Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Tuesday, May 4
Tucson, Ariz.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
26-17-1
2
at
13
Arizona
31-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Grand Canyon
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
5
0
Arizona
3
2
0
0
7
1
0
0
X
13
13
0
Loss at Arizona brings WAC race into focus
5/4/2021 10:20:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
After 13-2 loss to No. 9 Cats, Lopes have 12 games to chase conference title
TUCSON – All the nonconference intrigue is aside and it is time to chase a conference crown with pride.
Grand Canyon's renewal of home-and-home, in-state series with Arizona State and Arizona ended roughly on a 13-2 loss Tuesday night at ninth-ranked Arizona, but it brought the Lopes' main goal into laser focus.
GCU has 12 remaining conference games to claim the program's fourth WAC regular-season title in the most recent six conference seasons. Outside of senior reliever Nick Hull's three shutout innings against the nation's No. 1 hitting offense, the Lopes (26-17-1, 19-5 WAC) left Hi Corbett Field mostly with lessons about what it will take to catch WAC leader California Baptist (29-11, 21-3 WAC).
"We've got to go back to work," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "Wednesday and Thursday are big days for us. Dixie State is coming in this weekend with a big chip on their shoulder. We've got to be ready to roll.
"I told the guys, 'You've got 12 games to go so what do you want to do with this? You want to do something special and be in this thing in a great way at the end or be just a solid ball club.' I'm not interested in being just a solid ball club. I want to be a great ball club."
Arizona (31-11) was ready to roll Tuesday for its 10th consecutive win, a streak that started four days after the Wildcats lost at GCU on April 13. Arizona hopped on Lopes freshman starter Connor Markl for three runs in the first inning and two runs in the second inning, forcing Hull into early duty.
Hull admittedly did not have his best arsenal, but battled for three shutout innings. He allowed one hit, an infield single off the mound, to an Arizona team that
hits a nation-leading .333.
Hull, a right-hander from Bothell, Washington, has thrown 10 consecutive shutout innings over his past five outings. But Tuesday marked his longest outing since a March 2019 start at Nevada.
"It's been mostly about trusting my stuff," Hull said. "Even if I don't have my stuff, I'm going to fill up the zone with my fastball, slider and change and we're going to play."
The early-game bullpen call had Hull's heart racing when he entered in the second inning as Arizona led 5-1. But he located a teal-shirted fan over the third-base dugout for his focus point and found a better groove.
Hull's outing dropped his season ERA to 2.01, following the 2.08 ERA he put up in the abbreviated season last year.
"When I was younger and we'd play a team like UofA, most of the guys in the lineup were older so it felt like I was the one who was, quote unquote, not as good as them," Hull said. "But now that I'm older, I feel like I'm the best one out there. That's the way you have to feel on the mound or you're not going to do well."
Hull's effort could have reopened the door for GCU, but the Lopes did not take advantage of junior left fielder Juan Colato's leadoff single in the fourth or sophomore designated hitter Tayler Aguilar's leadoff walk in the fifth.
Arizona broke out for a seven-run fifth inning that devastated the Lopes' chances. Five of the runs came with two outs. At least one walk fed each of the Wildcats' first three scoring innings.
"We didn't come ready to compete," Stankiewicz said. "If we can't throw strike one and we can't command our fastball, we're going to put ourselves in a tough spot. That was as big a part of it as anything else. This is too good of a hitting ball club to give freebies."
The Lopes flied out or popped out nine times in the first four innings before striking out twice and getting caught stealing in the fifth. GCU only knocked out five hits, including a two-out Aguilar double in the second inning and a RBI single up the middle from senior substitute Dane Stankiewicz in the eighth.
It was GCU's lowest hit total since a loss to Pepperdine on March 24, which preceded the Lopes winning their past five series.
GCU relievers Eli Ankeney, a freshman from Phoenix Desert Vista High, and Blake Reilly, a sophomore from Moorpark, California, threw one shutout inning apiece in collegiate debuts.
"We let an opportunity slip away, not that we're going to come here and beat up on UofA," Stankiewicz said. "They're too good. But be much more competitive with at bats and on the mound. Give us a shot. Don't let an off-at bat or an off-pitch turn into an off-day."
The Lopes will face Dixie State in a four-game series at GCU Ballpark, starting with a 6 p.m. game on Friday, before its last road series at Tarleton and a regular-season-ending home series against CBU on May 20-22.
Grand Canyon's renewal of home-and-home, in-state series with Arizona State and Arizona ended roughly on a 13-2 loss Tuesday night at ninth-ranked Arizona, but it brought the Lopes' main goal into laser focus.
GCU has 12 remaining conference games to claim the program's fourth WAC regular-season title in the most recent six conference seasons. Outside of senior reliever Nick Hull's three shutout innings against the nation's No. 1 hitting offense, the Lopes (26-17-1, 19-5 WAC) left Hi Corbett Field mostly with lessons about what it will take to catch WAC leader California Baptist (29-11, 21-3 WAC).
"We've got to go back to work," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "Wednesday and Thursday are big days for us. Dixie State is coming in this weekend with a big chip on their shoulder. We've got to be ready to roll.
"I told the guys, 'You've got 12 games to go so what do you want to do with this? You want to do something special and be in this thing in a great way at the end or be just a solid ball club.' I'm not interested in being just a solid ball club. I want to be a great ball club."
Arizona (31-11) was ready to roll Tuesday for its 10th consecutive win, a streak that started four days after the Wildcats lost at GCU on April 13. Arizona hopped on Lopes freshman starter Connor Markl for three runs in the first inning and two runs in the second inning, forcing Hull into early duty.
Hull admittedly did not have his best arsenal, but battled for three shutout innings. He allowed one hit, an infield single off the mound, to an Arizona team that
hits a nation-leading .333.
Hull, a right-hander from Bothell, Washington, has thrown 10 consecutive shutout innings over his past five outings. But Tuesday marked his longest outing since a March 2019 start at Nevada.
"It's been mostly about trusting my stuff," Hull said. "Even if I don't have my stuff, I'm going to fill up the zone with my fastball, slider and change and we're going to play."
The early-game bullpen call had Hull's heart racing when he entered in the second inning as Arizona led 5-1. But he located a teal-shirted fan over the third-base dugout for his focus point and found a better groove.
Hull's outing dropped his season ERA to 2.01, following the 2.08 ERA he put up in the abbreviated season last year.
"When I was younger and we'd play a team like UofA, most of the guys in the lineup were older so it felt like I was the one who was, quote unquote, not as good as them," Hull said. "But now that I'm older, I feel like I'm the best one out there. That's the way you have to feel on the mound or you're not going to do well."
Hull's effort could have reopened the door for GCU, but the Lopes did not take advantage of junior left fielder Juan Colato's leadoff single in the fourth or sophomore designated hitter Tayler Aguilar's leadoff walk in the fifth.
Arizona broke out for a seven-run fifth inning that devastated the Lopes' chances. Five of the runs came with two outs. At least one walk fed each of the Wildcats' first three scoring innings.
"We didn't come ready to compete," Stankiewicz said. "If we can't throw strike one and we can't command our fastball, we're going to put ourselves in a tough spot. That was as big a part of it as anything else. This is too good of a hitting ball club to give freebies."
The Lopes flied out or popped out nine times in the first four innings before striking out twice and getting caught stealing in the fifth. GCU only knocked out five hits, including a two-out Aguilar double in the second inning and a RBI single up the middle from senior substitute Dane Stankiewicz in the eighth.
It was GCU's lowest hit total since a loss to Pepperdine on March 24, which preceded the Lopes winning their past five series.
GCU relievers Eli Ankeney, a freshman from Phoenix Desert Vista High, and Blake Reilly, a sophomore from Moorpark, California, threw one shutout inning apiece in collegiate debuts.
"We let an opportunity slip away, not that we're going to come here and beat up on UofA," Stankiewicz said. "They're too good. But be much more competitive with at bats and on the mound. Give us a shot. Don't let an off-at bat or an off-pitch turn into an off-day."
The Lopes will face Dixie State in a four-game series at GCU Ballpark, starting with a 6 p.m. game on Friday, before its last road series at Tarleton and a regular-season-ending home series against CBU on May 20-22.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Nichols, TJ (4-3)
L: Markl, Connor (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Aguilar, Tayler 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1
RBI: Stankiewicz, Dane 1 ; Aguilar, Tayler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Buries, Elijah 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1
CS: Aguilar, Tayler 1
Batting:
2B: Kato, Kobe 1 ; Bullard, Tony 1
3B: Berry, Jacob 1 ; Kato, Kobe 1
HR: Williams, Donta 1 ; Susac, Daniel 1
RBI: Williams, Donta 2 ; Boissiere, Branden 1 ; Bingham, Mac 2 ; Berry, Jacob 2 ; Susac, Daniel 3 ; Kato, Kobe 2 ; McClaughry, Nik 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Williams, Donta 2 ; Boissiere, Branden 2 ; Bingham, Mac 2 ; Berry, Jacob 1 ; Holgate, Ryan 1 ; Susac, Daniel 1 ; Bullard, Tony 2 ; McClaughry, Nik 2
HBP: Boissiere, Branden 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
ph/ss
AB
1
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
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