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Insider: Malis' homers, home trip
5/7/2018 3:56:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog
WAC Hitter of the Week returns to Tucson for familiar foe
Zach Malis was the ultimate tiebreaker Sunday.
In a series that split the first two games at CSU Bakersfield, the Grand Canyon junior third baseman broke a tie score three times with home runs in Sunday's 8-5 win.
It was a rare exploit for any Lope. No GCU player had homered three times in a game since 2007. Even as well as Malis had been hitting for several weeks, it was a phenomenal feat for a player who entered the game with eight career home runs in 460 at-bats.
"The whole day was kind of surreal," Malis said Monday. "I've never done anything like that. Even with the fact of it sinking in, it's kind of surreal."
The clutch displays of power kept GCU in first place in the Western Athletic Conference and typified how Malis turned around his offense this season. Malis was hitting .179 after 18 games when his work with volunteer coach Justin Gemoll -- on opening his batting stance, raising his grip and reading pitch selection -- started paying off.
Malis has hit .346 in the past 28 games, part of a GCU offensive surge that helped the Lopes go 21-7 in those games. He also has been a big part of a strong Lopes defense, going 28 games without an error and making two highlight gems in an April 29 rubber-match win against New Mexico State.
On Sunday in Bakersfield, Malis pulled the first pitch he saw over the fence in right-center field to open scoring. He showed patience in looking for fastballs on favorable counts after that. He homered on a 3-1 count to break a 2-2 tie, drew a walk and then belted his third home run on a 2-0 count in the 10th inning.
"That was just kind of nuts," said Malis, whose 6-for-14 weekend made him WAC Hitter of the Week. "I've never had a game like that. It's just a really big blessing. I don't know that I can really take credit for that. Praise Jesus. I'm not even a guy who hits a ton of home runs in batting practice."
It kicked off a special week for Malis, who will play in his hometown Tuesday and play a critical home conference series against Sacramento State this weekend.
The Lopes have a 6 p.m. game Tuesday at Hi Corbett Field against Arizona, where his mother and aunt played volleyball, his father coached volleyball, his grandfather was an associate athletic director and his fianceé, McKenna Foxworthy, graduates this week.
Malis attended Desert Christian, which has 164 high school students and is a seven-mile drive east from UA. Malis became Desert Christian's first Division I athlete when he signed with GCU.
"Stank (Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz) and the coaching staff here were pretty much the only program giving me an opportunity at the Division I level, and I'm super-thankful for the opportunity," Malis said. "University of Arizona wasn't really interested, which is fine. I got the perfect setup and I'm in the perfect place at GCU. I honestly wouldn't have wanted to do it any different."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
In a series that split the first two games at CSU Bakersfield, the Grand Canyon junior third baseman broke a tie score three times with home runs in Sunday's 8-5 win.
It was a rare exploit for any Lope. No GCU player had homered three times in a game since 2007. Even as well as Malis had been hitting for several weeks, it was a phenomenal feat for a player who entered the game with eight career home runs in 460 at-bats.
"The whole day was kind of surreal," Malis said Monday. "I've never done anything like that. Even with the fact of it sinking in, it's kind of surreal."
The clutch displays of power kept GCU in first place in the Western Athletic Conference and typified how Malis turned around his offense this season. Malis was hitting .179 after 18 games when his work with volunteer coach Justin Gemoll -- on opening his batting stance, raising his grip and reading pitch selection -- started paying off.
Malis has hit .346 in the past 28 games, part of a GCU offensive surge that helped the Lopes go 21-7 in those games. He also has been a big part of a strong Lopes defense, going 28 games without an error and making two highlight gems in an April 29 rubber-match win against New Mexico State.
On Sunday in Bakersfield, Malis pulled the first pitch he saw over the fence in right-center field to open scoring. He showed patience in looking for fastballs on favorable counts after that. He homered on a 3-1 count to break a 2-2 tie, drew a walk and then belted his third home run on a 2-0 count in the 10th inning.
"That was just kind of nuts," said Malis, whose 6-for-14 weekend made him WAC Hitter of the Week. "I've never had a game like that. It's just a really big blessing. I don't know that I can really take credit for that. Praise Jesus. I'm not even a guy who hits a ton of home runs in batting practice."
It kicked off a special week for Malis, who will play in his hometown Tuesday and play a critical home conference series against Sacramento State this weekend.
The Lopes have a 6 p.m. game Tuesday at Hi Corbett Field against Arizona, where his mother and aunt played volleyball, his father coached volleyball, his grandfather was an associate athletic director and his fianceé, McKenna Foxworthy, graduates this week.
Malis attended Desert Christian, which has 164 high school students and is a seven-mile drive east from UA. Malis became Desert Christian's first Division I athlete when he signed with GCU.
"Stank (Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz) and the coaching staff here were pretty much the only program giving me an opportunity at the Division I level, and I'm super-thankful for the opportunity," Malis said. "University of Arizona wasn't really interested, which is fine. I got the perfect setup and I'm in the perfect place at GCU. I honestly wouldn't have wanted to do it any different."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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