Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, March 16
Phoenix, Ariz.
2 p.m.
Grand Canyon
9-10
25
vs
18
Xavier
6-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Xavier
2
0
1
3
4
0
0
8
0
18
24
1
Grand Canyon
4
0
0
0
1
16
0
4
X
25
20
1
16-run inning earns series victory
3/16/2019 2:14:00 PM | Baseball
Lopes record 20 hits and score 25 runs in series finale against Xavier
The Grand Canyon baseball team used a 16-run sixth inning to overcome a 10-4 deficit as the Lopes took the four-game series, defeating Xavier 25-18 Saturday afternoon at GCU Ballpark.
The Lopes collected 20 hits including 10 that went for extra bases, while drawing a new Division I team record 15 walks. GCU reached the 20-hit mark for the first time since a 14-inning loss at UC Riverside last season.Â
Ten Lopes recorded hits while scoring the seventh-highest total in a Division I game this season and the most runs GCU has scored since a 30-7 win over Bradley on Feb. 15, 2015.Â
"I was really pleased with our offense," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "Today was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for us with every emotion you could possibly have, but anytime you can win three of four, it's a good weekend."Â
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Xavier (6-11) took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first. GCU responded quickly as sophomore Cuba Bess — who made his return to the lineup after missing the last six games — took the first pitch he saw and blasted one to deep right field for his fifth home run of the season and his first career grand slam. Bess finished 3 for 3 on the afternoon with four RBI while also drawing three walks.Â
"We kept grinding out good at bats and we're going to need that productive offense moving forward," Stankiewicz said. "It was good to see our guys putting good at bats together and to have our guys staying with it throughout the weekend."
The Musketeers scored in the third, fourth and fifth inning to take a 10-5 lead over GCU. That didn't last long.Â
The Lopes drew seven walks and collected eight hits, highlighted by home runs from Preston Pavlica and Pikai Winchester, as the Lopes scored 16 runs before Xavier recorded an out in the bottom of the sixth.
Xavier started to mount a comeback in the top of the eighth, scoring eight runs off of five hits to bring the score to 21-18.Â
Pavlica gave the Lopes some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, hitting his second home run of the afternoon. The senior outfielder finished with three hits, two home runs and six RBIs. Pavlica has two of the three most recent multi-homer games by a GCU batter, doing so at Kansas State as a freshman on April 27, 2016. He also had the most RBIs in a game since Brandon Smith had six in a game against North Dakota on March 22, 2015.
In his first collegiate start, freshman pitcher Michael Perzan went an inning before the Lopes' bullpen of Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis, Nick Hull, Nick Ohanian, Dalton Chapman, Michael Hansell and Cole Hoskins combined for 8 innings of relief.
"These are great opportunities for our guys," Stankiewicz said. "For our young guys coming out of the bullpen who haven't had many innings to get good work in, these opportunities will help build confidence for them moving forward and into conference play."
Chapman (1-0) picked up his first win of the season after coming into the game and pitched a scoreless inning while giving up one hit and striking out one.Â
"I think we have a ways to go, but that's alright," Stankiewicz said. "You can't give at bats away and you can't give innings away and today was a good lesson for us as a ballclub. I think we're getting ourselves in a good spot heading into conference."
The 45 combined runs in Saturday's win was the second-highest run total in a GCU Division I game since 47 runs were scored in a 25-22 win over Western Carolina on May 5, 1993, when the Lopes were a Division I independent program. It was the fourth-highest combined run total in the GCU program's 66-year history.
GCU improves to 9-10 on the season and will return Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. to welcome Pac-12 opponent Utah to GCU Ballpark.
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The Lopes collected 20 hits including 10 that went for extra bases, while drawing a new Division I team record 15 walks. GCU reached the 20-hit mark for the first time since a 14-inning loss at UC Riverside last season.Â
Ten Lopes recorded hits while scoring the seventh-highest total in a Division I game this season and the most runs GCU has scored since a 30-7 win over Bradley on Feb. 15, 2015.Â
"I was really pleased with our offense," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "Today was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for us with every emotion you could possibly have, but anytime you can win three of four, it's a good weekend."Â
Â
Xavier (6-11) took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first. GCU responded quickly as sophomore Cuba Bess — who made his return to the lineup after missing the last six games — took the first pitch he saw and blasted one to deep right field for his fifth home run of the season and his first career grand slam. Bess finished 3 for 3 on the afternoon with four RBI while also drawing three walks.Â
"We kept grinding out good at bats and we're going to need that productive offense moving forward," Stankiewicz said. "It was good to see our guys putting good at bats together and to have our guys staying with it throughout the weekend."
The Musketeers scored in the third, fourth and fifth inning to take a 10-5 lead over GCU. That didn't last long.Â
The Lopes drew seven walks and collected eight hits, highlighted by home runs from Preston Pavlica and Pikai Winchester, as the Lopes scored 16 runs before Xavier recorded an out in the bottom of the sixth.
Xavier started to mount a comeback in the top of the eighth, scoring eight runs off of five hits to bring the score to 21-18.Â
Pavlica gave the Lopes some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, hitting his second home run of the afternoon. The senior outfielder finished with three hits, two home runs and six RBIs. Pavlica has two of the three most recent multi-homer games by a GCU batter, doing so at Kansas State as a freshman on April 27, 2016. He also had the most RBIs in a game since Brandon Smith had six in a game against North Dakota on March 22, 2015.
In his first collegiate start, freshman pitcher Michael Perzan went an inning before the Lopes' bullpen of Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis, Nick Hull, Nick Ohanian, Dalton Chapman, Michael Hansell and Cole Hoskins combined for 8 innings of relief.
"These are great opportunities for our guys," Stankiewicz said. "For our young guys coming out of the bullpen who haven't had many innings to get good work in, these opportunities will help build confidence for them moving forward and into conference play."
Chapman (1-0) picked up his first win of the season after coming into the game and pitched a scoreless inning while giving up one hit and striking out one.Â
"I think we have a ways to go, but that's alright," Stankiewicz said. "You can't give at bats away and you can't give innings away and today was a good lesson for us as a ballclub. I think we're getting ourselves in a good spot heading into conference."
The 45 combined runs in Saturday's win was the second-highest run total in a GCU Division I game since 47 runs were scored in a 25-22 win over Western Carolina on May 5, 1993, when the Lopes were a Division I independent program. It was the fourth-highest combined run total in the GCU program's 66-year history.
GCU improves to 9-10 on the season and will return Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. to welcome Pac-12 opponent Utah to GCU Ballpark.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ohanian, Nick (2-1)
L: RICHARD,Damien (0-1)
Batting:
2B: GIVIN,Chris 1 ; MAJOR, Allbry 2 ; ALTENBERGER, Ryan 1 ; SHEPSKI, Jake 2 ; STEPHENSON, Luke 1
3B: GIVIN,Chris 1
HR: WARKENTIN, Matt 1 ; STEPHENSON, Luke 1
RBI: GIVIN,Chris 3 ; GRAMMES, Conor 2 ; MAJOR, Allbry 1 ; ALTENBERGER, Ryan 2 ; SHEPSKI, Jake 3 ; WARKENTIN, Matt 4 ; STEPHENSON, Luke 2
SF: WARKENTIN, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: GIVIN,Chris 3 ; GRAMMES, Conor 1 ; MAJOR, Allbry 3 ; ALTENBERGER, Ryan 2 ; SHEPSKI, Jake 1 ; WARKENTIN, Matt 1 ; HOUSINGER, Jack 2 ; STEPHENSON, Luke 3 ; DARCY, Kody 2
CS: GRAMMES, Conor 1
HBP: ALTENBERGER, Ryan 1 ; HOUSINGER, Jack 1 ; DARCY, Kody 1
Batting:
2B: Winchester, Pikai 2 ; Bull, Austin 1 ; Quiggle, Kona 1 ; Bess, Cuba 1
3B: Quiggle, Kona 1
HR: Winchester, Pikai 1 ; Bess, Cuba 1 ; Pavlica, Preston 2
RBI: Cotton, Quin 1 ; Winchester, Pikai 3 ; Bull, Austin 2 ; Stankiewicz, Dane 1 ; Quiggle, Kona 2 ; Wyatt, Tyler 2 ; Bess, Cuba 4 ; Schauwecker, C.J. 2 ; Beckstead, Seth 1 ; Mumper, Marc 1 ; Pavlica, Preston 6
SF: Pavlica, Preston 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cotton, Quin 2 ; Winchester, Pikai 4 ; Bull, Austin 3 ; Quiggle, Kona 3 ; Wyatt, Tyler 3 ; Bess, Cuba 4 ; Beckstead, Seth 1 ; Mumper, Marc 2 ; Pavlica, Preston 3
HBP: Wyatt, Tyler 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
4
H
3
RBI
3
AB
7
R
3
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
6
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballINF
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