Bullpen sets up Lopes rally from 5-0 hole

Sunday, April 3

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

18-11, 10-2

New Mexico State

11-14, 3-9

New Mexico State

Grand Canyon

4/3/2022 5:07:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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GCU defeated NMSU for its 4th consecutive WAC series win

By: Paul Coro

Winning a Sunday game in which two top Grand Canyon hitters were out and New Mexico State led 5-0 and 6-2 with the help of a season-high four Lopes errors was a relief.

That is an appropriate feeling for GCU with relief pitching being a key to its season, even before five bullpen innings without an earned run allow the Lopes to rally for a 7-6, series-clinching win against the Aggies at GCU Ballpark.

"It was a gutsy team performance," said Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz, whose program has won eight of its past nine games against New Mexico State. "I'm proud of the way the guys hung in there and just said, 'I'm not going to go away and I'm going to figure out a way to stay in it.' "

GCU (18-11, 10-2 WAC) won its fourth consecutive conference series by scoring the game's last five runs on a day that infielders Jacob Wilson and Juan Colato sat out with injuries.

Lopes relievers Hunter Omlid, Eli Ankeney, Ryan Schiefer and Vince Reilly shut out New Mexico State for the final five innings and held the Aggies hitless after sixth-inning leadoff singles. Over the past 11 games, GCU's bullpen ERA is 2.56, but Sunday was a bigger ask when it inherited a 5-0 hole with five innings to pitch. The reliable relievers were:

Omlid, a Central Arizona College transfer from Montana, struck out consecutive batters to end the fifth inning.
Ankeney, a sophomore from Phoenix Desert Vista, stranded two New Mexico State base-runners by entering for the sixth's final out.
Schiefer, a freshman from Gilbert Campo Verde, extended his streak of shutout appearances to six with a scoreless seventh.
Reilly, a junior closer, handled his first two-inning appearance of the season by shaking off a leadoff walk to retire the next six batters efficiently.

"It's a lot more than I thought," Reilly said of Sunday's extended work that earned his third win of the season. "The team needed me to go two today and I was happy to get it done for them. I had the same mentality – don't let runners score.

"I get to come in at the end of the game and help my team get a win. When I come in, the game's on me and I want to help my boys win."

With a 90 mph-plus fastball that puts him ahead in counts, Reilly hit spots with his slider and curveballs to not allow the Aggies to hit a ball out of the infield.

When the Aggies made pitching changes as GCU took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Moorpark, California, native returned to the bullpen to get warm and came out for the ninth as he would for a save.

"He's pitching better," Stankiewicz said. "He's a really emotional guy and feeds off emotions, but he's really good when he's just calm, smooth and thinking about being easy vs. hard and aggressive. I like the attack mode, but sometimes he can't find the zone. That was encouraging that he's starting to pitch and it's been fun to watch him develop."

GCU made more errors in Sunday's first six innings (four) than it had in the previous seven games combined (three). Consecutive fourth-inning errors contributed to the Aggies' three-spot that put them ahead 4-0, a margin that grew to 5-0 on Logan Gallina's eighth home run of the season.

The Lopes broke the scoring drought when senior shortstop Jonny Weaver's single and junior designated hitter Adrian Torres' double opened the fifth inning. Graduate catcher Sy Snedeker scored Weaver with a grounder before sophomore center fielder Homer Bush Jr. doubled home Torres.

After another GCU error pushed New Mexico State's lead to 6-2, the Lopes' breakthrough came in the seventh, when Weaver and Torres again started a rally. This time, Weaver doubled and Torres singled before pinch-hitter Tyler Wilson, a sophomore, singled home Weaver.

snedeker celly

Following recent Stankiewicz advice to look for low, line-drive opportunities, Snedeker battled to a full count and fouled off a pitch before ripping a fastball to the right-center gap for a two-run double that cut the Aggies' lead to 6-5.

"I was able to fight a little bit and finally was able to get that one out front and get in the gap," Snedeker said. "That was a big inning for all of us. It took a lot of guys to come back and get that W."

Moments later, Snedeker smartly scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 6-6. The Princeton graduate transfer entered the game with two RBIs this season and knocked in three on Sunday.

"This program's been great," Snedeker said. "There's no better place than this. Stank and the rest of the coaching staff and the guys get here early for work and stay here. This has been awesome. I've loved every bit of it."

GCU scored its winning run in the bottom of the eighth, when junior right fielder Tayler Aguilar's first-pitch, one-out single to center was followed by a pair of walks that set up Tyler Wilson's RBI sacrifice fly.

The bottom four in the Lopes' lineup went 6 for 12 with five RBIs on Sunday.

"It's cool to see what some guys have done at the bottom," Stankiewicz said. "Just put the ball in play. Give us a shot. That's what we did today and, before you know it, you're back in it. All of a sudden, the energy switched and you could feel the momentum shift back to our side."

The Lopes continue to test themselves on a national level with No. 7 Texas Tech coming to GCU Ballpark for a 6 p.m. game on Tuesday and a 2 p.m. Wednesday.

"Stank wants us to play the best team in the country," Snedeker said. "I truly believe, and the rest of the team and coaching staff believe, that we've got something special going here. We're not really afraid of anyone. Every time we take the field, we're ready to go and think we can win."