Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Thursday, April 21
San Diego, Calif.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
26-12
7
at
2
San Diego State
10-28
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Grand Canyon
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
0
1
7
11
0
San Diego State
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
2
7
4
Hull sets tone at San Diego State
4/21/2022 10:15:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
Graduate pitcher's start sends GCU to 7-2 win at SDSU
SAN DIEGO – Grand Canyon pitcher Nick Hull spotted San Diego State a leadoff runner in six of his seven innings, but the GCU graduate is no longer that freshman who made his road Lopes debut at Tony Gwynn Stadium in 2018.
Hull is a GCU graduate with composure compiled through combat and that showed Thursday night at San Diego State, where spotting the Aztecs a runner did not harm him until the final inning of his quality start. Hull shut out San Diego State for the first six innings, allowing GCU to build a 6-0 lead that stood up in a 7-2 victory.
At No. 16 in Perfect Game national rankings, GCU (26-12) has won nine of its past 10 games and 17 of its last 21.
Hull returned for a fifth GCU season to embrace the role of starting rotation ace and used Thursday's win to drop his season ERA to 2.90, which is in line with his relief numbers of the past three seasons. The right-hander from Bothell, Washington, has started more games this season (10) than he did in his first four seasons (nine) and looked the part Thursday, throwing a season-high 109 pitches in allowing two earned runs and striking out six in 6 2/3 innings.
"I really tried to calm down my mechanics and not overthrow the ball," Hull said. "I think that bringing myself back helped my ball play today.
"It just seems like the name of my game is every pitch is a grind. There's never an easy at bat or pitch. It's more of a mental game than anything."
When he allowed a leadoff single in the first inning, Hull lured grounders to escape. After a second-inning leadoff single, he struck out the side. After a leadoff walk in the fourth inning, Hull leaned on defense to bail him out of leadoff walks in the fourth and sixth innings, when junior catcher Josh Buckley threw out a would-be base stealer and Hull picked off another runner.
Meanwhile, Hull's defense was turning in GCU's 12th error-less game of the season with leaping or diving gems from junior right fielder Tayler Aguilar, sophomore first baseman Tyler Wilson and sophomore shortstop Jacob Wilson. He also kept the Aztecs' top hitter, shortstop Cole Carrigg, to an 0-for-4 night after entering with a .482 April batting average.
"Hull's fastball had a lot of life to it and his breaking ball was good, as it usually is," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "He mixed up his pitches well. Buckley did a great job first time out (after being injured). They kept hitters off-balance. More than anything else, I liked how the fastball was running in there good."
Hull's work stood up with graduate left-hander Kyle Sandstrom finishing off San Diego State with his second quality appearance in a week. In just his fourth appearance of the season, the Charleston Southern transfer allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings and struck out five of the eight batters he faced. With 11 strikeouts, the Lopes pitchers posted their 21st double-digit strikeout game in 38 games this season.
Sandstrom, also a Washington native from Ferndale, inherited a two-on, two-out situation in the seventh inning and used sliders to draw a rally-squelching grounder from Shaun Montoya, the Aztecs' other .300-plus hitter.
"I had some early-season woes, so to have that CBU outing felt really good rolling into this one," Sandstrom said. "It's just a testament to the coaching staff and the guys on the team sticking with me and having faith in me all year long. It's been a lot of ups and down, but I stayed the course and I came here to play in games like this and be put in situations like that."
After being a pitcher/outfielder last season with 15 1/3 innings, Sandstrom earned limited early-season opportunities until his mid-week simulated game pitching earned him a chance at being another southpaw bullpen option with junior Eli Ankeney.
"He's been particularly tough on our left-handed hitters," Stankiewicz said. "We felt like this is an opportunity with all lefties in their lineup. We felt like, 'Let's see what Kyle can do.' I thought he did a great job."
The GCU offense also provided Hull and Sandstrom with a comfortable lead, which began with senior third baseman Juan Colato starting the scoring with a RBI single in the third and scoring after a pickoff error and RBI grounder by Jacob Wilson.
Colato went on to post his fourth consecutive multi-hit game, going 3 for 5 to lift his batting average to .397 this season. Since hitting .185 in February, Colato is batting .455 in March and April combined after ending with a ninth-inning leadoff triple that led to the Lopes taking a 7-2 lead.
"Juan's a gritty, tough AB," Stankiewicz said. "The triple was huge. You always want to get the five (-run lead)."
Sophomore left fielder Cade Verdusco also delivered a three-hit game from the nine-spot in the batting order, making him 11 for 25 in the past eight games. He started two-run rallies in the third and seventh innings with a single and a double, respectively, and ended another two-run rally with a fourth-inning single.
"Cade's been swinging the bat well," Stankiewicz said. "Those were a big couple at bats. That was a big double down the line to score two. That was huge to give us a little bit of room. He's been putting some nice at bats together. He's starting to see the ball well and his swing is a little bit shorter."
Hull is a GCU graduate with composure compiled through combat and that showed Thursday night at San Diego State, where spotting the Aztecs a runner did not harm him until the final inning of his quality start. Hull shut out San Diego State for the first six innings, allowing GCU to build a 6-0 lead that stood up in a 7-2 victory.
At No. 16 in Perfect Game national rankings, GCU (26-12) has won nine of its past 10 games and 17 of its last 21.
Hull returned for a fifth GCU season to embrace the role of starting rotation ace and used Thursday's win to drop his season ERA to 2.90, which is in line with his relief numbers of the past three seasons. The right-hander from Bothell, Washington, has started more games this season (10) than he did in his first four seasons (nine) and looked the part Thursday, throwing a season-high 109 pitches in allowing two earned runs and striking out six in 6 2/3 innings."I really tried to calm down my mechanics and not overthrow the ball," Hull said. "I think that bringing myself back helped my ball play today.
"It just seems like the name of my game is every pitch is a grind. There's never an easy at bat or pitch. It's more of a mental game than anything."
When he allowed a leadoff single in the first inning, Hull lured grounders to escape. After a second-inning leadoff single, he struck out the side. After a leadoff walk in the fourth inning, Hull leaned on defense to bail him out of leadoff walks in the fourth and sixth innings, when junior catcher Josh Buckley threw out a would-be base stealer and Hull picked off another runner.
Meanwhile, Hull's defense was turning in GCU's 12th error-less game of the season with leaping or diving gems from junior right fielder Tayler Aguilar, sophomore first baseman Tyler Wilson and sophomore shortstop Jacob Wilson. He also kept the Aztecs' top hitter, shortstop Cole Carrigg, to an 0-for-4 night after entering with a .482 April batting average.
"Hull's fastball had a lot of life to it and his breaking ball was good, as it usually is," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "He mixed up his pitches well. Buckley did a great job first time out (after being injured). They kept hitters off-balance. More than anything else, I liked how the fastball was running in there good."
Hull's work stood up with graduate left-hander Kyle Sandstrom finishing off San Diego State with his second quality appearance in a week. In just his fourth appearance of the season, the Charleston Southern transfer allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings and struck out five of the eight batters he faced. With 11 strikeouts, the Lopes pitchers posted their 21st double-digit strikeout game in 38 games this season.
Sandstrom, also a Washington native from Ferndale, inherited a two-on, two-out situation in the seventh inning and used sliders to draw a rally-squelching grounder from Shaun Montoya, the Aztecs' other .300-plus hitter."I had some early-season woes, so to have that CBU outing felt really good rolling into this one," Sandstrom said. "It's just a testament to the coaching staff and the guys on the team sticking with me and having faith in me all year long. It's been a lot of ups and down, but I stayed the course and I came here to play in games like this and be put in situations like that."
After being a pitcher/outfielder last season with 15 1/3 innings, Sandstrom earned limited early-season opportunities until his mid-week simulated game pitching earned him a chance at being another southpaw bullpen option with junior Eli Ankeney.
"He's been particularly tough on our left-handed hitters," Stankiewicz said. "We felt like this is an opportunity with all lefties in their lineup. We felt like, 'Let's see what Kyle can do.' I thought he did a great job."
The GCU offense also provided Hull and Sandstrom with a comfortable lead, which began with senior third baseman Juan Colato starting the scoring with a RBI single in the third and scoring after a pickoff error and RBI grounder by Jacob Wilson.
Colato went on to post his fourth consecutive multi-hit game, going 3 for 5 to lift his batting average to .397 this season. Since hitting .185 in February, Colato is batting .455 in March and April combined after ending with a ninth-inning leadoff triple that led to the Lopes taking a 7-2 lead.
"Juan's a gritty, tough AB," Stankiewicz said. "The triple was huge. You always want to get the five (-run lead)."
Sophomore left fielder Cade Verdusco also delivered a three-hit game from the nine-spot in the batting order, making him 11 for 25 in the past eight games. He started two-run rallies in the third and seventh innings with a single and a double, respectively, and ended another two-run rally with a fourth-inning single.
"Cade's been swinging the bat well," Stankiewicz said. "Those were a big couple at bats. That was a big double down the line to score two. That was huge to give us a little bit of room. He's been putting some nice at bats together. He's starting to see the ball well and his swing is a little bit shorter."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hull, Nick (4-1)
L: FLORES, Jacob (1-4)
S: Sandstrom, Kyle (1)
Batting:
2B: Colato, Juan 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 1
3B: Colato, Juan 1
RBI: Colato, Juan 1 ; Wilson, Jacob 3 ; Verdusco, Cade 1
SF: Wilson, Jacob 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bush Jr., Homer 1 ; Colato, Juan 2 ; Voitik, Ambren 1 ; Belton III, Ronnie 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 2
HBP: Aguilar, Tayler 1
Batting:
2B: JOHNSON, Deron 1
RBI: LEBEAU, Kenny 1 ; MILLER, Caden 1
SH: MONTOYA, Shaun 1
SF: LEBEAU, Kenny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: LEONHARDT, Brian 1 ; JOHNSON, Deron 1
CS: RUIZ, Poncho 1
PO: WEEMS, Irvin 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
C
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LHP
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INF
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