Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Tuesday, February 22
Tucson, Ariz.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
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Arizona
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Grand Canyon
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Arizona
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Photo by: Zach Campbell
GCU routs No. 11 Arizona with blazing bats
2/22/2022 9:51:00 PM | Baseball
Lopes post their largest margin of victory in 55-year series vs. Wildcats
TUCSON, Ariz. – The Grand Canyon baseball team began an eight-game road trip with a 19-3 rout of No. 11 Arizona on Tuesday night at Hi Corbett Field.
GCU toppled the Wildcats for the third consecutive season, this time by its widest margin in the 55-year history of the series. GCU beat a top-15 team for the first time since knocking off No. 7 TCU on Feb. 18, 2018.
"Any time you're on the road and you play a program like Arizona and come out with a win, it's a good thing," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "I'm proud of the guys and their effort and the way they went about it."
Paired with Sunday's 15-4 win over Nevada, the Lopes' offense scored 15 or more runs in back-to-back games for the first time since February 2010. Behind the bats of sophomores Tyler Wilson (six RBIs, including a grand slam) and Elijah Buries (4 for 6, the Lopes handed the Wildcats their largest margin of defeat since 2013 and their most lopsided nonconference loss since 2010.
The Lopes (2-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, collecting six hits despite heavy winds blowing in from center field. Buries led off the game with a first-pitch single, and the Lopes were off and running. The first baseman advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore left fielder Cade Verdusco.
GCU was aided by two throwing errors in the second inning and parlayed those mistakes into RBI singles by senior second baseman Jonny Weaver and Buries. Senior third baseman Juan Colato followed with an RBI double to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Lopes weren't done scoring in the early going, as freshman designated hitter Maxwell Andeel powered through the incoming wind and hit a two-run home run in the third inning to push the GCU lead to 6-0. The Placentia, California, native has started his Lopes career with extra-base hits in two of his first three at bats.
That cushion was more than enough for GCU sophomore pitcher Connor Markl, who went five innings and allowed just one run with a career-high eight strikeouts and only two walks. Markl shut down Arizona (3-1) after its offense had cumulatively outscored Kansas State, Oklahoma and No. 14 Texas Tech 35-12 in three wins in Texas last weekend.
"It all starts on the mound," Stankiewicz said. "Connor came in and established it really well and did what we needed him to do. And when you see the job he did, it just carried over. We got some momentum and some good at bats together early and we were able to jump out in front."
Wilson provided the exclamation point for the Lopes with a grand slam in the top of the sixth, making it an 11-1 GCU lead. After a ground out started the inning, four straight Lopes reached base before the catcher cleared the bases with his first grand slam.
GCU kept its offense rolling with four more runs in the seventh off a Weaver solo home run, an RBI single by Verdusco and a two-run double from Wilson.
Wilson finished with six RBIs, a career high, while Buries tallied three hits and four runs in the leadoff spot.
"You've got the offensive approach with Tyler (Wilson) with his six RBIs, that doesn't happen very often," Stankiewicz said. "He got a couple of really good swings. He looks locked in and really good. We've got to put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense and I think we did a good job of that today."
The Lopes will hit the road again for three games at UC Irvine on Friday through Sunday.
"Hopefully, we've got some momentum heading to UC Irvine," Stankiewicz said. "They are a great program. Then we stay down there. There's going to be some tough competition moving forward like there always is and that's what we want. But we know tonight was a good thing to build on."
GCU toppled the Wildcats for the third consecutive season, this time by its widest margin in the 55-year history of the series. GCU beat a top-15 team for the first time since knocking off No. 7 TCU on Feb. 18, 2018.
"Any time you're on the road and you play a program like Arizona and come out with a win, it's a good thing," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "I'm proud of the guys and their effort and the way they went about it."
Paired with Sunday's 15-4 win over Nevada, the Lopes' offense scored 15 or more runs in back-to-back games for the first time since February 2010. Behind the bats of sophomores Tyler Wilson (six RBIs, including a grand slam) and Elijah Buries (4 for 6, the Lopes handed the Wildcats their largest margin of defeat since 2013 and their most lopsided nonconference loss since 2010.
The Lopes (2-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, collecting six hits despite heavy winds blowing in from center field. Buries led off the game with a first-pitch single, and the Lopes were off and running. The first baseman advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore left fielder Cade Verdusco.
GCU was aided by two throwing errors in the second inning and parlayed those mistakes into RBI singles by senior second baseman Jonny Weaver and Buries. Senior third baseman Juan Colato followed with an RBI double to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Lopes weren't done scoring in the early going, as freshman designated hitter Maxwell Andeel powered through the incoming wind and hit a two-run home run in the third inning to push the GCU lead to 6-0. The Placentia, California, native has started his Lopes career with extra-base hits in two of his first three at bats.
That cushion was more than enough for GCU sophomore pitcher Connor Markl, who went five innings and allowed just one run with a career-high eight strikeouts and only two walks. Markl shut down Arizona (3-1) after its offense had cumulatively outscored Kansas State, Oklahoma and No. 14 Texas Tech 35-12 in three wins in Texas last weekend.
"It all starts on the mound," Stankiewicz said. "Connor came in and established it really well and did what we needed him to do. And when you see the job he did, it just carried over. We got some momentum and some good at bats together early and we were able to jump out in front."
Wilson provided the exclamation point for the Lopes with a grand slam in the top of the sixth, making it an 11-1 GCU lead. After a ground out started the inning, four straight Lopes reached base before the catcher cleared the bases with his first grand slam.
GCU kept its offense rolling with four more runs in the seventh off a Weaver solo home run, an RBI single by Verdusco and a two-run double from Wilson.
Wilson finished with six RBIs, a career high, while Buries tallied three hits and four runs in the leadoff spot.
"You've got the offensive approach with Tyler (Wilson) with his six RBIs, that doesn't happen very often," Stankiewicz said. "He got a couple of really good swings. He looks locked in and really good. We've got to put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense and I think we did a good job of that today."
The Lopes will hit the road again for three games at UC Irvine on Friday through Sunday.
"Hopefully, we've got some momentum heading to UC Irvine," Stankiewicz said. "They are a great program. Then we stay down there. There's going to be some tough competition moving forward like there always is and that's what we want. But we know tonight was a good thing to build on."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Markl, Connor (1-0)
L: Orloff, E. (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Colato, Juan 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1
3B: Belton III, Ronnie 1
HR: Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Andeel, Maxwell 1 ; Weaver, Jonny 1
RBI: Buries, Elijah 1 ; Colato, Juan 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 3 ; Wilson, Tyler 6 ; Belton III, Ronnie 1 ; Andeel, Maxwell 2 ; Weaver, Jonny 4
SH: Verdusco, Cade 1
SF: Weaver, Jonny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Buries, Elijah 4 ; Wilson, Jacob 2 ; Colato, Juan 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 2 ; Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Torres, Adrian 1 ; Bush Jr., Homer 2 ; Belton III, Ronnie 2 ; Andeel, Maxwell 2 ; Weaver, Jonny 2
SB: Weaver, Jonny 1
HBP: Wall, Jaxson 1 ; Colato, Juan 1
Batting:
2B: Susac, D. 1
RBI: O'Tremba, T. 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Casper, K. 1 ; McClaughry 1 ; Grant, J. 1
HBP: Casagrande 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
6
R
4
H
4
RBI
1
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
4
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
6
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
UTIL
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballUTIL
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