Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, February 19
Phoenix, Ariz.
3 p.m.
Grand Canyon
1-0
11
vs
3
Missouri
0-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Missouri
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
3
7
0
Grand Canyon
0
1
0
2
0
8
0
0
X
11
13
1
Offense surges in opening day win
2/19/2021 7:24:00 PM | Baseball
Barnes Ks 10, Aguilar paces offense with 4 RBIs
The Grand Canyon baseball team started off the 2021 season with a bang, defeating SEC opponent Missouri 11-3 at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark on Friday afternoon. The Lopes have now won seven of the last eight home openers, while the 11 runs scored marked the most in a season opener since 2010.
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"It's good to get back out there and play," head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "It's been so long and obviously it was a good day, especially when we play as well as we did. I was encouraged by Zach Barnes and the job that he did taking the ball on opening day and he threw well. It was good to get out of the gate strong and hopefully the guys can build some confidence and we can take it into the doubleheader tomorrow."
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Senior right-handed pitcher Zach Barnes was nearly flawless in his first opening day start, striking out 10 Tigers while allowing just two hits and no walks in six scoreless innings. Barnes bookended seasons for GCU, starting the last game at Arkansas on March 11 before the season was shut down due to COVID, and now opening the year with a career-high 10 strikeouts. The 10-strikeout performance was the most thrown by a GCU pitcher since Kade Mechals struck out 11 in a 6-0 win over Xavier on March 14, 2019.
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"I thought today went really well," Barnes said. "We came into the game with a game plan of attacking early and getting the fastball going and to keep going with it. I felt good early in the game with my fastball, my breaking balls weren't quite there, but as I got later into the game the breaking pitches started to come through and it felt really good."
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The GCU offense was led by outfielder Tayler Aguilar and his 3-for-4 game that included 4 RBIs and a two-run home run in the fourth inning. The sophomore also contributed in an eight-run sixth inning for GCU, scoring one run on an RBI single along with a bases-loaded walk later in the frame.
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"I was ready from the beginning today," Aguilar said. "Me and (Lopes assistant coach) Paul Panaccione — I'll shout him out — were in the lab today just studying all the pitchers and what they would throw on different counts. The home run felt like a feather it just came off by bat and felt effortless. It was just a really good offensive day seeing the ball well."
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Along with Aguilar's three hits, freshman outfielder Ryland Zaborowski started his GCU career strong by reaching base four times while hitting an RBI triple in the sixth. Fellow freshman Jacob Wilson started for the Lopes at third and was solid defensively, making a leaping catch on a line drive in the fourth.
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"Ryland is a big strong man that's always had a pretty good bat," Stankiewicz said. "You feel like it's formidable and strong. We just need to get him more at bats and he'll get more comfortable at the plate and be able to deliver in big moments. And Jacob is very defensive-minded. Third base in college baseball is a tough position and he handled it well all fall and hasn't missed a beat."
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Sophomore catcher Josh Buckley picked up his first three hits of his career while driving in a run. Senior outfielder Brock Burton picked up two hits that put himself in position to score a pair of runs.
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The Lopes will continue the series with Missouri on Saturday with a doubleheader that begins at 2 p.m. at Brazell Field.
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"It's good to get back out there and play," head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "It's been so long and obviously it was a good day, especially when we play as well as we did. I was encouraged by Zach Barnes and the job that he did taking the ball on opening day and he threw well. It was good to get out of the gate strong and hopefully the guys can build some confidence and we can take it into the doubleheader tomorrow."
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Senior right-handed pitcher Zach Barnes was nearly flawless in his first opening day start, striking out 10 Tigers while allowing just two hits and no walks in six scoreless innings. Barnes bookended seasons for GCU, starting the last game at Arkansas on March 11 before the season was shut down due to COVID, and now opening the year with a career-high 10 strikeouts. The 10-strikeout performance was the most thrown by a GCU pitcher since Kade Mechals struck out 11 in a 6-0 win over Xavier on March 14, 2019.
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"I thought today went really well," Barnes said. "We came into the game with a game plan of attacking early and getting the fastball going and to keep going with it. I felt good early in the game with my fastball, my breaking balls weren't quite there, but as I got later into the game the breaking pitches started to come through and it felt really good."
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The GCU offense was led by outfielder Tayler Aguilar and his 3-for-4 game that included 4 RBIs and a two-run home run in the fourth inning. The sophomore also contributed in an eight-run sixth inning for GCU, scoring one run on an RBI single along with a bases-loaded walk later in the frame.
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"I was ready from the beginning today," Aguilar said. "Me and (Lopes assistant coach) Paul Panaccione — I'll shout him out — were in the lab today just studying all the pitchers and what they would throw on different counts. The home run felt like a feather it just came off by bat and felt effortless. It was just a really good offensive day seeing the ball well."
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Along with Aguilar's three hits, freshman outfielder Ryland Zaborowski started his GCU career strong by reaching base four times while hitting an RBI triple in the sixth. Fellow freshman Jacob Wilson started for the Lopes at third and was solid defensively, making a leaping catch on a line drive in the fourth.
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"Ryland is a big strong man that's always had a pretty good bat," Stankiewicz said. "You feel like it's formidable and strong. We just need to get him more at bats and he'll get more comfortable at the plate and be able to deliver in big moments. And Jacob is very defensive-minded. Third base in college baseball is a tough position and he handled it well all fall and hasn't missed a beat."
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Sophomore catcher Josh Buckley picked up his first three hits of his career while driving in a run. Senior outfielder Brock Burton picked up two hits that put himself in position to score a pair of runs.
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The Lopes will continue the series with Missouri on Saturday with a doubleheader that begins at 2 p.m. at Brazell Field.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Barnes, Zach (1-0)
L: Spencer Miles (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Andrew Keefer 1
RBI: Joshua Day 1 ; Andrew Keefer 1 ; Cameron Swanger 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mark Vierling 1 ; Tori Montgomery 1 ; Seth Halvorsen 1
Batting:
3B: Zaborowski, Ryland 1
HR: Aguilar, Tayler 1
RBI: Wilson, Jacob 2 ; Burton, Brock 1 ; Zaborowski, Ryland 2 ; Aguilar, Tayler 4 ; Buckley, Josh 1 ; Stankiewicz, Dane 1
SF: Stankiewicz, Dane 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Colato, Juan 1 ; Wilson, Jacob 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Burton, Brock 2 ; Zaborowski, Ryland 2 ; Aguilar, Tayler 2 ; Ortiz, Channy 1 ; Buckley, Josh 1
CS: Colato, Juan 1
HBP: Colato, Juan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
4
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballC
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballUT
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