Buries rises to top hitter, lifts mom's spirit

If Grand Canyon freshman baseball standout Elijah Buries was not an undeterred overcomer, he would not have made two-hour round trips daily in high school so that he could face the best competition.

Buries would have given up when he was a fourth-year starter with no Division I offers. He would have been overwhelmed at a GCU camp of committed players last year, shook by his mother's cancer diagnosis on the day he moved into GCU, discouraged at his chances as an unheralded freshman on a 48-man Lopes roster and dismayed when he did not play in this season's first three games.

Buries' ability to adapt and overcome has made him the GCU season's surprise sensation as the team's leading hitter. The Lopes hit No. 29 in the Collegiate Baseball poll with the help of how No. 29 has hit. Buries showed the power of a conventional clean-up batter with the unconventional traits of hitting to all fields for his team-best .366 average and running for a team-high 13 stolen bases.

The Upland, California, native helped put GCU in position to vie for another WAC regular-season championship this week against conference co-leader California Baptist, where his father, Jeff, played baseball.

Elijah Buries

Regardless of how the four games end Thursday through Saturday at GCU Ballpark, Elijah likely will get postgame texts from his mother, Jude, with the message that she has sent often this season: "Thanks for giving me another great day."

During Elijah's first semester away from home, Jude underwent chemotherapy for months to combat multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of plasma cells that impedes the body from fighting infection.

Jude was able to attend Elijah's first college series and see his first at bat, a pinch-hit RBI double on Feb. 21 against Missouri, before going to City of Hope for three weeks to receive a stem cell transplant. After extended isolation helped by GCU streaming games, Jude returned home three weeks ago with an optimistic prognosis.

"It's been really rough," Elijah said. "I struggled with it a few weeks ago and talked to Stank (GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz). He's just amazing. More than anything, he's such a supporting coach. As good as he is at coaching baseball, he's even better at life and making sure everyone's feeling good. The way he cares about us is special."

Elijah Buries

And Stankiewicz and his staff are coaches who unearth a gem and polish it.

GCU freshman Daniel Garcia told the Lopes coaches that they should look at Elijah, a summer teammate who was being recruited but not receiving offers. The staff invited Elijah to a January 2020 camp that included 13 committed players trying on GCU jerseys as he waited for his chances in a high school practice shirt.

Elijah felt out of place and did not normally thrive in showcase situations, but Stankiewicz saw enough of his swing and strength over 90 minutes to continue the conversation. This was a player with potential that Stankiewicz could "dream on."

"When GCU came knocking, every other school was insignificant," Jeff said. "There is not a better human being than Coach Stank to be my son's coach. It is literally the perfect fit."

Elijah went from pondering pursuits of junior college baseball or firefighter academy to committing to GCU two weeks later with no promises other than a chance in fall ball.

"It was a month before it was too late," Elijah said.

The COVID-19 pandemic halted the Lopes' season that March and altered the landscape, leading to more returnees and a 48-man roster this year.

But Elijah had been through a similar circumstance. As he grew up devouring baseball in field time, books, YouTube videos, the Ken Burns' documentary and MLB statistics, his father always moved him to an older or better team when he became a team's best player.

For high school, the Buries family made the round-trip trek from Upland to Orange for four years so Elijah could play for Orange Lutheran High School's nationally known program as an unknown. He earned a starting job as a freshman, just as he has done at GCU after adding 15 pounds since the fall.

Elijah Buries

"I would've never foreseen this," Elijah said. "As much as I knew I could play at this level, it is still surreal sometimes."

Elijah, a high school third baseman playing a new position at first base, leads hitting and steals but also ranks in GCU's top three for doubles (nine), home runs (six), RBI (34) and slugging percentage (.570).

In the past 10 games, Elijah has hit .514 (18 for 35) and enters the CBU series on a streak of five consecutive multi-hit games that put him in the nation's top 100 for batting average. This all followed a midseason dip and an adjustment by Stankiewicz to close Elijah's stance.

"Elijah is not the guy who is going to impress you in a one-day workout," Stankiewicz said. "He's going to impress you with his stick-to-itiveness. His ability to come back tomorrow and the next day. Where other players wear down, he gains his shine. He doesn't have the prettiest swing or fielding techniques. But at the end of the day, you're like, 'Dang, I'm glad he's on our team.' "

Jeff promised Stankiewicz a starting-quality player when he began recruiting Elijah with assistant coach Gregg Wallis. That role developed slowly and had a setback with a hamstring injury, but Elijah persevered. He carries a different patience and maturity than most teenagers after growing up with an autistic younger brother, Ezekiel.

When his first at bat came in Game 4, Elijah questioned himself on why he was not nervous before smacking the second slider he saw for a double.

"I was so calm, surprisingly," Elijah said. "It was almost like I had nothing to lose as a freshman off the bench. It's funny because now I get more frustrated because I know I can compete at this level."

Elijah has gone from GCU's last signee of this freshman class to the team's No. 1 hitter, all while being away from a mother who is fighting cancer.

"One of the most impressive things is the way he's handled all that," Stankiewicz said. "He doesn't want anybody to look at him differently. He hasn't batted an eye."

The season began with Elijah being thrilled to get a pinch-hit chance in the opening series to him being the heart of the lineup that will decide the WAC regular-season championship this week. Next week, GCU will be the WAC Tournament No. 1 seed as it pursue its first NCAA Division I tournament bid.

"I truly did not expect all this to be that awesome," Elijah said. "If we were putting up this season and I was getting an at bat here and there, I'd still be like, 'Let's go.' Now, I have a role in this."

And that makes for many more great days ahead for his mother.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Elijah Buries

Daniel Garcia

Related Videos