GCU walks off on No. 7 TCU in extras

Sunday, February 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

1-2

TCU

2-1

TCU

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Michael Rincon

2/18/2018 7:09:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

GCU scores three in wild 12th inning to win

By: Josh Hauser

PHOENIX - After a wild, back-and-forth 12th inning, the Lopes erased a two-run deficit and scored three runs to walk off with the series finale over No. 7 TCU on Sunday afternoon. The win over the Horned Frogs marks the highest-ranked opponent that GCU has defeated in its 66-year baseball history.

The walk-off victory was a perfect cap on the opening weekend of GCU's new facility, Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark. Over the three-game series, 7,895 fans filed into the new facility, including 1,934 for Sunday's matinee. All three attendance numbers rank in the program's top five, including Friday night's shattering of the previous all-time record.

"It was an awesome feeling when you can go out there and get a win," designated hitter Cuba Bess said. "It was a good team effort, we needed everyone. We just had a chip on our shoulder. A brand new ballpark, and a lot of people came out for the first three games. We wanted to give them something exciting to see. When we got down, we didn't get down on ourselves. We kept up, kept the fire, kept the energy going."

The Horned Frogs erased a five-run GCU lead to force extra innings. After playing the 10th and 11th frames to a stalemate, TCU jumped ahead 8-6 after taking advantage of four walks and an RBI single. Jeramy Smith -- pitching for the second consecutive day -- came in and drew an infield fly and a fly out to center to limit the damage.

In the home-half of the 12th, Marc Mumper got things going by putting a ball in play and reaching on a fielding error. Kona Quiggle and Pikai Winchester reached on back-to-back singles to load up the bases with still nobody out. The No. 3 and 4 hitters -- Ian Evans and Quin Cotton -- kept the runners going station to station with consecutive singles through the left side of the infield. The Lopes had tied the game with still no outs in the inning.

TCU made a pitching change, and Austin Broyles recorded the first two outs of the inning without allowing the winning run to score. With the Lopes in jeopardy of wasting a premium chance to end the game, Zach Malis poked a ball back towards the pitcher, and Broyles threw it wide of the bag at first. The Lopes mobbed Malis down the first base line as part of the first walk-off at GCU Ballpark.

Nearly four hours prior, freshman Nick Hull made his first collegiate start. The right-hander delivered just what the Lopes needed, tossing 5.0 innings of one-run baseball, striking out four and not allowing a walk.

"It's great to throw against such a high-caliber team on my first start," Hull said. "It really gets me going in the college atmosphere. I just wanted to go out there and throw strikes. I've always tried to pride myself in not giving up free bases. [TCU] can really swing it. That's one of the things that makes them such a great ballclub is they never back down from a challenge. Even when they're down, they can always seem to find their way back. But we ended on top tonight."

When Hull exited the game after five innings, GCU held a 6-1 lead.

"He was fantastic. He did a great job," Stankiewicz said. "Since Day 1, showing up in the fall, he was a guy that we looked at him and his bullpen work ... he's got a pretty good feel for the strike zone. It worked out to where we needed a spot start on opening weekend. He jumped in and took full advantage of his opportunity."

A big part of the reason that GCU did hold a five-run lead at the mid-way point of the ballgame was thanks to Bess. As a part of a four-run inning in the fifth, Bess rocketed his first career home run over the right-field wall.

"I knew I just wanted to hit something hard," Bess recalled. "I was down, ready for the fastball. He hung a curveball, and I put a good swing on it. I got a hold of it and there it went. It felt good off the bat. I was really amped up."

Both teams recorded 12 hits on the day, but the Lopes committed one error compared to TCU's three.

In his first time as GCU's leadoff hitter, sophomore Kona Quiggle went 2-for-5 with two runs scored on the day. But Evans, Cotton and Bess in the heart of the GCU order accounted for half of the team's hits, combining to go 6-for-16 with seven RBIs and four runs scored.

"We always talk about growing as a program," Stankiewicz said. "A win like this, hopefully [our team] realizes that if everybody does their job ... we got a chance to be pretty good."

GCU wraps up the first homestand in GCU Ballpark with the hosting of Washington State on Tuesday night. The Lopes will take a pause to remember last year's accomplishments prior to the game, honoring the 2017 WAC Championship squad with a pregame ring ceremony. With a 6 p.m. first pitch, LHP Jake Repavich will get the nod on the hill.