Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Thursday, May 20
Phoenix, Ariz.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
35-17-1, 28-5
5
vs
1
California Baptist
35-14, 27-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
California Baptist
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
9
3
Grand Canyon
1
0
0
2
1
0
0
1
X
5
7
1
Title series starts with Ohl win, clutch bats
5/20/2021 10:15:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
GCU breaks WAC 1st-place tie against CBU with 5-1 home win
In a big game of big moments, Grand Canyon kept coming up huge Thursday night.
GCU broke a WAC first-place tie with California Baptist with a 5-1 victory that opened a four-game series, which will decide the conference regular-season champion at GCU Ballpark this week. It could come as early as Friday night, if the Lopes extend their nine-game winning streak by sweeping CBU in a 2 p.m. doubleheader.
The pursuit of that hardware started Thursday night with a hard-hat effort from GCU starting pitcher Pierson Ohl and a hard-headed effort from a Lopes offense that will not go away with two outs.
Four of GCU's five runs were scored in innings when the Lopes (35-17-1, 28-5 WAC) had two outs and nobody on base. Six of GCU's seven hits were delivered with two outs.
"Our dugout has made it a thing when we get two outs, it's like, 'All right, here we go, now we're going to score some runs,' " said Lopes senior center fielder Brock Burton, who had the last of three consecutive two-out singles in a two-run fourth inning.
Ohl made the clutch offense stand up by throwing a season-high 107 pitches over eight innings, allowing the only run on a leadoff home run that tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth.
The right-handed junior earned his WAC-leading ninth win by escaping threats with steely strikeouts and a defense that delivered two double plays and catcher David Avitia throwing out a base stealer for the 10th time in opponents' 15 tries. Ohl dropped his ERA to 2.55, second best in the WAC to freshman and Game 2 starter Carter Young.
"It didn't feel like the most pitches I've thrown because I was getting so many first-pitch outs (five) and that helps me get back in the dugout and preserve the energy," Ohl said. "I was just head down. I was going nose for the finish line."
After giving up the home run, Ohl was unfazed and kept command in the bottom of the strike zone. He has done it all season for a 9-1 record on 92 strikeouts to 11 walks.
"It looked like his pitches were crisper as he went along," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "(Pitching coach Jon) Wente has a good feel and he said, 'Let's run him back out there.' He was a workhorse and just grinded it out."
The clutch offense made him a winner Thursday, when Lopes junior second baseman Juan Colato delivered an RBI double in the first inning and a RBI triple in the fourth.
The tide-turning rally came in the fourth, when GCU broke a tie with two-out singles from freshmen Tyler Wilson and Cade Verdusco and Burton. Coupled with a CBU error on Burton's single, Wilson and Verdusco scored for a 3-1 lead.
"Whoever's got two outs and nobody on, get to first base," Stankiewicz said. "It was a great job by our offense, staying within themselves and not panicking and trying to get to first base."
Another freshman, third baseman Jacob Wilson, proved clutch with a two-out, fifth-inning single to set up Colato's triple to right-center field. Colato slid head first into third base and looked up to a joyous dugout as the Lopes moved ahead 5-1.
"I was fired up to see everybody jumping around and throwing water at the ceiling," Colato said. "It was good stuff."
Another triple came from another freshman, first baseman Elijah Buries, in the eighth inning to provide the final run on a Lancers error. The final stood at 5-1, with GCU (35-17-1, 28-5) delivering a loss to CBU (35-14, 27-6) after the Lancers had taken a four-game sweep at New Mexico State.
"Everybody knew what today meant," Colato said. "We're a gritty team and we showed that today. Hopefully, we can do that for the rest of the series."
GCU, on a 21-3 run, returns for a 2 p.m. doubleheader against CBU on Friday and finishes the regular season at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
"Showing up to the yard, you get those butterflies in the stomach," Ohl said of Thursday's series opener. "That's why we show up to the field every day practicing for these moments like tonight. You get through that midseason lull and you get to the games like today and get a second wind. That's all you can ask for."
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GCU broke a WAC first-place tie with California Baptist with a 5-1 victory that opened a four-game series, which will decide the conference regular-season champion at GCU Ballpark this week. It could come as early as Friday night, if the Lopes extend their nine-game winning streak by sweeping CBU in a 2 p.m. doubleheader.
The pursuit of that hardware started Thursday night with a hard-hat effort from GCU starting pitcher Pierson Ohl and a hard-headed effort from a Lopes offense that will not go away with two outs.
Four of GCU's five runs were scored in innings when the Lopes (35-17-1, 28-5 WAC) had two outs and nobody on base. Six of GCU's seven hits were delivered with two outs.
"Our dugout has made it a thing when we get two outs, it's like, 'All right, here we go, now we're going to score some runs,' " said Lopes senior center fielder Brock Burton, who had the last of three consecutive two-out singles in a two-run fourth inning.
Ohl made the clutch offense stand up by throwing a season-high 107 pitches over eight innings, allowing the only run on a leadoff home run that tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth.
The right-handed junior earned his WAC-leading ninth win by escaping threats with steely strikeouts and a defense that delivered two double plays and catcher David Avitia throwing out a base stealer for the 10th time in opponents' 15 tries. Ohl dropped his ERA to 2.55, second best in the WAC to freshman and Game 2 starter Carter Young.
"It didn't feel like the most pitches I've thrown because I was getting so many first-pitch outs (five) and that helps me get back in the dugout and preserve the energy," Ohl said. "I was just head down. I was going nose for the finish line."
After giving up the home run, Ohl was unfazed and kept command in the bottom of the strike zone. He has done it all season for a 9-1 record on 92 strikeouts to 11 walks.
"It looked like his pitches were crisper as he went along," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "(Pitching coach Jon) Wente has a good feel and he said, 'Let's run him back out there.' He was a workhorse and just grinded it out."
The clutch offense made him a winner Thursday, when Lopes junior second baseman Juan Colato delivered an RBI double in the first inning and a RBI triple in the fourth.
The tide-turning rally came in the fourth, when GCU broke a tie with two-out singles from freshmen Tyler Wilson and Cade Verdusco and Burton. Coupled with a CBU error on Burton's single, Wilson and Verdusco scored for a 3-1 lead.
"Whoever's got two outs and nobody on, get to first base," Stankiewicz said. "It was a great job by our offense, staying within themselves and not panicking and trying to get to first base."
Another freshman, third baseman Jacob Wilson, proved clutch with a two-out, fifth-inning single to set up Colato's triple to right-center field. Colato slid head first into third base and looked up to a joyous dugout as the Lopes moved ahead 5-1.
"I was fired up to see everybody jumping around and throwing water at the ceiling," Colato said. "It was good stuff."
Another triple came from another freshman, first baseman Elijah Buries, in the eighth inning to provide the final run on a Lancers error. The final stood at 5-1, with GCU (35-17-1, 28-5) delivering a loss to CBU (35-14, 27-6) after the Lancers had taken a four-game sweep at New Mexico State.
"Everybody knew what today meant," Colato said. "We're a gritty team and we showed that today. Hopefully, we can do that for the rest of the series."
GCU, on a 21-3 run, returns for a 2 p.m. doubleheader against CBU on Friday and finishes the regular season at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
"Showing up to the yard, you get those butterflies in the stomach," Ohl said of Thursday's series opener. "That's why we show up to the field every day practicing for these moments like tonight. You get through that midseason lull and you get to the games like today and get a second wind. That's all you can ask for."
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ohl, Pierson (9-1)
L: Burica, Chris (8-5)
Batting:
2B: Stevenson, Russell 1 ; Clift, Connor 1 ; Munoz, Marty 1
HR: Castillo, Chad 1
RBI: Castillo, Chad 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Castillo, Chad 1
CS: Clift, Connor 1
HBP: Keith, Damon 1
Batting:
2B: Colato, Juan 1
3B: Colato, Juan 1 ; Buries, Elijah 1
RBI: Colato, Juan 2 ; Burton, Brock 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ortiz, Channy 1 ; Wilson, Jacob 1 ; Buries, Elijah 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 1
CS: Ortiz, Channy 1
HBP: Ortiz, Channy 1
PO: Ortiz, Channy 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
RHP
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