Thornton, Tucker combine to shut out Ohio State

Thursday, February 23

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

3-2

Ohio State

2-3

Ohio State

Grand Canyon

2/23/2023 8:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Yorke doubles in game's lone run in 7th inning

By: Josh Hauser

In what was a classic Friday night pitcher's duel that happened to take place on a Thursday, Grand Canyon broke through for the game's only run in the seventh inning to defeat Ohio State 1-0 at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.

The Lopes (3-2) recorded their first shutout of the season and first under pitching coach Nathan Bannister. Junior left-hander Zach Thornton followed up his scoreless opening-day effort with six more scoreless frames on Thursday while racking up 11 strikeouts in the process. Graduate right-hander Cody Tucker closed the evening out with three more scoreless innings of one-hit baseball with four strikeouts.

"What a pitching battle," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We knew it was going to be a battle. Their guy is really good. Classic 'Friday night' baseball. Two good teams playing and two good arms on the mound. The team that broke first was going to win.

"What a performance by Zach Thornton to do what he did two weeks in a row as well. Tucker was awesome. He came in and really challenged the hitters. What a performance by him."

In a game that featured only 11 combined hits, junior right fielder Cade Verdusco and freshman first baseman Zach Yorke teamed up for the two biggest hits in the seventh inning.

Verdusco led off the frame with a flare to left-center. Yorke shrugged off an 0-2 count to hit his second double of the night, a liner down the right field line to score Verdusco without a throw.

"I saw a lot of curveballs early in the count and they were all pretty much on the outside corner," Yorke said. "I just got all over the plate and just took away the outside corner. Luckily he hung it, and I just put a good level swing on it and hit a line drive."

Yorke has logged multi-hit games in two of his first three starts and picked up the first two extra-base hits of his young career in the win.

"Zach has a great eye at the plate," Wallis said. "Great zone discipline. He's got a short, quick, powerful swing. I told him he was starting today around 11, and I think he was in the cages from 11 to 3. The kid loves to hit. Even though he was a freshman starting against an ace — that's as good of a lefty as we're going to see – I felt like Zach could handle it. Two big doubles and the huge RBI."

Thornton was engaged in a duel with Ohio State's Isaiah Coupet. Both starters scattered hits and worked around limited traffic on the basepaths.

"You can't really control what the other pitcher is doing," Thornton said. "If he's throwing up zeros, you just have to go right back out there and throw another zero."

Thornton — the reigning WAC Pitcher of the Week — ran his scoreless innings streak to 11 2/3 innings to begin his Lopes career, striking out 17.

"It's awesome to pitch in Phoenix, Arizona, and not in Great Bend, Kansas, when the wind's going 30 miles per hour. It's super fun."

A year ago, the Lopes posted their first shutout in Game 20 and finished with two on the season. The fifth game of a season is the fastest a Lopes have recorded a shutout victory since 2017.

The Lopes resume play on Friday night for a 7 p.m. first pitch against Gonzaga.