WAC series streak halts at 17

Sunday, March 24

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

11-12, 1-2

California Baptist

16-8, 2-1

California Baptist

Grand Canyon

3/24/2019 3:36:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score

California Baptist wins 4-1, takes 2 of 3 at GCU

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

Grand Canyon's WAC series winning streak was bound to end at some point.

It stretched over three seasons, dated back to May of 2016 and become the nation's longest active conference winning streak. The Lopes just never saw it coming to an end the way it did Sunday, when a quiet GCU offensive weekend concluded with a 4-1 rubber-game loss to California Baptist at GCU Ballpark.

The Lopes' nation-leading streak of 17 victorious WAC series in a row ended with another CBU debut splash. Just like opening their WAC men's basketball era with a win against defending champion New Mexico State, the Lancers made their WAC baseball debut by taking two of three games from the regular-season defending champions.

GCU was in position to win each game with starting pitchers that allowed seven hits and two earned runs over 16 1/3 innings (1.10 ERA), but the Lopes went from hitting .272 on the season to .170 on the weekend and scored one run over the final two games.

"We had some great pitching this weekend," said GCU senior second baseman Austin Bull, who helped start the streak in 2016 with senior teammates Marc Mumper, Preston Pavlica and Tyler Wyatt. "We're going to piece it together offensively. It's just baseball. We'll get it going for sure."

There is not far to go after every WAC team took at least one loss in its initial conference series.

California Baptist (16-8, 2-1 WAC) is not the typical Division I newcomer. It had won 68 percent of its games over the past five years and was a week removed from beating No. 25 UC Santa Barbara. Its Sunday starting pitcher, junior Andrew Bash, was a Division II All-American last season and dropped his ERA to 2.30 with Sunday's win.

GCU (11-12, 1-2 WAC) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning with three two-out hits on three consecutive pitches. It began with junior right fielder Quin Cotton, who moved to third in the batting order rather than leadoff for the first time this season, doubling to left-center field and junior left fielder Kona Quiggle following by pulling an RBI single into right field.

The Lopes then loaded the bases without scoring when the inning ended on a tight call with Pavlica appearing to have beat out an infield grounder.

GCU only came up with three more hits for the remainder of the game. The four-run weekend in a three-game series was a marked turn for GCU after scoring 43 runs in the previous three games against Xavier and Utah.

"We pitched well for the most part," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "Our offensive approach now is just not very good. When we did have good at bats, we're using the middle of the field. We used the gap to the offside. What's frustrating is we're not showing discipline at the plate.

"We put the ball in play better but the next step is getting pitches you can handle and hitting the ball with the barrel and driving it. We're sporadic. It's hard to puts runs across the board when you get one good at bat and then lose it for three. But we'll get it going. We've got a ballclub that cares so we'll get back on the horse."

Schneider took his first collegiate loss despite making more progress in his comeback from a year off for arm surgery. He threw 61 pitches for a second consecutive outing and allowed one earned run in 4 1/3 innings. He loaded the bases to open the fifth inning when he made an error fielding a bunt. He struck out the next batters to tease an escape but CBU shortstop Harrison Spohn's two-run single put the Lancers ahead 2-1 and ended Schneider's outing.

"Jack's a command pitcher," Stankiewicz said. "He did a nice job but he had two leadoff walks in the fourth and sixth. Every game has a freebie war inside of it and we're losing the freebie war. We're walking them, hitting guys and giving them free bases and they're not doing that. We're not taking the ball four when it's there. We're chasing out of the zone. Over 27 innings, it's going to come back and get you."

Lancers first baseman John Glenn followed a hit batsman with a two-run home run that surprisingly carried over the left-field wall to put CBU ahead 4-1 in the sixth inning.

The Lopes' defense kept them close with a double play that glanced off Schneider's glove and three pickoff outs by pitchers, including two by senior reliever Nick Ohanian in his two shutout innings.

GCU stranded runners in scoring position in the third, fourth, fifth and eighth innings. Wyatt had the Lopes' lone multi-hit day.

The Lopes get a chance at correction with an exhibition game against Team Italy at 1 p.m. Monday at Hohokam Stadium, the Mesa, Ariz., site of the WAC Tournament, and a Wednesday game at Nevada before resuming WAC play next weekend at Utah Valley.

"When you're not going well, you want to get back on the field and get better," Stankiewicz said. "The streak was fun but it's over and now we can get back to playing our brand of baseball."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.