Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, May 25
Mesa, Ariz.
3 p.m.
Grand Canyon
33-24
2
vs
8
Sacramento State
33-24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Grand Canyon
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
2
7
1
Sacramento State
0
0
1
0
7
0
0
0
X
8
6
1
Photo by: Takashi Sato
Long, great season ends quickly
5/25/2018 7:52:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
GCU bows out of WAC tourney to Sacramento State
Grand Canyon was a dominant Western Athletic Conference regular-season champion, winning every series.
The Lopes entered this week's WAC Baseball Tournament as the hottest team, taking its first six-game winning streak crosstown to Hohokam Park in Mesa.
There will now be a long offseason for GCU to try to remember the months of good work over the two days that ended its season swiftly.
The Lopes were eliminated Friday, when a seven-run Sacramento State fifth inning overwhelmed GCU for an 8-2 win in a tournament elimination game. For the fourth consecutive year, the WAC's No. 1 seed will not be the conference representative in an NCAA regional next week.
"I'm proud of our year and obviously it's a bitter taste to finish the way we did," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said of a 33-24 record that set a Division I program record for wins. "We didn't play really good defense in both these games and we let them get away. We'll chalk it up to a learning experience as a ball club and a program. We'll look forward to getting back here in years to come and doing a better job. It's going to leave a bitter taste in our mouth for the rest of the summer and the year."
After Lopes junior Jake Wong's brilliant pitching performance was spoiled by errors and a quiet offense in Thursday's 3-2 loss to Seattle, Friday's hopes were crushed by a five-walk, three-extra base hit Hornets fifth inning that stretched a 1-0 lead to 8-0. Momentum began to turn at the top of that inning when junior second baseman Austin Bull led off by driving a ball to the right-center field warning track, where Hornets right fielder James Outman made a running catch.
The Lopes outhit their opponents 13-12 in the two tournament losses but they squelched many of their scoring chances Friday by hitting into four double plays. GCU entered the tournament as the nation's 20th-ranked hitting team in the nation but scored four or fewer runs total in two consecutive games for only the second time this season.
"It's obviously a big disappointment as far as what we're able to accomplish during the regular season and not being able to follow through with our goal here at the tournament," said GCU junior third baseman Zach Malis, who had three of the Lopes' seven hits and his eighth home run. "Coach preached that we've got to be able to use this as a learning tool to prepare for the future. If we can do that, then it's a valuable lesson. But it's tough for sure."
The GCU pitching staff had the consolation of tying the program's single-season strikeout record with 499 this season, matching what the 1986 team did in 16 more games.
Sacramento State, which holds the same 33-24 record as GCU, won with pitcher Scott Randall beating the Lopes for the second time this month. He regularly kept his pitches low in the zone to allow one run and six hits over eight innings.
"All of a sudden, we got tight," Stankiewicz said. "It was like, 'We gotta, we gotta, we gotta. We can't lose, we can't lose,' versus just being nice, loose, easy and freed up.
"Part of it is that we've been talking about this for a while. It's the first time we're postseason eligible to be in a tournament and then you start thinking past that instead of staying in the moment and thinking about what we have to do right now."
When the game ended with Sacramento State's fourth double play, the Lopes players were frozen on the dugout rail momentarily before shaking hands and quietly collecting their items in the dugout. In the clubhouse, each senior addressed the team and sent an emotional message about taking advantage of every opportunity because their younger teammates' careers will go quickly.
A vast majority of the GCU offense will return next season, when the Lopes will vie for a fourth regular-season WAC title in five years and a different postseason finish.
"We've got some guys who will return next year who know what to expect," Stankiewicz said. "You've got to play well in conference to get here. We get back here again and I think the guys will understand the format of it and how it plays out in the yard. Everything involved lends itself to helping us be prepared for down the road."
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Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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The Lopes entered this week's WAC Baseball Tournament as the hottest team, taking its first six-game winning streak crosstown to Hohokam Park in Mesa.
There will now be a long offseason for GCU to try to remember the months of good work over the two days that ended its season swiftly.
The Lopes were eliminated Friday, when a seven-run Sacramento State fifth inning overwhelmed GCU for an 8-2 win in a tournament elimination game. For the fourth consecutive year, the WAC's No. 1 seed will not be the conference representative in an NCAA regional next week.
"I'm proud of our year and obviously it's a bitter taste to finish the way we did," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said of a 33-24 record that set a Division I program record for wins. "We didn't play really good defense in both these games and we let them get away. We'll chalk it up to a learning experience as a ball club and a program. We'll look forward to getting back here in years to come and doing a better job. It's going to leave a bitter taste in our mouth for the rest of the summer and the year."
After Lopes junior Jake Wong's brilliant pitching performance was spoiled by errors and a quiet offense in Thursday's 3-2 loss to Seattle, Friday's hopes were crushed by a five-walk, three-extra base hit Hornets fifth inning that stretched a 1-0 lead to 8-0. Momentum began to turn at the top of that inning when junior second baseman Austin Bull led off by driving a ball to the right-center field warning track, where Hornets right fielder James Outman made a running catch.
The Lopes outhit their opponents 13-12 in the two tournament losses but they squelched many of their scoring chances Friday by hitting into four double plays. GCU entered the tournament as the nation's 20th-ranked hitting team in the nation but scored four or fewer runs total in two consecutive games for only the second time this season.
"It's obviously a big disappointment as far as what we're able to accomplish during the regular season and not being able to follow through with our goal here at the tournament," said GCU junior third baseman Zach Malis, who had three of the Lopes' seven hits and his eighth home run. "Coach preached that we've got to be able to use this as a learning tool to prepare for the future. If we can do that, then it's a valuable lesson. But it's tough for sure."
The GCU pitching staff had the consolation of tying the program's single-season strikeout record with 499 this season, matching what the 1986 team did in 16 more games.
Sacramento State, which holds the same 33-24 record as GCU, won with pitcher Scott Randall beating the Lopes for the second time this month. He regularly kept his pitches low in the zone to allow one run and six hits over eight innings.
"All of a sudden, we got tight," Stankiewicz said. "It was like, 'We gotta, we gotta, we gotta. We can't lose, we can't lose,' versus just being nice, loose, easy and freed up.
"Part of it is that we've been talking about this for a while. It's the first time we're postseason eligible to be in a tournament and then you start thinking past that instead of staying in the moment and thinking about what we have to do right now."
When the game ended with Sacramento State's fourth double play, the Lopes players were frozen on the dugout rail momentarily before shaking hands and quietly collecting their items in the dugout. In the clubhouse, each senior addressed the team and sent an emotional message about taking advantage of every opportunity because their younger teammates' careers will go quickly.
A vast majority of the GCU offense will return next season, when the Lopes will vie for a fourth regular-season WAC title in five years and a different postseason finish.
"We've got some guys who will return next year who know what to expect," Stankiewicz said. "You've got to play well in conference to get here. We get back here again and I think the guys will understand the format of it and how it plays out in the yard. Everything involved lends itself to helping us be prepared for down the road."
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Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Randall, Scott (7-3)
L: Repavich, Jake (3-5)
Batting:
2B: Malis, Zach 2 ; Mumper, Marc 1
HR: Malis, Zach 1
RBI: Winchester, Pikai 1 ; Malis, Zach 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Malis, Zach 1 ; Mumper, Marc 1
HBP: Pavlica, Preston 1
Batting:
2B: Smith, Matt 1 ; Outman, James 1
3B: Floyd, PJ 1
RBI: Torres, Keith 1 ; Smith, Matt 2 ; Outman, James 2 ; Floyd, PJ 2 ; McWilliam, Andrew 1
SF: McWilliam, Andrew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dawkins, Ian 1 ; Torres, Keith 1 ; Smith, Matt 1 ; Outman, James 1 ; Esposito, Vinny 1 ; Floyd, PJ 1 ; McWilliam, Andrew 1 ; McPhillips, Dylan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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