Markl, clutch homers knock off No. 7 Stanford

Saturday, April 23

San Diego, Calif.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

27-14

Stanford

22-12

Stanford

Grand Canyon

4/23/2022 4:02:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU lefty fans 10; Aguilar, Buckley bang back-to-back blasts

By: Paul Coro

SAN DIEGO — Grand Canyon was on the verge of being a top-25 team nationally and unanimously with some pollsters holding out for the caveat of seeing the Lopes fare well against elite weekend competition.

aguilar stanford

GCU showed that Saturday with sophomore left-hander Connor Markl taming No. 7 Stanford's offense with a career-high 10 strikeouts in six innings and Lopes juniors Tayler Aguilar and Josh Buckley launching back-to-back, seventh-inning home runs in a 5-1, neutral-site win at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

GCU (27-14) has faced a top-25 opponent this season in eight games, more than any previous Division I season, and has posted more wins against ranked teams (five) than any previous season. But until this weekend, the top-25 challenges all came in midweek action until the Lopes had their first chances to pit weekend starters against Stanford on Friday and Saturday.

"This is where we should be," Markl said. "This is where we belong. Teams are starting to realize who we are, so that's always a positive sign to see."

After falling to the Cardinal on Friday, GCU responded in the trip finale Saturday because of Markl's work in front of a strong alumni turnout. Markl gave his best outing since not allowing an earned run in five innings of the Feb. 22 win at No. 11 Arizona. Against a 2021 College World Series team, Markl surpassed the career high for strikeouts that he set at Arizona (eight) by striking out three batters in an inning twice on Saturday.

"He was stellar," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "He was keeping them off balance with a nice fastball and a good changeup. That team can hit. If you get that kind of day off of that type of offensive team, that means you had a good one. So proud of him. It's been a little bit of a roller coaster. But to have that kind of performance against that kind of ballclub, that's pretty impressive."

When Markl struck out two in the first inning, it included the misfortune of a Stanford run when GCU junior second baseman Ambren Voitik lost a pop-up in the sun and wind, allowing Cardinal second baseman Brett Barrera to score from first after a two-out single.

After striking out the side in the fourth, Markl squelched a two-on, two-out situation in the fifth inning with his ninth strikeout on Stanford leading hitter Carter Graham. Markl again stranded two runners in the sixth before giving way to the Lopes' usual closer, Vince Reilly, with a 1-0 deficit to open the seventh.

"It felt pretty good," Markl said. "It started with Buckley behind the plate. He called a great game so I have to give him a lot of props for that. It's been a rough couple of outings for me lately. But I've been working with (pitching coach Jon) Wente, working with the catchers, working with myself. It was a great feeling to tweak some things and then see the results come out of it."

Reilly has 10 saves but picked up his fifth win Saturday with three shutout innings because the Lopes' bats broke through in the seventh inning. After hitting .188 in Friday's losses, GCU had been kept to four hits in the first six innings by Stanford left-handed starter Drew but sophomore left fielder Tyler Wilson's leadoff single in the seventh inning ended his day.

In a change of pinch-hitters after the pitching change, Aguilar smashed right-handed reliever Tommy O'Rourke's first pitch over the tall backdrop behind the right-field bullpen for a 2-1 lead and his 10th home run of the season. O'Rourke's next pitch was sent over the left-center field wall for a 3-1 lead by Buckley, a catcher who made his first two starts of the season this weekend after returning from an elbow injury.

"I knew I was going to come in and I was going to do something big," Aguilar said. "I knew that, just from a mental standpoint. I knew that I needed to get my bat on the ball, and I did that. I got the boys going. That's all I needed to do. The boys get a little more intense when we play teams like this. But it's a given. We've been doing this all year, there's nothing new to it."

With 37 starts under his belt, Aguilar was making a pinch-hit appearance for the first time this season. He wasted no time warming up, putting a charge into the first strike he saw.

"A huge at bat by Tayler Aguilar," Stankiewicz said. "We just wanted to give him a blow today with that lefty on the mound. An opportunity presented itself where they brought in a reliever and we said, 'Okay, that's a good matchup. Let's see what we've got.' He was ready to hit. That was the exciting part about it. Very first pitch fastball, he was ready to hit. He got on it pretty good and it jumped out."

Reilly had kept GCU within one by avoiding another two-on Cardinal rally with an inning-ending double play in the seventh. Stanford had posted three consecutive games of 10 or more runs but went out quietly against Reilly, who set the Cardinal down in order in the eighth and stranded another Cardinal pair with a game-ending strikeout on pitch No. 52.

The Lopes padded the lead for Reilly in the eighth inning, when sophomores Elijah Buries and Cade Verdusco hit consecutive one-hit singles before moving into scoring position and being brought home by an Aguilar single to right for the 5-1 lead. Aguilar entered the game in the seventh and left the stadium with two hits and four RBIs, bringing his season total to 36.

"It's great toughness in our guys," Stankiewicz said. "Against a team like Stanford, you're not going to score a bunch of runs. We know that. We just have to put good at bats together and have productive outs. Really proud of the way they bounced back. Yesterday was a tough day. It was tough on everybody. Great job and resilience by our guys, bouncing back on an afternoon before we go back to Phoenix."

GCU moved to 22-2 this season in games that it has hit a home run after Saturday, when it collected seven of its 11 hits in its final two offensive innings.

The Lopes make a brief stop in Phoenix before heading back on the road for midweek action at New Mexico on Tuesday and a WAC series at Utah Valley beginning on Friday.