Lopes send off seniors in style

Sunday, May 12

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

31-20, 17-7

Northern Colorado

10-34, 6-18

Northern Colorado

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Gillian Rea

5/12/2019 2:10:00 PM | Baseball

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GCU finishes 4th straight sweep with another run-rule win

By: Josh Hauser

Grand Canyon honored its eight seniors before its final home game on Sunday afternoon.

The excitement and emotion from the pregame festivities carried over into the game with GCU exploding for 11 runs in the first two innings. The Lopes held serve the rest of the way to end the home slate with a 13-2 win over Northern Colorado in another run-rule victory.

"Everybody was rolling and just trying to keep it going," GCU senior shortstop Marc Mumper said. "I don't think, in my four years, we've ever put up a six-spot like that in the first. That was special. That was cool."

Mumper's suspicions were accurate with the Lopes (31-20, 17-7 WAC) last scoring six or more runs in a first inning in 2015.

GCU won its fourth straight WAC series via the sweep, racking up 12 straight conference wins in the process. The Lopes have improved from 5-7 to 17-7 in WAC play, catapulting into a second-place tie in the conference standings with California Baptist and one game back of New Mexico State. GCU controls its own destiny to secure a first-round bye in the WAC Tournament, starting May 22 at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.

The highlight of the six-run first was a line-drive grand slam by senior third baseman Tyler Wyatt. His first career grand slam came in his final home game.

"I saw a curveball out of the hand," Wyatt said. "He hung (a curveball) again and I got through it and stayed through it and hit a line drive off the net. I didn't know if it was gone off the bat. Honestly, I thought it was going to hit the wall. But it ended up staying high and elevating a little bit more than I thought."

Along with Wyatt's homer, a Mumper triple and doubles by sophomores Brock Burton and David Avitia accounted for four consecutive extra-base hits in the frame and provided the big punches in the inning.

"Everyone is starting to click," Wyatt said. "Things are starting to go. Hitting is contagious. Not a better time to get hot than towards the playoffs."

GCU nearly replicated its first-inning output with five more runs in the second. Again, stringing extra-base hits together was the key with juniors Quin Cotton and Kona Quiggle and sophomore Cuba Bess doubling in three straight at bats. Avitia capped things off with his fourth home run of the season.

"When we get hot, we're hot," senior second baseman Austin Bull said. "We were definitely hot."

Lopes sophomore pitcher Jack Schneider kept the Bears in check, limiting Northern Colorado (10-34, 6-18 WAC) to one earned run in his five innings of work. Schneider was the winning pitcher for his third start in a row.

Avitia and Bess had productive outs to score runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, ensuring the 10-run cushion remained.

Cotton had a season-high four hits on the day, while Wyatt and Avitia led the Lopes with four RBIs each.

The Lopes head to Sacramento State next week to close out the regular season. The Hornets sit just one game back of GCU in the conference standings.

"When it gets to this time, you've got to take it one game at a time," Bull said. "You can't really focus on winning a whole series at once. We're going to go into Sacramento and take it one game at a time and see how it plays out."

Wyatt added, "I think we just have to get ready for a huge weekend going to Sacramento. Just keep it rolling. We're playing good. We've got some momentum going into the weekend. Keep doing it."

Before conference action wraps in Sacramento, GCU will play its final midweek game when it travels to UC Riverside. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) on Tuesday.