Colato walks off CBU with home run

Thursday, April 14

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

24-11, 14-2

California Baptist

22-10, 8-5

California Baptist

Grand Canyon

4/14/2022 10:24:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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Lancers rallied to tie twice but GCU wins to stretch West Division lead

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon baseball could have been rocked by a ninth-inning sequence Thursday night when California Baptist hit a game-tying, two-out home run with enough ensuing emotion to get a Lancers bench player ejected.

Instead of being devastated, GCU devoured the moment. Lopes senior Juan Colato ate up a two-strike pitch for a walk-off home run, the first of his career to lift the Lopes to an 8-6, series-opening victory at GCU Ballpark.

The Lopes (24-11, 14-2 WAC) stretched their West Division lead over the second-place Lancers (22-10, 8-5 WAC) to 4 1/2 games with their seventh consecutive victory. GCU has won 15 of its past 18 games.

"To weather that storm and get back in it and put a couple good swings together, that's part of what good ball clubs do," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "You're going to get punched and you have to have the ability to punch back. I'm proud of the way that the boys responded."

After sophomore second baseman Elijah Buries beat out a leadoff infield single, Colato was facing a 1-2 count when he lifted a low pitch over the right-center field wall.

For GCU's first walk-off home run since Adrian Torres did it to beat CSU Northridge on March 8, the Lopes bullpen beat Colato to home plate for the celebration.

"I'm going to write down the date somewhere," Colato said. "I'll never forget this moment."

It is not like Colato lacks for great GCU moments in his career, which is being capped by a season of .384 hitting with 31 RBIs in 30 games. But on a night when starting pitcher Nick Hull battled without his best arsenal and the Lancers rallied to tie twice, the Lopes needed a clutch moment.

"I was trying to breathe and keep myself calm and thankfully I was able to get that barrel," said Colato, the first born-and-raised El Salvadoran to earn a Division I baseball scholarship. "Thank God I hit that one out. It's just sweeter when you can help out a teammate, pick him up and be useful for your team. That's the main goal."

Half of the Lopes' 12 hits went for extra bases with sophomore shortstop Jacob Wilson and sophomore third baseman Dustin Crenshaw each doubling twice in the game. It was Wilson's fourth two-double game of his .385 hitting season, while Crenshaw's bat is surging to lift his average from .100 to .232 with a 10-for-26 stretch in his past seven games.

"He's more centered," Stankiewicz said of Crenshaw, who gave GCU a 5-1, third-inning lead with a two-out, two-run double and the left-handed hitter smoked another one off a Lancers southpaw in the sixth. "He's not reaching. He's staying on his legs a little better and he's got good hands. He's a strong young man and got some good bat speed. He's starting to grow up a little bit and have a better approach at the plate."

GCU spotted Hull a 3-0 lead with a first-inning rally that started with Buries, Colato and Wilson opening with consecutive hits. CBU, a .322 hitting team, put runners on base in each inning against Hull, but the graduate right-hander minimized the damage until the fifth and sixth innings.

After CBU cut the lead to 5-3 in the third, Lancers third baseman Mitchel Simon tied the game at 5-5 with a two-run home run before junior Eli Ankeney came on two batters later with one out. The left-hander's heat shut out CBU for 2 2/3 innings, allowing a baserunner only on a dropped third strike as his ERA fell to 1.03.

Ankeney has not allowed a run in nine consecutive appearances, giving up only three hits in 12 1/3 innings with 18 strikeouts and an .075 opponent batting average during that stretch.

"I'm just rolling right now, doing my thing when Stank calls my name," Ankeney said. "I'm just giving my boys a chance to win the game. I'm not changing anything."

GCU sophomore first baseman Tyler Wilson's leadoff double in the eighth inning led to a 6-5 lead when Torres' infield, pinch-hit single scored him.

Lopes junior closer Vince Reilly retired the first two batters of the ninth inning, thanks to freshman left fielder Maxwell Andeel's diving catch on GCU's error-less night. But CBU second baseman Harrison Spohn homered to tie the game at 6-6 before Reilly ended the inning on the next pitch.

"He settled back in and let it go," Stankiewicz said of Reilly. "It got a little emotional, but he got back on the mound and made big pitches to get us back in the dugout."