Scarce hitting prompts 2nd loss to Waves

Wednesday, March 24

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

9-11-1

Pepperdine

9-10

Pepperdine

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Matt Nykamp

3/24/2021 6:33:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU bullpen threw 5 shutout innings in 4-3 home loss

By: Paul Coro

Baseball can humble a team in a hurry, taking a squad like Grand Canyon from a rumble of a four-game weekend sweep of Seattle U to a mid-week stumble against Pepperdine.

The Lopes stranded opportunities to squander five shutout bullpen innings in Wednesday's 4-3 loss to Pepperdine at GCU Ballpark. GCU went 3 for 26 with runners in scoring position over two days, getting one of those hits Tuesday as it never recovered from committing four errors in the first three innings.

"That's frustrating because that's really uncharacteristic of us," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We've got to handle the ball better. We were still in it, but when you play a good team like Pepperdine, you're going to put yourself in a tough spot."

That one clutch hit, freshman designated hitter Tyler Wilson's two-run double in the first inning, was wiped out by two-out Lopes errors in the second and third innings and a pair of two-out hits in the fourth for a 4-2 Waves lead.

GCU cut the lead to 4-3 in the fourth inning, but getting one run out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation was emblematic of the Lopes offensive ceiling for the day.

Even with only four hits, the Lopes had opportunities but stranded a runner on second with no outs in the fifth, on first and third with one out in the seventh and on first and second with one out in the eighth.

"We've got to better with hitting when runners are in scoring position," Stankiewicz said. "Guys get a little anxious. There's no lack of effort or desire. They just want to do too much. Just get a good pitch and get a good swing on it. We talk about lazy fly balls and we had a lot of those. We've got to understand who we are.

"I'm frustrated that we didn't play as good as we're capable of playing. We didn't show our true program these past two games."

The day's brightest spots were senior Keaton Glover, sophomore Cal Lambert, senior Coen Wynne and senior Frankie Scalzo, who combined for five shutout innings. It was continued good work for Lambert, Wynne and Scalzo, each of whom has a sub-3.00 ERA this season, to hold Pepperdine without a hit for the final three innings.

For Glover, shutting out the Waves in the fifth and sixth innings was a breakthrough, as he transitions from two-way player at Pacific to full-time pitcher as a graduate transfer with GCU. He used his fastball-slider mix and to strike out three batters in two innings.

"Early in the season, things weren't going my way but I kept my nose to the grindstone and kept working and trying to get better every day," Glover said. "Things are starting to go my way and I'm looking to keep going and ride that momentum out.

"(Pitching coach Jon) Wente talks about being under control with my lane and trying to stay connected without overdoing it. Sometimes, when I get out there, I just want to throw the ball because everybody wants to throw the ball hard. Staying within myself has been the big thing."

GCU junior second baseman Juan Colato reached base for the 11th consecutive game, getting hit by pitches twice and walking once.

But after 11 hits were not enough in Tuesday's game, Wednesday's four-hit total was one more than the Lopes season low.

"We call it big ball because it's big," Stankiewicz said. "They want to get the job done so badly that they chase out of the zone and get big instead of staying within yourself and hitting a line drive somewhere."

With a shorter nonconference season, GCU is using its non-WAC weekend for a series at Tulane and to sort roles.

"I'm confident that we'll get back to playing our brand of baseball," Stankiewicz said. "This was not, in my opinion, a great perception of who we are. We've just got to get back to our brand of baseball."