Surging bats finish sweep of UNLV

Wednesday, April 4

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-14

UNLV

22-9

UNLV

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Travis Neely

4/4/2018 6:21:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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Lopes win for 9th time in past 10 home games

By: <a href="http://gculopes.com/index.aspx?path=coro">Paul Coro</a>

Grand Canyon head coach Andy Stankiewicz reminds his baseball team regularly that it needs to build momentum throughout the season to be playing its best when games matter most.

That is happening at GCU Ballpark, where the Lopes have won nine of their past 10 games with Wednesday's 10-6 win against UNLV.

That is coming to fruition overall with eight wins in the past 10 games, putting the Lopes in the Western Athletic Conference lead (5-1) and at .500 overall (14-14).

The most encouraging part might be that is true at the plate. After hitting .259 in their first 21 games, the Lopes are batting .360 in the past seven games.

GCU recorded its first two-game, midweek sweep since 2015 and beat UNLV twice in the same season for the first time since 1983 by pounding the Rebels with 13 hits Wednesday. GCU leadoff hitter Austin Bull, a junior second baseman, reached base and scored four times and each of the next five Lopes in the batting order added two hits.

"Our first four hitters have done a nice job of being really competitive in the batter's box," Stankiewicz said. "We've had a little bit of a lapse there at five and six. With Zach Malis and Preston Pavlica finding their groove a little bit, that's going to be important for them to give us good at bats moving forward. Hitting is confidence. It's feeling good about yourself at the plate. I really believe it's going to lead into a good weekend for them."

The Lopes carried over Tuesday's decisive eighth-inning rally by taking a 5-0 lead through Wednesday's first three innings, when freshman Drew Zmuda shut out UNLV on four hits to drop his season earned run average to 3.24 in five appearances. It was a three-inning start by design in a game intended to give relievers work.

That was most valuable for GCU senior Jeramy Smith, who gave up a single and two walks to open Tuesday's sixth inning when UNLV took a lead. That brought Smith's season walk total to nine in 10 2/3 innings, matching his 2017 season total. Called "a strike thrower" by Stankiewicz, Smith got back to getting ahead in counts Wednesday with early fastballs and mixing in his change-ups.

Smith pitched two shutout innings, allowing one hit and no walks.

"I wanted it," Smith said of coming out of the bullpen less than 20 hours later. "It was a little bit frustrating last night but I wanted to come out and attack the zone and give the team the best shot to win. I got frustrated with the umpire yesterday and started aiming the ball. That doesn't ever work.

"If you attack and get ahead, it makes it a lot more fun and a lot easier to pitch."

GCU broke open Wednesday's game in the third inning, when two UNLV errors and junior designated hitter Pikai Winchester's bunt single loaded the bases with no outs. Senior first baseman Ian Evans' sacrifice fly, junior third baseman Zach Malis' lined RBI single and junior center fielder Preston Pavlica's two-RBI double to left field gave the Lopes a 5-0 lead.

Sophomore right fielder Quin Cotton had a two-hit, two-RBI day, giving him a team-leading .361 batting average and a team-leading 23 runs batted in. He hit .274 last season as a part-time freshman starter.

"I think the entire offense, myself included, we're all hitting our stride," Cotton said. "We've all got a lot of at bats under our belts at this point. We're all seeing the ball pretty well and gaining confidence.

"It's good to get more at bats and be in the lineup more consistently. Trusting my abilities and knowing what I can do has really paid off for me this year."

The Lopes return to WAC action Friday, when they open a home series against Utah Valley at 6 p.m. with ace Jake Wong (4-1, 1.82 ERA) slated to start. GCU has won 11 consecutive conference series for the nation's longest streak.

"We played pretty well," Stankiewicz said of the two-game UNLV series. "That's a good-hitting team. It really is. Everybody who comes up in the lineup, you're like, 'Oh, he can really hit.' You watch their BP and you're like, 'Oh my God.' So to be able to get two wins against an offense like that, it hopefully builds momentum and some steam going into the conference weekend."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.