Lopes sweep Nittany Lions

Saturday, March 10

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

6-8

Penn State

4-8

Penn St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Michael Rincon

3/10/2018 6:10:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Mark Oshidari

The Grand Canyon baseball team defeated Penn State 8-7 in 11 innings to complete a three-game sweep on Saturday afternoon at GCU Ballpark.

"I thought today was a gritty win," said head coach Andy Stankiewicz. "It was a little back-and-forth, like a heavyweight match going toe-to-toe. Pavlica had the game saving assist at home with two outs, a great throw. That's a huge play right there, a momentum shift for us. Kona with the big double and Cotton driving him in. Big performance by Mick Vorhof. Three innings of work. Best way to describe it, we were in a fight and stayed in it until the end."

GCU cruised to a 4-0 lead after three innings behind a strong start by Jake Repavich. Penn State would rally with five runs in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead. GCU chipped away, forcing extra innings with two runs in the bottom half of the eighth.

Vorhof (2-2) finished going three innings allowing four hits and striking out four while walking none.

The game also saw the return to the starting lineup of Austin Bull. Bull picked up right where he started off last year, going 3-for-6 with two RBI at the top of the GCU lineup.

Zach Mallis also had a three-hit day, scoring a pair of runs.

With zeros hanging on the board in extra frames, Penn State looked to have the upper hand. In the top half of the 11th inning and runners on first and second, the Nittany Lions got a single to center field, but Pavlica scooped it up and gunned a strike to home plate as Griffin Barnes put down the tag to keep the score tied.

With momentum on the GCU side, Kona Quiggle doubled to lead off the inning, setting up Quin Cotton's double for the walk off win.

With the win, GCU improves to 6-8 while Penn State drops to 4-8.

GCU is back in action on Wednesday at UC Riverside.