Pitchers' duel goes to SDSU

Friday, April 22

San Diego, Calif.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

San Diego State

4/22/2022 7:25:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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MLB Draft prospect wins despite strong Young outing

By: Paul Coro

SAN DIEGO – Grand Canyon wants to get back to June baseball and survive longer, a feat that will take meeting the challenge of facing aces in consecutive games.

GCU got an April peek into that sort of test on Friday, when it came off an afternoon loss to a Stanford ace and faced a flame-throwing MLB Draft prospect in a 2-1 nightcap loss to host San Diego State.

After being limited to one run on seven hits by Stanford senior right-hander Alex Williams' eight-inning gem, San Diego State junior right-hander Troy Melton tossed a five-hit complete game with 124 pitches to beat the Lopes on Friday night.

About 25 pro scouts watched Melton temper the GCU offense, which left runners on bases in four of the last five innings when trailing by one.

"This is probably as good of two arms as we're going to see all year," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We've seen some pretty good ones and these are up there. This is what we're going to face. We've got to figure out how to be more competitive when we face arms like this. It's a good challenge in front of us.

"This game's hard. It's relentless and it exposes you when you're not on it. The beauty of it is we get to come back tomorrow and go again. We've got to respond well."

GCU will return to Tony Gwynn Stadium for its San Diego trip's finale against No. 7 Stanford at 1 p.m. today, when the Lopes will try to break a losing streak for the first time since mid-March.

Lopes starting pitcher Carter Young and reliever Eli Ankeney put GCU in position to win, keeping the Aztecs to 5-for-32 hitting and two runs.

It was Young's best work since a three-game stretch of the season when he pitched well at Oregon State and Arizona State and at home against Arizona. Young walked three of the first seven batters but kept San Diego State off the board until the sixth inning.

"I had to just go out there and trust my stuff and remember to compete," Young said. "Compete is that one word that I have to say over and over to myself to give my team the best shot to win.

"I'm not too worried about striking people out. I know my stuff isn't necessarily the best, but I know I can still get people out because hitting is hard enough as it is. If I trust the guys behind me, they'll make the plays for me."

GCU went error-less for the third consecutive game to make Carter's command of his fastball and change-up shine.

"He threw the ball well," Stankiewicz said. "The fastball had life on it. The breaking ball and change-up were working, so that was really encouraging."

Like in the afternoon loss to Stanford, the Lopes (26-14) took a 1-0 lead. Sophomore center fielder Homer Bush Jr.'s opening single led to the run when he scored later on a two-out, first-pitch single by sophomore first baseman Elijah Buries.

GCU did not cash in on a fifth-inning opportunity with a one-out double by sophomore left-fielder Cade Verdusco, who is having a 5-for-11 series.

Leading 1-0 in the sixth inning, Young allowed a one-out single to catcher Poncho Ruiz, who stole second and moved to third on a balk when Young adjusted because he had a hard time seeing catcher Tyler Wilson's pitch signal.

With left-handed top Aztecs hitter Cole Carraig at the plate, Ankeney entered the game to counter with a left-hander and allowed a game-tying single. Carraig then stole second and third base, allowing him to score on a two-out infield single.

"I've got to be better at helping them control the running game and slow things down," Stankiewicz said. "It's a good lesson for our pitchers, catchers and our staff. We've got to do a better job of training our guys to not let those things happen."

Melton, a high school catcher whose conversion made him a projected MLB Draft pick, exceeded 100 pitches for the fourth consecutive outing after not making his season debut until March because of offseason arm soreness.

The Lopes' last chance against him was a ninth-inning leadoff single by graduate third baseman Juan Colato, but two line drives and a fly out gave the Aztecs their biggest win of the season.

"He has a great arm, a fastball guy with velo (velocity) and he lets it go with a nice slider when he needed it," Stankiewicz said of Melton. "We couldn't seem to catch up to his fastball."