Lopes clinch second straight title

Friday, May 18

Bellevue, Wash.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

32-22, 18-5

Seattle U

32-20, 13-10

Grand Canyon

Seattle University

Photo by: Charis Wilson

5/18/2018 5:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

GCU defeats Seattle U to clinch 17th consecutive WAC series

By: Josh Hauser

BELLEVEUE, Wash. - For the second straight year and third time in four years, the Grand Canyon Baseball team won the Western Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship by winning all eight conference series. The Lopes clinched at least a share of the title and the tournament's No. 1 seed by defeating Seattle U 5-3 on Friday afternoon.

"That's what it's about," head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We've been talking about this since August. It's encouraging to see the guys stay on it and have that strong desire and ambition to get it done."

The win went to Jake Repavich and the save to Mick Vorhof, both seniors who witnessed the Lopes win their third WAC Regular Season Title of their four-year careers.

"They've worked their tails off," Stankiewicz said. "That's what the program is about is those guys that invest the time into the program and themselves. They're both tremendous young men that have bright futures out in front of them. Great senior leadership by those two. They do it right, they do it well."

GCU has gone a perfect 8-0 in WAC series over the past two seasons. The Lopes clinched their 17th straight conference series on Friday, a mark that continues to lead the nation.

The Lopes scored in the first inning for the third consecutive game. Preston Pavlica hit a two-out single to score Pikai Winchester and put GCU in front 1-0 early.

GCU scored three times in the third inning thanks to four consecutive hits. Quin Cotton got things started with a double before Winchester, Ian Evans and Zach Malis all recorded run-scoring hits.

The Lopes extended their lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning on another two-out RBI, this time off the bat of Malis.

"We had two two-out knocks for RBIs," Stankiewicz said. "Those are huge. Those are difference-makers. Those two helped us win the ballgame."

On the pitching side, Repavich tossed his first three innings hit-less and his first five innings scoreless. Seattle U broke through for three runs in his final inning of work. Repavich won the 20th game of his career, tying a GCU Division I career record.

Nick Ohanian tossed the seventh and eighth inning scoreless, striking out four in the process. Vorhof put an end to the game on a fly out and back-to-back strikeouts.

"That was cool to see Mick Vorhof, in his hometown, get the nice save," Stankiewicz commented. "That was a thrill for him, and his family got a chance to see him do it."

The Lopes grabbed a 1.5-game lead on second-place New Mexico State. Should the Lopes win on Saturday or New Mexico State lose one of its final two games, GCU would own the conference title outright. Regardless, the Lopes will be the WAC Tournament's No. 1 seed.

"It was good to see. I'm excited for these guys—the work they put in," Stankiewicz said. "One more game tomorrow and we want to finish it well. Then it's back home to get ready for the WAC Tournament."

GCU's first game in the WAC Tournament is set for Thursday, May 24 at 7 p.m. at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.

First pitch in Saturday's regular season finale is set for 9 a.m. MST.