Lopes start 'grind' with 2-2 split

Monday, February 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

2-2

Stanford

4-0

Stanford

Grand Canyon

2/18/2019 6:27:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Stanford wins 10-4 at GCU to cap Angels College Classic

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

Before the season opened Friday, Grand Canyon head coach Andy Stankiewicz said that his Lopes were buying into the grind.

After opening the season with a split of four games in four days, Lopes players independently talked about the grind of a promising season. GCU opened with dominating wins against Wichita State and Ball Sate and nearly pulled off a stunning comeback against Wichita State before taking a rough 14-4 loss to undefeated Stanford on Monday at GCU Ballpark.

In a season with three months to climb, the grind precedes the shine and the Angels College Classic was a step toward that for the Lopes. GCU drew an average of 2,331 fans for three home games and came within a hit of rallying from an 8-1 hole in the other game Saturday night at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

"That's why we play great teams like Stanford, so we can see what it will take to move our program where we want to take it," Stankiewicz said.

"We were consistent the first two games and put good at bats together and we didn't the next two. As a result, we end up with a split on the weekend. It's early. It's all part of what we're trying to build here moving forward. I liked the weekend because we got a lot of at bats for a lot of guys and a lot of guys pitched. Hopefully, the guys see that every weekend is all-hands-on-deck."

Already, the Lopes have sent 16 players to the plate and 12 to the mound with 12 GCU players making their Division I debuts.

Junior Kade Mechals and freshman Pierson Ohl won in quality starts while junior Kona Quiggle (6 for 12, 6 RBIs) and senior Pikai Wichester (6 for 13, 6 RBIs) led an offense that was averaging 9.7 runs until Stanford freshman Alex Williams shut out the Lopes for six innings on three hits.

"Sometimes, we make it too big and try to do too much," said Quiggle, a first baseman who doubled, tripled and homered in the four games. "We beat ourselves a little bit but we're going to try to turn that around. We're going to make it happen and get these big schools pretty soon.

"We're doing something special for sure. We've got a lot of grinders and dogs out here who play hard. It's going to be fun."

Senior center fielder Preston Pavlica was the only Lopes player to have a mult-hit day Monday against the Cardinal (4-0).

The Lopes trailed 10-0 but still posted a three-run seventh inning and had the bases loaded in the eighth inning.

"I knew we were all a bunch of scrappy players," Pavlica said. "We all want to win for each other. We just care about winning so it's going to be a good team this year."

GCU sophomore Nick Hull took the loss, giving up five of the staff's nine base on balls.

The Lopes will continue to be tested this week, when they play a weekend series at Texas Christian, a 2-1 team that routed No. 1 Vanderbilt 10-2 on Sunday.

"It means a lot to them to play together as a team," Stankiewicz said of his players. "That's going to be very important, especially as you get to the middle and to the end. They are guys who can grind it together and play for each other. That's going to have to be who we are. We have a nice combination of players. Together, if we play well, I think we have a chance to be very good. If we try to individualize this thing, we're going to struggle."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro