Upcoming Event: Baseball versus MLB Desert Invitational on February 13, 2026
Baseball
vs MLB Desert Invitational
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Tuesday, April 23
Tucson, Ariz. / Hi Corbett Field
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
21-18
11
at
9
Arizona
18-20
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Grand Canyon
0
0
5
0
4
0
0
1
1
11
11
1
Arizona
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
5
1
9
13
1
Win at Arizona caps Pac-12 surge
4/23/2019 10:37:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
Lopes hang on 11-9 for 1st victory vs. Cats since 2014
TUCSON, Ariz. — Grand Canyon has won most of its games in conference – the WAC and the Pac-12.
GCU defeated Arizona for the first time since 2014, outscoring the nation's sixth-highest scoring team for an 11-9 victory Tuesday night at Hi Corbett Field.
The Lopes (21-18) moved to 4-3 this season against Pac-12 opponents – 2-1 vs. USC, 1-0 vs. Utah, 1-1 vs. Arizona, 0-1 vs. Stanford – by using a five-run third inning and holding off a late Wildcats rally as the game hit the four-hour mark for what remained of 2,551 fans. It marks GCU's most wins against Pac-12 teams in a season since 1996, when it went 4-5. Baseball remains the only GCU sport to defeat Arizona in head-to-head competition during the Lopes athletic program's Division I era.
The purple faction hit I-10 west happy once Lopes junior reliever Cole Hoskins induced a game-ending ground ball with Arizona's potential winning run at the plate. The teams' meeting in Phoenix two weeks ago went sideways late with the Lopes losing a five-run lead in the last two innings. This time, GCU kept the momentum of last week's sweep against Seattle by giving the seniors their first win against Arizona (18-20).
"This has been one of our hurdles in the midweek games," Lopes senior second baseman and Arizona native Austin Bull said. "This is kind of a big deal for us. We really wanted this one."
GCU's pitching was the standout for the first seven innings, keeping an Arizona offense that averages 8.6 runs to three at that point.
It started with freshman Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis, throwing three shutout innings before walking the fourth inning's leadoff batter and giving up a home run to Lopes nightmare Nick Quintana, who has hit six home runs and three doubles in the past four games against GCU.
The Australian right-hander had a late start, enrolling in January for an on-the-fly spring introduction to American college baseball.
"I've been encouraged by Brodie's development," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We see the confidence building and he's throwing more strikes. He's got good stuff. That was a big step for him for sure."
Eight consecutive GCU batters reached base in the third inning to take a 5-0 lead when Bull scored two teammates on a left-field double. GCU kept a big lead in the fifth inning when junior right-fielder Quin Cotton cleared the bases with a two-out double and aggressive baserunning on a fielded ball in left.
"We were due," said Cotton, who went 3 for 6 with 4 RBIs and has a hit in 15 of the past 16 games. "They got us pretty bad twice last year and we played a tough game with them earlier this year and we let it slip. We wanted this one badly. It was a point of pride for us to win this game."
GCU was able to stretch its lead because sophomore reliever Nick Hull did an escape act in the fourth inning after a leadoff walk and a single made possible by a foul-ball error. He sat down the heart of the Wildcats' order with a fly out and two strikeouts, including one on Quintana.
Arizona's .300-hitting team offense is difficult to stave off but the Lopes stranded Wildcats runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings before GCU's bullpen unraveled in the eighth and ninth innings until Hoskins' save.
The Lopes will take their four-game winning streak this weekend to resume WAC action at Chicago State.
"We've got a little momentum working," Stankiewicz said. "We've got a lot of conference weekends in front of us so we're going to keep grinding. We're not going away."
Led by Cotton, the top four of GCU's lineup went 9 for 20 Tuesday night with six RBIs and two more doubles, bringing its season tally to 90 for a team that entered the night ranked seventh in the nation for doubles per game.
"We're believing in ourselves again so that's a good thing," Bull said.
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
GCU defeated Arizona for the first time since 2014, outscoring the nation's sixth-highest scoring team for an 11-9 victory Tuesday night at Hi Corbett Field.
The Lopes (21-18) moved to 4-3 this season against Pac-12 opponents – 2-1 vs. USC, 1-0 vs. Utah, 1-1 vs. Arizona, 0-1 vs. Stanford – by using a five-run third inning and holding off a late Wildcats rally as the game hit the four-hour mark for what remained of 2,551 fans. It marks GCU's most wins against Pac-12 teams in a season since 1996, when it went 4-5. Baseball remains the only GCU sport to defeat Arizona in head-to-head competition during the Lopes athletic program's Division I era.
The purple faction hit I-10 west happy once Lopes junior reliever Cole Hoskins induced a game-ending ground ball with Arizona's potential winning run at the plate. The teams' meeting in Phoenix two weeks ago went sideways late with the Lopes losing a five-run lead in the last two innings. This time, GCU kept the momentum of last week's sweep against Seattle by giving the seniors their first win against Arizona (18-20).
"This has been one of our hurdles in the midweek games," Lopes senior second baseman and Arizona native Austin Bull said. "This is kind of a big deal for us. We really wanted this one."
GCU's pitching was the standout for the first seven innings, keeping an Arizona offense that averages 8.6 runs to three at that point.
It started with freshman Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis, throwing three shutout innings before walking the fourth inning's leadoff batter and giving up a home run to Lopes nightmare Nick Quintana, who has hit six home runs and three doubles in the past four games against GCU.
The Australian right-hander had a late start, enrolling in January for an on-the-fly spring introduction to American college baseball.
"I've been encouraged by Brodie's development," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We see the confidence building and he's throwing more strikes. He's got good stuff. That was a big step for him for sure."
Eight consecutive GCU batters reached base in the third inning to take a 5-0 lead when Bull scored two teammates on a left-field double. GCU kept a big lead in the fifth inning when junior right-fielder Quin Cotton cleared the bases with a two-out double and aggressive baserunning on a fielded ball in left.
"We were due," said Cotton, who went 3 for 6 with 4 RBIs and has a hit in 15 of the past 16 games. "They got us pretty bad twice last year and we played a tough game with them earlier this year and we let it slip. We wanted this one badly. It was a point of pride for us to win this game."
GCU was able to stretch its lead because sophomore reliever Nick Hull did an escape act in the fourth inning after a leadoff walk and a single made possible by a foul-ball error. He sat down the heart of the Wildcats' order with a fly out and two strikeouts, including one on Quintana.
Arizona's .300-hitting team offense is difficult to stave off but the Lopes stranded Wildcats runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings before GCU's bullpen unraveled in the eighth and ninth innings until Hoskins' save.
The Lopes will take their four-game winning streak this weekend to resume WAC action at Chicago State.
"We've got a little momentum working," Stankiewicz said. "We've got a lot of conference weekends in front of us so we're going to keep grinding. We're not going away."
Led by Cotton, the top four of GCU's lineup went 9 for 20 Tuesday night with six RBIs and two more doubles, bringing its season tally to 90 for a team that entered the night ranked seventh in the nation for doubles per game.
"We're believing in ourselves again so that's a good thing," Bull said.
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hull, Nick (1-2)
L: Weems, Avery (3-4)
S: Hoskins, Cole (3)
Batting:
2B: Winchester, Pikai 1 ; Cotton, Quin 1 ; Bull, Austin 1 ; Pavlica, Preston 1
RBI: Weaver, Jonny 1 ; Cotton, Quin 4 ; Quiggle, Kona 1 ; Wyatt, Tyler 1 ; Bess, Cuba 1 ; Bull, Austin 2 ; Pavlica, Preston 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Weaver, Jonny 2 ; Winchester, Pikai 2 ; Cotton, Quin 1 ; Quiggle, Kona 1 ; Wyatt, Tyler 1 ; Bess, Cuba 1 ; DeNiro, Dante 1 ; Avitia, David 1 ; Pavlica, Preston 1
HBP: Winchester, Pikai 2 ; Wyatt, Tyler 1 ; Bess, Cuba 1
PO: Pavlica, Preston 1
Batting:
2B: Quintana, Nick 1 ; Cannon, Cameron 2 ; Dooney, Dayton 1 ; Holgate, Ryan 1
HR: Quintana, Nick 1
RBI: Williams, Donta 1 ; Dyer, Matthew 1 ; Wells, Austin 1 ; Quintana, Nick 4 ; Holgate, Ryan 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Williams, Donta 1 ; Dyer, Matthew 1 ; Wells, Austin 2 ; Quintana, Nick 1 ; Cannon, Cameron 3 ; Wylie, Justin 1
Game Leaders
AB
6
R
1
H
3
RBI
4
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
❌ 𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐞 ❌ Max Charles' diving grab
Friday, November 14
Dom goes DEEP at ASU in fall ball
Friday, November 14
GCU Baseball - WAC Tournament vs. Utah Tech - Highlights
Thursday, May 22
Baseball at Stanford - Barreras' game-winning double
Saturday, May 10