WAC champs return with eyes on more

Friday, February 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Nevada

2/17/2022 6:59:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

GCU Notes Nevada Notes GCU Media Guide

Lopes build on breakthrough season with loaded lineup, retooled pitching

By: Paul Coro

The journey of Grand Canyon baseball did not hit its peak with the program's first NCAA Division I tournament appearance last season. It is just the latest turn in a historic program that continues to venture into higher grounds of college baseball.

In 11th-year head coach Andy Stankiewicz's third opportunity at an NCAA regional, the Lopes made the rapid breakthough when his 300th career win and first WAC Tournament championship coincided. Rather than satisfaction, the ride brought experience and confidence for a Lopes team that begins its quest to go further when its 70th season opens Friday night.

GCU Ballpark action starts with a weekend series against Nevada, one of seven fellow 2021 NCAA tournament qualifiers that the Lopes will face this season.

"Now we're moving on," Stankiewicz said. "We've got to keep getting better. They've got a mindset that we've got more to do. Last year was exciting and great, but there's a lot more in front of us."

The template to top a 39-win season, GCU's best in 16 Division I seasons, can be built with the tools of five Preseason All-WAC selections (pitcher Carter Young, outfielder Tayler Aguilar and infielders Elijah Buries, Juan Colato and Jacob Wilson) who are among 20 returnees.

"This team is a lot more comfortable," said Buries, a sophomore first baseman who hit a team-best .374 last season to post the nation's fourth-best batting average for a true freshman. "Last year, we had the weight on our shoulders of still never going to a regional. This year, we know we can do it. We don't have to wonder if we have the ability. Last year, it was 'Is GCU good enough?' We don't have to worry about if we're good enough talentwise. All we have to worry about is executing what we did last year and hopefully a little more."

Buries highlights a lineup that potentially packs more pop with Colato, Aguilar and Wilson being joined by fellow returnees Cade Verdusco, Tyler Wilson and Jonny Weaver.

Juan Colato

Colato moves to third base as a third-year starter at GCU, where he became the first El Salvadoran to receive a Division I baseball scholarship.

"He's an X-factor, for sure," Stankiewicz said. "He has such an athletic skill set to his game. We have to get him to zone in and quiet down a little bit and really understand hitting a little more. He has relied on his hand strength, hand speed, hand-eye contact. That's made him very valuable. He's a threat for sure, but we want him competing better."

Wilson, the sophomore son of former big-leaguer Jack, lines up next to Colato defensively to give GCU one of the most reliable defensive shortstops in the nation. Coming off a .313 debut season, his in-season freshman improvement and summer and fall work only project upward trajectory in his offense too.

Last season, Wilson had the third-lowest strikeout rate (one per 9.6 at bats) of all true freshmen in the nation.

"Jacob is steady," Stankiewicz said. "His at bats are typically very good. On a night of four at bats, he's going to have two or three good at bats. You rarely see him give at bats away."

The infield will be rounded out by Weaver, a Phoenix-bred senior, and junior Ambren Voitik, a junior college transfer from Northern Oklahoma, with a righty-lefty platoon.

The Lopes outfield might have even turned speedier with Verdusco in center, Aguilar in right and the team's fastest riser, sophomore Homer Bush Jr., leaping into a shared left-field role with lefty junior college transfer Adrian Torres. Torres, the Boston Red Sox's 2018 33rd-round pick, missed last season when New Mexico Junior College didn't play its season amid the pandemic.

"Bush is a work in progress, but he's fun to work with," Stankiewicz said. "He's a great kid. He had a great summer and performed well. We're excited about him. He's got some upside. He's what you're supposed to look like in a uniform, but we've got to put it together."

With junior Josh Buckley starting the season injured, the catching duties will go to sophomore Tyler Wilson and Princeton graduate transfer Sy Snedeker.

Stankiewicz considers Aguilar, the left-handed hitter with a team-high 43 RBIs last season, and Tyler Wilson, who delivered the WAC Tournament's championship-winning hit, to be the lineup's wild cards.

"If those guys go, we're full of offense," Stankiewicz said. "Those two guys are big, strong men who can put a jolt in a ball. They can get you a couple of runs back fast. You need those guys. You can't just get a bunch of ones. We'll take them, but every once in a while, we need someone to hit that two-run home run to get us a couple back quick."

GCU will strive to continue playing some of the most balanced baseball in the nation. Last season, the Lopes were one of 10 programs to rank in the national top 40 for batting average (.290) and ERA (3.98).

GCU's tremendous pitching success in recent years with aces such as Jake Wong, Kade Mechals and Pierson Ohl continues with a rotation that begins with a returning starter (sophomore Carter Young), converted reliever (graduate Nick Hull) and a junior college transfer (junior Hunter Omlid).

hull tarleton

Hull, a hard-throwing right-hander, will become the Friday night starter after posting a WAC-best 1.77 ERA last season in a relief role. The fifth-year player has started in nine of his 63 career appearances and amassed 112 strikeouts in 124 innings, but he is more prepared for a starting role with a three-pitch arsenal.

"His change-up is working well," Stankiewicz said. "His slider is working well. He's got to learn how to pace himself. He can't just come out and grunt as hard as he can. This is a long haul, not a sprint."

Carter Young

Young returns to the starting rotation after making a successful transition from not having high school baseball available in Wyoming to posting a 2.77 ERA for an NCAA regional qualifier. Like Buries and Jacob Wilson, Young earned Freshman All-America honors for having the nation's third-lowest true freshman ERA with his strike-throwing ways.

The opening weekend rotation will round out with Omlid, a Montana junior right-hander who pitched at Boise State before the program was cut. Last season, he went 13-1 to be named an All-America honorable mention for Central Arizona.

With conference play returning to three-game series, GCU's starting options are deep with sophomore left-hander Connor Markl building on a strong finish to last season and freshman right-hander Daniel Avitia coming down Camelback Road from nearby Alhambra High School to follow his brother, David, who is a Lopes student assistant after four years as GCU's catcher.

"The thing we like about having four or five guys who can start is that we can piggyback," said Stankiewicz, who will limit starters to 70-75 pitches early but may use another starting option in long relief in the same game.

In addition to having ace Pierson Ohl and shortstop Channy Ortiz drafted, closer Frankie Scalzo was drafted from last season's team, but the Lopes are ready to turn that role over to junior right-hander Vince Reilly, whose twin Blake is also a GCU pitcher.

The middle relief and set-up crew has a mix of experience in senior right-hander Brodie Cooper-Vassalikis and Louisiana transfer/Phoenix native Jason Nelson, with the growing role of left-handed junior Eli Ankeney, a Phoenix Desert Vista product, and the upside of freshman right-hander R.J. Elmore, who went to crosstown Mesa Red Mountain High School.

GCU lost some vocal seniors from last season's team, but Stankiewicz is seeing the impression they laid with last year's freshmen.

"Our young guys got a taste last year and they're starting to puff out their chests a little bit," Stankiewicz said. "It's not in an arrogant way, but it's like, 'This is how we do it here. We learned last year and were taught well by some older guys.' I think they're excited about becoming leaders as sophomores."

Buries, one of those sophomores, said he has been just as impressed with the maturity and the experience that this season's freshman class has brought to the program.

"We have a lot of experience in high-leverage situations and games, which I think is really going to benefit us," Buries said. "Last year, there were zero players on our team who had ever been to a regional. Now, we have 20 guys who have been to a regional and that comfort level of knowing what it takes is definitely important."