0.

The Spartans responded quickly and efficiently though, scoring two in the third, two in the fourth and Shane Timmons launched a home run to the same spot as Wyatt in the fifth to put SJSU up 5-3. GCU left runners on in every inning but could not capitalize until the sixth.

In the sixth, Spartans pitcher, Jaiden France attempted a pick off but was called for a balk which scored Wyatt. Ian Evans added on to the momentum by earning his first career triple, scoring Bull to tie the game at five.

Errors helped the Lopes break the tie in the eighth inning. Marc Mumper reached on an error in the beginning of the inning and would later come around to score on the second error. With two outs, GCU capitalized with back-to-back RBI singles from Garrison Schwartz and Pavlica to increase the lead by three runs.

Franks came on in the ninth and sat down the Spartans in order to earn his second save of the year and ultimately the win. The Lopes wrapped up their home schedule and won for the final time at Brazell Stadium before it goes under offseason renovations.

GCU will head to Orem, Utah to face Utah Valley for the final WAC series of the season. The weekend start times are set for 5:00 p.m MST on Friday and Saturday with the finale at 11:00 a.m. MST on Sunday.

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