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Burton's 11-RBI weekend nets WAC honor
5/3/2021 11:09:00 AM | Baseball
GCU senior collected 10 hits, 11 RBIs in Lopes' dominant series win at Sacramento State
Grand Canyon center fielder Brock Burton took home his first WAC Hitter of the Week award after a 10-hit, 11-RBI weekend in the Lopes' dominant series win at Sacramento State.
The senior shrugged off a 3-for-23 (.130 slump) in mid-April games against Northern Colorado and New Mexico State to put together a 10-for-14 (.714) weekend against the Hornets.
"Last week against New Mexico State, I struggled a little bit," Burton said. "I had to do some things with my swing, went to the cages with (Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz). I was really excited about how the two games went against ASU and then try to bring that in here. First at bat today, just not trying to do too much. It's funny what happens when you think that way. Just got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it and good things happen."
That pitch came in his first plate appearance of the weekend and resulted in a two-run home run in Friday's second inning to give the Lopes some life after trailing 4-0.
Burton made it back-to-back innings with a home run by hitting a go-ahead grand slam in the third.
"I knew I hit it pretty good," said Burton, who has improved his batting average from .283 to .329 in the last two weeks. "It was a pretty cool feeling. I've never hit two home runs in a game before. To do it to take a lead there was pretty awesome. Just the rest of the game, everybody just crushing the ball. It was a lot of fun today."
Burton's two-homer, six-RBI performance in the series opener was certainly the highlight of the weekend. But the outfielder followed it up with three more multi-hit games with at least one RBI attached to help GCU outscore the conference's third-place team 35-9 on the series.
Burton got GCU on the board in Saturday's first game with a first-inning RBI double to score freshman outfielder Cade Verdusco. He extended the Lopes' lead later in the game with an RBI single in the fourth.
In Saturday's nightcap, Burton had another key hit as a part of GCU's nine-run second-inning outburst. He drove in a pair of runs on a two-run single to push the Lopes' lead to 9-0 in a game they eventually won 12-0 in seven innings.
Finally, Burton put GCU on the board on Sunday with an RBI double in the second inning to again score Verdusco. He also singled in the ninth inning to push Verdusco into scoring position, allowing him to eventually score the go-ahead run on an RBI single from senior catcher David Avitia.
"I think just being as positive as you can be with yourself and telling yourself it's a long season and there's a lot of at bats left," Burton said of turning around his recent slump. "Things can change so quickly. You can get hot in one game and it changes the direction of your season. I think that was my thing was to stay positive and know I'm a good player and I can swing it and it wasn't going to take long to turn it around."
Burton hit the Lopes' first grand slam since Tyler Wyatt's on May 12, 2019, against Northern Colorado. He had GCU's first six-RBI game since Drew Smith's memorable six-RBI performance against Oklahoma State in the 2020 season opener.
Taking after the mentality of Stankiewicz, Burton was sure to credit GCU's defense as key in helping the Lopes win 12 of their last 14 games.
"We take a lot of pride in our defense," Burton said. "I can't thank (Lopes alumnus Preston Pavlica)Â enough for what he did for me the first few years that he was here. I learned so much from him. I think we really pride ourselves in playing really good, fundamental defense. When you play good defense, you're in almost every game. It's been really good and I'm excited for what's ahead. There's a lot ahead for us."
GCU closes its nonconference slate with a trip to Arizona on Tuesday before returning to GCU Ballpark for a four-game WAC series against Dixie State beginning on Friday.
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The senior shrugged off a 3-for-23 (.130 slump) in mid-April games against Northern Colorado and New Mexico State to put together a 10-for-14 (.714) weekend against the Hornets.
"Last week against New Mexico State, I struggled a little bit," Burton said. "I had to do some things with my swing, went to the cages with (Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz). I was really excited about how the two games went against ASU and then try to bring that in here. First at bat today, just not trying to do too much. It's funny what happens when you think that way. Just got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it and good things happen."
That pitch came in his first plate appearance of the weekend and resulted in a two-run home run in Friday's second inning to give the Lopes some life after trailing 4-0.
Burton made it back-to-back innings with a home run by hitting a go-ahead grand slam in the third.
"I knew I hit it pretty good," said Burton, who has improved his batting average from .283 to .329 in the last two weeks. "It was a pretty cool feeling. I've never hit two home runs in a game before. To do it to take a lead there was pretty awesome. Just the rest of the game, everybody just crushing the ball. It was a lot of fun today."
Burton's two-homer, six-RBI performance in the series opener was certainly the highlight of the weekend. But the outfielder followed it up with three more multi-hit games with at least one RBI attached to help GCU outscore the conference's third-place team 35-9 on the series.
Burton got GCU on the board in Saturday's first game with a first-inning RBI double to score freshman outfielder Cade Verdusco. He extended the Lopes' lead later in the game with an RBI single in the fourth.
In Saturday's nightcap, Burton had another key hit as a part of GCU's nine-run second-inning outburst. He drove in a pair of runs on a two-run single to push the Lopes' lead to 9-0 in a game they eventually won 12-0 in seven innings.
Finally, Burton put GCU on the board on Sunday with an RBI double in the second inning to again score Verdusco. He also singled in the ninth inning to push Verdusco into scoring position, allowing him to eventually score the go-ahead run on an RBI single from senior catcher David Avitia.
"I think just being as positive as you can be with yourself and telling yourself it's a long season and there's a lot of at bats left," Burton said of turning around his recent slump. "Things can change so quickly. You can get hot in one game and it changes the direction of your season. I think that was my thing was to stay positive and know I'm a good player and I can swing it and it wasn't going to take long to turn it around."
Burton hit the Lopes' first grand slam since Tyler Wyatt's on May 12, 2019, against Northern Colorado. He had GCU's first six-RBI game since Drew Smith's memorable six-RBI performance against Oklahoma State in the 2020 season opener.
Taking after the mentality of Stankiewicz, Burton was sure to credit GCU's defense as key in helping the Lopes win 12 of their last 14 games.
"We take a lot of pride in our defense," Burton said. "I can't thank (Lopes alumnus Preston Pavlica)Â enough for what he did for me the first few years that he was here. I learned so much from him. I think we really pride ourselves in playing really good, fundamental defense. When you play good defense, you're in almost every game. It's been really good and I'm excited for what's ahead. There's a lot ahead for us."
GCU closes its nonconference slate with a trip to Arizona on Tuesday before returning to GCU Ballpark for a four-game WAC series against Dixie State beginning on Friday.
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