Regional opens with 7-1 loss to Arkansas

Friday, June 3

Stillwater, Okla.

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

41-20

Arkansas

39-18

Grand Canyon

Arkansas

6/3/2022 10:20:00 AM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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Bullpen delivers 5 1/3 strong innings; Aguilar homers, goes 3 for 4

By: Paul Coro

STILLWATER, Okla. – In a season of Grand Canyon baseball comebacks, the Lopes will have to come off the ropes again.

The Lopes' second consecutive NCAA regional appearance opened Friday with a 7-1 loss to Arkansas at O'Brate Stadium. As the SEC Network broadcast opened with calling GCU a developing household name in college baseball, the work to further that cause will come Saturday.

In the regional's double-elimination format, GCU (41-20) will play again at 10 a.m. (Phoenix time) against Missouri State (30-28), which lost 10-5 to regional host Oklahoma State in the Stillwater Regional nightcap. Graduate pitcher Nick Hull (7-1, 3.89 ERA), the season-long Friday night ace, will start the elimination game for the Lopes.

Once GCU dug a 5-0 hole to open the Stillwater Regional, it could never mount a substantial comeback threat to wind up with its only three-game losing streak of the season besides March 12-15 (two to San Diego, one to Oregon State).

"We knew we were facing obviously a pretty good ball club," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We knew we couldn't make any mistakes and we made some early. That's what a good-hitting ball club does. They take advantage of it. We tried to hold the fort down a little bit, but we had a hard time against their starter."

Junior right fielder Tayler Aguilar's fourth-inning leadoff home run, his 21st of the season, was the only scoring that GCU could muster against Arkansas (39-18), which got senior ace Connor Noland's best start since shutting out Florida for seven innings on April 7. Aguilar jumped on an inside fastball and lined it into the Lopes' right-field bullpen.

"I knew he was going to come in because I saw the middle infield scoot over and I knew they were going to come middle in on me," said Aguilar, who went 3 for 4 o the Lopes' eight-hit day.

The Lopes bullpen depth tried to wait for the Lopes offense to close the gap, keeping the Razorbacks to two earned runs for 6 1/3 relief innings.

GCU junior right-hander Blake Reilly, whose brother Vince is the Lopes' closer, continued his sneaky strong season by yielding one run in a season-long 3 1/3-inning stint. Since a rough season debut against Nevada on opening weekend, Reilly has posted a 2.96 ERA in 14 relief appearances.

"It was a rough start to the season, but I found my way through," said Reilly, who yielded five earned run in 1/3 of an inning on Feb. 19. "Ever since then, I found my role on this staff. I've been coming in, throwing strikes and getting outs."

Lopes junior left-hander Taisei Yahiro, a Japan native via Yavapai College, contributed 2/3 of an inning in his first outing since March 12 while another left-hander, graduate Kyle Sandstrom, lowered his team-leading 2.49 ERA with three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings. He picked up his first strikeout upon entering with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning.

GCU freshman starting pitcher Daniel Avitia appeared to be off to a strong start Friday when he roared with a 95 mph fastball to strike out the leadoff batter and fanned the ensuing batter with an off-speed pitch. But Arkansas sophomore third baseman Cayden Wallace caught up with his next fastball when it missed knee high over the plate and launched it beyond the left-center wall for his 12th home run and a 1-0 lead. He added his 13th home run on another solo shot later.

"That possibly could've rattled him a little bit, but that's typically not him," Stankiewicz said of the first-inning homer.

Avitia nearly dodged the Arkansas' four-run second inning on multiple occasions, pitching to two-strike counts on each of the Razorbacks' three run-scoring plate appearances. After junior catcher Josh Buckley helped by throwing out a base stealer, Avitia had one runner on base and two outs with a 2-2 count when an inside pitch nipped junior left fielder Zack Gregory.

"That was big," Stankiewicz said. "We were hoping to get through it. He's usually around the zone and so, when he hits a guy, you know he's just not quite on it. There were some moments there when we thought, 'Gosh, if he could get us back in the dugout.' But once he hit the guy – and he doesn't walk guys either – we thought, 'This isn't where he usually is.' "

Six consecutive Razorbacks reached base with RBI singles on 2-2 and 1-2 counts around another hit batsman on a full count. Avitia's shortest outing of the season ended after 1 2/3 innings and 68 pitches (42 in the second inning).

GCU put at least one runner on base in eight of nine innings but went 1 for 12 with runners on base and 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. The Lopes lost other opportunities on a failed hit-and-run and when senior third baseman Juan Colato was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.

"Grand Canyon has a really good lineup, especially the top five or six guys," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. "Those batting averages are legit and they'll fight you. They're hard to strike out. Swing early and, if they get behind, they just protect and make it hard on you."

GCU's toughest break came in the seventh inning, when they put two runners on base with one out and sophomore center fielder Homer Bush Jr.'s line drive went off Noland, enabling him to gather and throw Bush out.

"We just couldn't put the at bats together to get back in it," Stankiewicz said.