Winning ways remain to open last series

Thursday, May 19

Phoenix, Ariz.

6:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

37-17, 23-5

Seattle U

16-30, 11-17

Seattle U

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Garrett Ohrenberg

5/19/2022 10:22:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Buries' 3-hit, 3-RBI game pairs with Crenshaw's 2 doubles in 7-5 victory

By: Paul Coro

That baseball team that rose to national prominence with a top-25 ranking and clinched the WAC West Division title with more than a week to go is still there.

No. 25 Grand Canyon played like a team building toward the postseason and aiming to ensure NCAA tournament status on Thursday night, when it opened its final regular-season series with a 7-5 win against Seattle U at GCU Ballpark.

Since an April 23 win against Stanford followed a pair of one-run performances, the Lopes (37-17, 23-5 WAC) are hitting .344 with 8.2 runs per game during an 11-3 stretch.

"There's still a lot of baseball to be played," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "A lot of times, the team that is playing really, really well at the end is the one with momentum going into the tournament. We can't take our foot off the pedal. We've got to keep pushing."

The Lopes turned Thursday's game in a hurry after Seattle U took a 2-0 lead and retired the first two Lopes in the first inning. But consecutive two-out singles by sophomore shortstop Jacob Wilson, junior right fielder Tayler Aguilar and sophomore Tyler Wilson plated one GCU run and Aguilar read a dropped pickoff at first base to score from third base to tie the score at 2-2.

"You've got to punch back and we've been able to do that," Stankiewicz said. "That was a great job by our offense with two outs and nobody on. Before you know it, we've got a 2-2 ball game and momentum is back in our dugout."

GCU graduate starter Nick Hull settled in to retire nine consecutive batters while the Lopes retook the lead on sophomore left fielder Elijah Buries' second-inning RBI infield single.

Buries returned in the fourth inning with a two-run double that dropped in front of the 380-foot mark on the right-center field wall. Buries recorded his first three-hit, three-RBI game of the season.

"Coach was talking to us before the weekend and saying that we're playing good baseball, but we don't have everything clicking the way we know we can," Buries said. "So this is a good tune-up for us to get locked in and I like the way we're looking."

Stankiewicz put Buries in the leadoff spot for the past six games of his nine-game hitting streak (16 for 41, .390).

"Elijah puts the ball in play," Stankiewicz said. "He's a tough out. Typically, the pitcher has to work because he's willing to go deep in counts. He's not afraid of one strike, two strikes."

When the game tightened to 6-4, sophomore second baseman Dustin Crenshaw delivered a RBI double to right-center field for a 7-4 run in the fifth inning. Crenshaw went 3 for 4 for the first time since April 2.

The Perry High School graduate is hitting .356 since his 3-for-30 start to the season. Snapping out of that helped Crenshaw quickly turn his hitting fate after three hitless starts. He scored the game's go-ahead run with another double to lead off the second and added a single that started the three-run rally in the fourth.

"I try to do the same thing every day and trust my process, and I'm glad it came through today to have a good game for the guys," Crenshaw said. "Early in the season was big for me to find my swing. Good things don't come through a bunch of easy. Adversity's good. I persevered through that."

Crenshaw's first double was an indicator of his work with Stankiewicz on handling inside pitches, when he turned on a fastball and ripped it down the right-field line.

"It felt good to see it transfer over," Crenshaw said.

Nick Hull

Hull pitched into at least the sixth inning for a 12th consecutive start, keeping the Lopes bullpen well-stocked for the second and third games of conference series.

The right-hander has averaged 6.5 strikeouts per start but had to manage his start differently to move to 7-1 with a two-strikeout night against the Redhawks from his home state.

Hull helped himself with a pickoff and senior third baseman Jonny Weaver made a diving stop that helped Hull finish seven innings.

"You need that on a Friday night," Stankiewicz said. "To his credit, he doesn't seem to panic. He has an older, veteran presence to him. He gets back in the dugout and gets back to work. He puts some nice innings together to stretch it out and go to the bullpen later."

Junior Vince Reilly set the program's Division I-era record with his 13th save, breaking Frankie Scalzo's mark and coming within two of Art Martinez's all-time mark from 1982.

The series continues with Senior Night for the 6 p.m. Friday game, when a pregame ceremony will honor Weaver, Juan Colato, Nick Hansen and Jason Nelson. With 16 consecutive double-digit hit games in conference play, the Lopes are two victories away from matching the program's best WAC winning percentage (20-4 in 2017).

"We've got to keep grinding," Buries said. "Nothing's guaranteed. After that WAC Tournament, if things don't go our way, we've got to make sure we win out and prove that we deserve to be in the tournament."