Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Thursday, April 18
Phoenix, Ariz.
6:30 p.m.
Grand Canyon
18-18, 6-7
14
vs
4
Seattle U
8-27, 4-9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
R
H
E
Seattle U
0
0
3
0
0
1
0
0
4
7
0
Grand Canyon
0
3
6
3
0
0
1
1
14
14
2
Blowout win cleans GCU's slate
4/18/2019 9:37:00 PM | Baseball
Ohl's pitching, 8 extra-base hits open Seattle series with win
Grand Canyon baseball's past two weeks have been messy but the Lopes also realized that their future remains spotless.
GCU put a six-game losing streak of narrow and extra-inning defeats behind them with an ideal series opener Thursday night. The Lopes rocked Seattle U's ace for an eight-inning, 14-4 home win before they send their ace, Kade Mechals (7-1), to the mound for the 6:30 p.m. Friday game at GCU Ballpark.
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Lopes freshman Pierson Ohl (4-4) allowed two earned runs over six innings Thursday night while GCU (18-18, 6-7 WAC) tagged Redhawks sophomore left-hander Jarrod Billig for more earned runs (nine) than he had allowed in his previous 11 appearances combined (eight).
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Billig, who ranked second in the WAC for ERA at 1.91, lasted three innings once senior center fielder Preston Pavlica put GCU ahead 9-3 with his second career grand slam, which cleared the left-field tall wall and maybe 35th Avenue.
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Every Lopes starter had a hit Thursday except freshman shortstop Johnny Weaver, who walked twice in his first game as the leadoff batter. Sophomore first baseman Cuba Bess finished off Seattle (8-27, 4-9 WAC) with a walk-off solo home run of sorts, enacting the WAC 10-run rule with an eighth-inning, leadoff blast toward the right-center flagpole.
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"As frustrated as we've been, we're still in the middle of this thing," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said before his team passes the WAC midpoint Friday night. "We were a game under .500 and it felt like 10. The guys want more. They expect more. You get down on yourself. The team did a good job of saying, 'What's done is done. We've got to take care of today.' That was a good start."
Ohl lasted at least six innings for the fifth time in his past six starts. His season-high six strikeouts gave him 39 on the season with only nine walks in 55 innings, the most by a freshman since then-pitcher Tyler Wyatt in 2016. Ohl also has the most strikeouts by a freshman since 2016.
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"I think that just comes with experience and settling in, understanding that if I'm who I am, then we're going to be in the game," Ohl said as senior pitcher Nick Ohanian hugged him from behind.
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Ohl stranded a Seattle runner in scoring position in three of his six innings. Sophomore reliever Nick Hull followed with two shutout innings.
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"That might have been the best we've seen Nick Hull so that would certainly be a shot in the arm," Stankiewicz said. "His fastball had more life."
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GCU entered the game ranked 23rd in the nation for doubles this season with 76 and added six, tying its season high. With Pavlica's and Bess' home runs, the Lopes had their highest extra-base hit total in a WAC game (eight) since rejoining the conference in 2014.
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Wyatt's mother, Lena, told the third baseman earlier Thursday that she had a dream about him hitting doubles. He had two in the first four innings, including a two-run hummer down the left-field line to open the scoring on the first pitch he saw in the second inning.
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"We try to focus on the little things more than we have in the past and govern ourselves to get on each other to make sure we're playing to the best of our ability, even in practice," Wyatt said. "We're doing our jobs. Even in a practice, we play like game. We just thought, 'Let's push it behind us.' We've got to look forward. We've got to move on. We've got to start making up some ground."
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"We've got a lot of opportunities left. No matter what your average is or your ERA is, we've got time left for improvement."
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From the Nos. 7-9 hitting spots, Wyatt, sophomore catcher David Avitia and Pavlica went 5 for 9 with two walks and a hit by pitch to rack up eight RBIs, the most from the bottom of the GCU starting lineup since 2012.
The four seniors – designated hitter Pikai Winchester, second baseman Austin Bull, Wyatt and Pavlica – went 8 for 13 while also walking twice and being hit by pitches twice.
"Those guys are key components," Stankiewicz said. "It's their time. We believe in them. They've always been really competitive and had success in college baseball. There's no reason to think those guys can't continue to have good at bats down the stretch."
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Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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GCU put a six-game losing streak of narrow and extra-inning defeats behind them with an ideal series opener Thursday night. The Lopes rocked Seattle U's ace for an eight-inning, 14-4 home win before they send their ace, Kade Mechals (7-1), to the mound for the 6:30 p.m. Friday game at GCU Ballpark.
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Lopes freshman Pierson Ohl (4-4) allowed two earned runs over six innings Thursday night while GCU (18-18, 6-7 WAC) tagged Redhawks sophomore left-hander Jarrod Billig for more earned runs (nine) than he had allowed in his previous 11 appearances combined (eight).
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Billig, who ranked second in the WAC for ERA at 1.91, lasted three innings once senior center fielder Preston Pavlica put GCU ahead 9-3 with his second career grand slam, which cleared the left-field tall wall and maybe 35th Avenue.
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Every Lopes starter had a hit Thursday except freshman shortstop Johnny Weaver, who walked twice in his first game as the leadoff batter. Sophomore first baseman Cuba Bess finished off Seattle (8-27, 4-9 WAC) with a walk-off solo home run of sorts, enacting the WAC 10-run rule with an eighth-inning, leadoff blast toward the right-center flagpole.
Â
"As frustrated as we've been, we're still in the middle of this thing," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said before his team passes the WAC midpoint Friday night. "We were a game under .500 and it felt like 10. The guys want more. They expect more. You get down on yourself. The team did a good job of saying, 'What's done is done. We've got to take care of today.' That was a good start."
Ohl lasted at least six innings for the fifth time in his past six starts. His season-high six strikeouts gave him 39 on the season with only nine walks in 55 innings, the most by a freshman since then-pitcher Tyler Wyatt in 2016. Ohl also has the most strikeouts by a freshman since 2016.
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"I think that just comes with experience and settling in, understanding that if I'm who I am, then we're going to be in the game," Ohl said as senior pitcher Nick Ohanian hugged him from behind.
Â
Ohl stranded a Seattle runner in scoring position in three of his six innings. Sophomore reliever Nick Hull followed with two shutout innings.
Â
"That might have been the best we've seen Nick Hull so that would certainly be a shot in the arm," Stankiewicz said. "His fastball had more life."
Â
GCU entered the game ranked 23rd in the nation for doubles this season with 76 and added six, tying its season high. With Pavlica's and Bess' home runs, the Lopes had their highest extra-base hit total in a WAC game (eight) since rejoining the conference in 2014.
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Wyatt's mother, Lena, told the third baseman earlier Thursday that she had a dream about him hitting doubles. He had two in the first four innings, including a two-run hummer down the left-field line to open the scoring on the first pitch he saw in the second inning.
Â
"We try to focus on the little things more than we have in the past and govern ourselves to get on each other to make sure we're playing to the best of our ability, even in practice," Wyatt said. "We're doing our jobs. Even in a practice, we play like game. We just thought, 'Let's push it behind us.' We've got to look forward. We've got to move on. We've got to start making up some ground."
Â
"We've got a lot of opportunities left. No matter what your average is or your ERA is, we've got time left for improvement."
Â
From the Nos. 7-9 hitting spots, Wyatt, sophomore catcher David Avitia and Pavlica went 5 for 9 with two walks and a hit by pitch to rack up eight RBIs, the most from the bottom of the GCU starting lineup since 2012.
The four seniors – designated hitter Pikai Winchester, second baseman Austin Bull, Wyatt and Pavlica – went 8 for 13 while also walking twice and being hit by pitches twice.
"Those guys are key components," Stankiewicz said. "It's their time. We believe in them. They've always been really competitive and had success in college baseball. There's no reason to think those guys can't continue to have good at bats down the stretch."
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Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ohl, Pierson (4-4)
L: Billig, Jarrod (2-3)
Batting:
2B: Lively, Austin 1 ; Mazzone, Justin 1
HR: Taylor, Jake 1
RBI: Lively, Austin 2 ; Mazzone, Justin 1 ; Taylor, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sherick, Kyle 1 ; Lively, Austin 1 ; Taylor, Jake 1 ; Murphy, Kyler 1
CS: O'Brien, Connor 1
HBP: Lively, Austin 2 ; O'Brien, Connor 1
Batting:
2B: Winchester, Pikai 1 ; Quiggle, Kona 1 ; Bess, Cuba 1 ; Bull, Austin 1 ; Wyatt, Tyler 2
HR: Bess, Cuba 1 ; Pavlica, Preston 1
RBI: Cotton, Quin 1 ; Quiggle, Kona 2 ; Bess, Cuba 1 ; Wyatt, Tyler 3 ; Avitia, David 1 ; Pavlica, Preston 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Weaver, Jonny 1 ; Winchester, Pikai 2 ; Cotton, Quin 1 ; Quiggle, Kona 3 ; Bess, Cuba 1 ; Bull, Austin 2 ; Wyatt, Tyler 1 ; Avitia, David 2 ; Pavlica, Preston 1
SB: Pavlica, Preston 1
CS: Weaver, Jonny 1 ; Pavlica, Preston 1
HBP: Winchester, Pikai 1 ; Pavlica, Preston 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
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RHP
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RHP
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