Upcoming Event: Baseball versus MLB Desert Invitational on February 13, 2026
Baseball
vs MLB Desert Invitational
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, March 5
Stillwater, Okla.
3 p.m.
Grand Canyon
3-6
5
at
11
Oklahoma State
8-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Grand Canyon
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
3
5
10
1
Oklahoma State
0
0
0
3
0
3
0
5
X
11
5
1
Series opener escapes Lopes
3/5/2021 7:15:00 PM | Baseball
Ortiz hits 3-run homer, Burton rips 2 doubles
STILLWATER, Okla. – The Grand Canyon baseball team dropped its road opener against No. 15 Oklahoma State 11-2 on Friday afternoon.
The Lopes doubled up the Cowboys 10-5 in the hits column and had more baserunners in the game. Oklahoma State, however, was extremely efficient in bringing its runners into score. The Cowboys scored 11 runs on only five base hits, stranding just four men on base.
After back-to-back gems to begin his career in GCU's weekend starting rotation, senior right-hander Zach Barnes yielded four earned runs on four strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings of work. He threw a career-high 113 pitches in the outing.
The Lopes were the first to break the pitchers' duel in the top of the fourth when freshman left fielder Elijah Buries drove in junior second baseman Juan Colato on a two-out RBI single to center. It was just the second hit of the game for either team.
Oklahoma State responded with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. After two quick ground outs coaxed by Barnes, a double by Nolan McClean and a subsequent hit by pitch set the stage for a three-run home run by Christian Encarnacion-Strand as the Cowboys took a 3-1 lead.
The Cowboys never surrendered the lead, adding three more runs in the sixth and five runs in the eighth, three of which scored on wild pitches by GCU.
Senior shortstop Channy Ortiz, the WAC leader in hits heading into the weekend, hit a three-run home run to right field. It was his first home run and third multi-hit game of the season.
Senior center fielder Brock Burton added a pair of doubles, doing so for the first time since the Lopes faced Illinois in March of 2019. Freshman third baseman Jacob Wilson recorded his first three-hit game with three straight singles in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings.
The two teams will reconvene for the second game of the weekend series at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) on Saturday.
The Lopes doubled up the Cowboys 10-5 in the hits column and had more baserunners in the game. Oklahoma State, however, was extremely efficient in bringing its runners into score. The Cowboys scored 11 runs on only five base hits, stranding just four men on base.
After back-to-back gems to begin his career in GCU's weekend starting rotation, senior right-hander Zach Barnes yielded four earned runs on four strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings of work. He threw a career-high 113 pitches in the outing.
The Lopes were the first to break the pitchers' duel in the top of the fourth when freshman left fielder Elijah Buries drove in junior second baseman Juan Colato on a two-out RBI single to center. It was just the second hit of the game for either team.
Oklahoma State responded with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. After two quick ground outs coaxed by Barnes, a double by Nolan McClean and a subsequent hit by pitch set the stage for a three-run home run by Christian Encarnacion-Strand as the Cowboys took a 3-1 lead.
The Cowboys never surrendered the lead, adding three more runs in the sixth and five runs in the eighth, three of which scored on wild pitches by GCU.
Senior shortstop Channy Ortiz, the WAC leader in hits heading into the weekend, hit a three-run home run to right field. It was his first home run and third multi-hit game of the season.
Senior center fielder Brock Burton added a pair of doubles, doing so for the first time since the Lopes faced Illinois in March of 2019. Freshman third baseman Jacob Wilson recorded his first three-hit game with three straight singles in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings.
The two teams will reconvene for the second game of the weekend series at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) on Saturday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Scott, Parker (3-0)
L: Barnes, Zach (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Burton, Brock 2
HR: Ortiz, Channy 1
RBI: Ortiz, Channy 3 ; Buries, Elijah 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1
SF: Wilson, Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ortiz, Channy 1 ; Colato, Juan 1 ; Grissom, Dominic 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Aguilar, Tayler 1
PO: Wilson, Jacob 1
Batting:
2B: McLean, Nolan 1 ; Thompson, Jake 1 ; Golda, Matt 1
HR: Enc.-Strand, Chris. 1
RBI: Enc.-Strand, Chris. 3 ; Garcia, Alix 1 ; Cabbiness, Cade 1 ; Golda, Matt 2
SF: Cabbiness, Cade 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McLean, Nolan 1 ; Thompson, Jake 2 ; Sifrit, Noah 1 ; Enc.-Strand, Chris. 3 ; Campbell, Justin 1 ; Gardner, Dylan 1 ; Cabbiness, Cade 1 ; Golda, Matt 1
SB: Cabbiness, Cade 1
HBP: Thompson, Jake 1 ; Enc.-Strand, Chris. 1 ; DeNicola, Nick 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
0
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
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UTIL
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