Series sweep capped by 8-4 win

Sunday, March 21

Phoenix, Ariz.

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

9-9-1, 6-2

Seattle U

5-12, 0-4

Seattle U

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Mathew McGraw

3/21/2021 2:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Lopes extend winning streak to 5 games

By: Jerob Moon

The Grand Canyon baseball team wrapped up a four-game series sweep of Seattle U on Sunday with an 8-4 win at GCU Ballpark.

Trailing 2-0 after two innings, the Lopes (9-9-1, 6-2 WAC) propelled themselves into the lead with a six-run fifth inning and didn't look back, as freshman pitcher Carter Young set a career high with 10 strikeouts in six innings.

"Any time you can get four (wins), that's a good thing," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "I don't think we swung the bats particularly good today. We had some situations where we should have put better ABs together. But I told the guys, 'Baseball, in particular, the game rewards consistency and who can be locked in every single day.' That's part of growing and every at bat is a new life, and you've got to let go of the past at bats and lock in on the next pitch."

The Lopes left runners on base early, stranding two runners in scoring position in the first, which opened the door for Seattle U (5-12, 0-4 WAC) to take the early lead. The Redhawks recorded five of their eight hits in the first two innings, scoring a pair of runs on a sacrifice fly in the first and an RBI single in the second.

Young, starting his fourth game for the Lopes, locked down after the first two innings, allowing one hit over the next four frames while punching out a career-high 10 batters. Reliever Keaton Glover took over in the seventh and recorded his first three-inning save as a Lope.

"Carter Young did a great job of just competing," Stankiewicz said. "You have to work. He's not going to give you freebies for your hits and he did a nice job of weathering a little bit of a storm early. We got down two, but he just kept grinding and making pitches when he needed to. And then Keaton Glover did a fantastic job. We need that guy out of the bullpen and that was really encouraging to see his three innings of work."

The Lopes regained the lead with a sixth-run fifth inning, highlighted by back-to-back two-run doubles by infielders Elijah Buries and Juan Colato after the Redhawks committed an error that kicked off the GCU rally.

GCU added two more runs in the eighth off the bat of pinch-hitter C.J. Schauwecker. In his first at bat of the season, the junior lefty smashed a ball to right field for the fifth GCU home run of the series.

The Lopes will have a quick turnaround, facing Stankiewicz's alma mater, Pepperdine, for a rare midweek series on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"That'll be fun," Stankiewicz said. "We know them well from a coaching standpoint. It'll be good to get the Waves in here and get a West Coast team in here for a couple. It'll be a nice test for us on a Tuesday and Wednesday."

First pitch for Tuesday's game is set for 6 p.m. (Phoenix time).

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Tuesday, July 29

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Monday, July 14

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Wednesday, July 02

Wilson tops A.L. shortstops in All-Star Game voting

Wednesday, June 18

Next Event

Pepperdine

L, 5-14

Mar 23 (Tue)

6 p.m.

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Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Young, Carter (2-0)

L: Sinclair, Riley (0-2)

S: Glover, Keaton (1)

Seattle U

Batting:

HR: Boissoneault, Matt 1

RBI: Rork, Gavin 1 ; Mazzone, Justin 1 ; Boissoneault, Matt 2

SF: Mazzone, Justin 1

Base Running:

RUNS: O'Brien, Connor 1 ; Mazzone, Justin 1 ; Boissoneault, Matt 1 ; Maningo, Drake 1

SB: Rork, Gavin 1 ; Kodama, Julian 1

HBP: Lively, Austin 1

Grand Canyon

Batting:

2B: Buries, Elijah 2 ; Colato, Juan 1 ; Zaborowski, Ryland 1

HR: Schauwecker, C.J. 1

RBI: Verdusco, Cade 1 ; Burton, Brock 1 ; Buries, Elijah 2 ; Colato, Juan 2 ; Schauwecker, C.J. 2

Base Running:

RUNS: Ortiz, Channy 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 1 ; Burton, Brock 1 ; Buries, Elijah 1 ; Zaborowski, Ryland 1 ; Stankiewicz, Dane 1 ; Avitia, David 1 ; Schauwecker, C.J. 1