Role change sees ASU upset GCU

Tuesday, May 10

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

33-17

Arizona State

24-25

Arizona State

Grand Canyon

5/10/2022 7:41:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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25th-ranked Lopes homer twice to take 4-3 lead before fading late

By: Paul Coro

The Grand Canyon baseball team was upset by Arizona State on Tuesday night.

Being in the position as a No. 25 team to be knocked off is a unique disappointment, but there were fruits to come out of a 6-4 defeat that split the season series with the Sun Devils.

The game drew 2,881 fans to GCU Ballpark, where the Lopes showed at times how they are becoming a more formidable postseason candidate with a pair of midseason additions with a hot bat and a stifling southpaw arm.

Four batters into the game, the Lopes (33-17) trailed 3-0, but they worked their way back to a 4-3 lead with the help of junior catcher Josh Buckley's and sophomore first baseman Elijah Buries' home runs.

Andy Stankiewicz

ASU (24-25) scored a run in each of the final three innings to win, but the Lopes saw graduate left-handed reliever Kyle Sandstrom deliver his fourth consecutive no-hit outing and Buckley move to 14 for 29 since returning from injury on April 21.

"It's one of those moments where we had a big crowd and you want to perform well for them and the university," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "I thought we did fine, but fine doesn't work. It wasn't good enough tonight."

The Lopes have two remaining WAC series but will end the regular season with a 7-4 record against Power 5 programs, all elite ones, and a 3-2 combined record against ASU (1-1) and Arizona (2-1). It marks GCU's best in-state record since the 1993 team, the program's previous Division I era, went 4-2.

"I don't think anybody in our dugout feels like, 'Oh, man, we're playing a Power 5 team,' " Stankiewicz said. "That's another opponent and we've been playing good baseball. We've got to stay on it and keep it moving.

"I don't want guys to get too concerned with the rankings stuff. Yes, we're appreciative and proud of that. At the same time, it doesn't matter. What matters is what we do that night and how we finish the season."

The Lopes were in a difficult predicament on Tuesday night after taxing their pitching staff to win a weekend series against Sacramento State. Senior right-hander Jason Nelson made his third start of the season and surrendered a three-run, first-inning home run on an 0-2 pitch. Nelson picked up his next eight outs without surrendering a run as GCU began to rally.

Josh Buckley

Buckley hit the first pitch of the second inning over the left-field wall to reach base for a fifth consecutive plate appearance. After hitting .171 last season, Buckley is at .469 since missing the first two months of the season for a sore elbow. He used that time to shorten his swing, improving his launch position.

"It's been fun," said Buckley, who added a go-ahead RBI sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. "I'm just seeing the ball really well now, which is fun. The ball just looks really big and I'm getting good swings on balls. I'm getting ahead early and see pitches up."

Buckley, a native of Newbury Park, California, went from one home run in his first 80 career at bats to three homers this season in 29 at bats.

"He's a strong, young man, so I think he's realizing that he doesn't need to have a big swing to have the ball go well and go far," Stankiewicz said. "Part of it is mentality. It's cool to see. He doesn't just want to be a catch, a catch-and-throw guy. He wants to be threat. I'm proud of the fact that his mentality is that he's an offensive weapon and he wants to be that complete player."

GCU was able to take the lead Tuesday night because Sandstrom tossed two shutout innings with five of the six outs coming on ground balls. His slider was effective on the lefty-heavy ASU lineup, dropping his season ERA to 1.59. Sandstrom had thrown one inning until April 16 but has not allowed a run in 8 1/3 innings since then.

"From that point on, I just had a little more confidence with my plan and what I'm out there doing," Sandstrom said. "I just kept it rolling. I try to not even think about who's up there and try to have that confidence that I'm better than any hitting I'm facing.

"We rode Eli (Ankeney), Brodie (Cooper-Vassalakis) and Vince (Reilly) a lot early, so I'm glad I can take the load off those guys a little bit, as best as I can, because we're going to need those guys down the stretch."

GCU can clinch the WAC West Division crown this weekend with a combination of two Lopes wins or California Baptist losses. GCU starts a weekend series at New Mexico State on Friday.