Missouri State rally ends GCU's regional

Saturday, June 4

Stillwater, Okla.

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

41-21

Missouri State

31-28

Missouri State

Grand Canyon

6/4/2022 2:00:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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Aguilar's 2 homers, Hull's 10 strikeouts helped stake Lopes to 7-1 lead

By: Paul Coro

STILLWATER, Okla. – Grand Canyon baseball flexed the might of its batting lineup and the maturity of its Friday night ace but wound up overpowered Saturday.

The Lopes built a 7-1 lead in a Stillwater Regional elimination game at O'Brate Stadium, but Missouri State rallied with seven runs in the final two innings to win 8-7 and eliminate GCU.

The Lopes' quest for their first NCAA tournament win was on course with six outs to go and a six-run lead, but they left an NCAA regional with two losses for the second consecutive year in the program's fourth eligible postseason since GCU Athletics' Division I move.

"Tough way to end it," Lopes head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "I'm proud of everyone on our ball club. We can't let the sting here lose perspective on the nice season that we had. We thought we had a really good season. But you have those good seasons so that you can get to this arena, to this regional. We're all hurting a little bit because we thought we were in a good spot."

The Lopes (41-21) were cruising Saturday with four home runs, including two by junior right fielder Tayler Aguilar, and graduate right-hander Nick Hull continuing a brilliant postseason with one run allowed and a career high-tying 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings against Missouri State.

"He put it on the line for us here today and he did everything that we could ever ask of a starting pitcher," Stankiewicz said of Hull, who finished his first full-time starting season at 7-1 with a 3.72 ERA and the Division I-era program record for career strikeouts at 214.

By the time Hull left in the top of the seventh and sophomore shortstop Jacob Wilson homered in the bottom of the seventh, GCU was leading 7-1 before being crushed by the muscle of Missouri State's top-20 team for home runs.

The Bears (31-28) belted a two-run home run in the eighth and added three-run and two-run homers in the ninth for seven unanswered runs, four of which reached on two walks, a hit batsman and an error.

"It's gut-wrenching, but it's baseball," Stankiewicz said. "You've got to play nine innings for a reason. We kind of lost our way obviously late. So we took one on the chin."

After falling behind 8-7 on Missouri State's 104th home run of the season, GCU put the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth on a two-out walk by sophomore first baseman Elijah Buries before the game ended on Wilson's fly out to the left-center warning track with Aguilar on deck.

"I was glad we didn't see Aguilar again," Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin said. "Very glad."

Tayler Aguilar

Aguilar promised that the Lopes would come out hot Saturday after losing 7-1 to Arkansas on Friday. He backed it up.

In the first inning, Aguilar hit the first of two home runs and picked up the first two RBIs of his season's fourth 5-RBI game. With two outs and nobody on, Wilson started his 3-for-4 game by ripping his 18th double of the season before Aguilar crushed a low fastball over the 40-foot-tall batter's eye for a Lopes 2-0 lead.

Hull built the Lopes momentum by striking out three Bears in the ensuing inning, including a 10-pitch at bat to start the top of the second.

After Missouri State trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the top of the third on a walk, wild pitch and single, GCU graduate third baseman Juan Colato led off the bottom half with his eighth home run – a bullet to the back wall of the right-field bullpen for a 3-1 lead.

It turned into a 5-1 Lopes advantage three batters later when Aguilar rocked his third Stillwater Regional home run, a two-run shot to right that tied him for 11th nationally with 23 home runs this season.

"Everything had to click for me," Aguilar said of hitting 17 home runs in the final 32 games. "It was just mental for me. I just had to push through it."

Hull overcame fastball location issues with a strong breaking ball to retire 10 Missouri State batters in a row into the seventh inning, when he was relieved after a walk on his career-high 117th pitch.

With a dominating WAC Tournament outing last week, Hull allowed two earned runs in 13 1/3 innings of postseason work. His two starts allowed seven hits, only two of which came Saturday on singles (one infield) by the power-hitting Bears. The Edmond, Washington, native's 16 postseason strikeouts put him over 100 for the season.

"I think I gave our team a chance to win," Hull said. "That's really all I can try to do when I go out there. Just make good pitches. If I don't feel great, just try to throw the ball around the zone and let them get themselves out. When I go out there, I'm going to throw 100 pitches or more and that's what I want the coaches to expect of me."

GCU ended the season with four consecutive losses, its longest losing streak since dropping five in a row with four to Oregon State and the final one coming to Oklahoma State in the same O'Brate Stadium where this Lopes season ended.

But the disappointing end does not wash away the program ascension, which featured a 7-5 record against elite Power 5 programs, a 21-6 road mark and a 25-5 conference record to match its best WAC winning percentage.

"Every single year, we've gotten better," Aguilar said. "I've seen it and the coaches have seen it. We just evolve every single year and I'm excited for next year."

The Lopes ended the regular season by cracking the national top 25 and earned an at-large NCAA tournament bid, giving the WAC its first two-bid season in a decade. GCU will return stars from its winningest Division I-era team, including Danny Avitia after winning WAC Pitcher of the Year as a freshman and Wilson after becoming a Golden Spikes Award finalist as a sophomore.

"Every player that has come through our program has built it with the mentality of being able to be a great Division I baseball program," Stankiewicz said. "We try to stay away from the mid-major stuff. We just want to play great baseball. I'm proud of the way the program has grown, absolutely. Another step.

"This is a tough one. But we feel like we're in a position now where we feel like we should be competing at a championship level every year. It's no more about hoping we can do it. Now, it's about expecting we can do it, year in and year out. That's what these guys have done for us, and the other ones who have come before them, is built it well and strong. Now, we've got to stay hungry. We've got to keep working."