Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Sunday, March 12
Phoenix, Ariz.
12 p.m.
Grand Canyon
11-4, 3-0
11
vs
7
New Mexico State
0-13, 0-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
New Mexico State
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
4
7
12
0
Grand Canyon
0
0
0
3
0
0
2
6
X
11
13
0
Lopes sweep Aggies with 11-7 Sunday win
3/12/2023 4:38:00 PM | Baseball
Lopes make clutch outs, clutch hits in middle innings in 4-run win
The Grand Canyon baseball team wrapped up the first Western Athletic Conference series with an 11-7 over New Mexico State on Sunday at GCU Ballpark.
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The Lopes (11-4, 3-0 WAC) completed the sweep over the Aggies (0-13, 0-3 WAC) with strong middle inning performances on the mound and in the batter's box. Freshman first baseman Zach Yorke tied up the game with a two-run homerun in the fourth while strong pitching from GCU reliver Shawn Tripplett kept the Aggies at bay. Insurance runs in the sevnth and eighth included a three-run home run from right fielder Cade Verdusco to seal the win.
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"It was a hard-fought game and we thought we extended there in the eighth, but they punched right back but we built a nice cushion," head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We took nice at bats all game and we got strong starting pitching. Shawn Tripplett with a couple huge outs in the middle of the game in a sticky situation. Credit to Shawn he's a hard worker, just a great kid that does everything right. For him to come up huge in a big conference game, I was really proud of what he did today."
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Tied at 3-3 in the top of the seventh, Tripplett entered  with two outs and the bases loaded after the Aggies worked a trio of walks in the inning. The GCU redshirt junior struck out the final batter to end the inning and threw a shutdown inning in the eighth after the Lopes regained the lead to earn his third win of the season.
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"Credit to Shawn he's a hard worker, just a great kid that does everything right," Wallis added. "For him to come up huge in a big conference game, I was really proud of what he did today."
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After the Aggies regained the lead in the sixth, the Lopes answered with two runs in the seventh to make it a 5-3 ballgame. Junior shortstop Jacob Wilson singled to left field to score lead-off man Homer Bush Jr. to give GCU the lead and Verdusco added another run on a fielder's choice groundout.
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Wilson had four hits on the day and collected 10 hits in the weekend series to bat .833 with a double and a pair of triples. He now leads the Lopes with a .439 batting average and 25 hits so far this season.
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"He's had an incredible year starting with his first at bat of the year and the triple he hit against UC San Diego," Wallis added. "With Jacob we've come to expect so much from him that when he's hitting .330 everyone is saying 'what's going on?' But the truth is he's so consistent when he gets it going that's what he does."
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The Lopes didn't get the offense going till the third when Yorke launched a two-run home run to right field for his second round-tripper in as many days. The left-handed GCU freshman is hitting .381 in 13 games with 15 RBIs and slugging .690. Yorke has been an on-base machine leading the Lopes with .509 mark thanks to 16 hits and 12 walks this season.
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GCU added six more runs on four hits in the top of the eighth to make it a 11-3 lead. Verdusco applied the exclamation point with his second home run of the series, a three-run shot off the right field foul pole. Those runs would come in handy as the Aggies scored fourth in the ninth.
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In the series the GCU junior outfielder drove in a team-high seven runs and finished with six hits in three games.
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Left-handed starter Connor Markl went five and two-thirds innings in his third start while allowing three runs and recording seven strikeouts. The seven strikeouts match a season-high for the GCU junior and he has 23 on the season, second most on the team.
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The Lopes will have another busy week starting on Tuesday at home against New Mexico. The 2 p.m. game at GCU Ballpark will conclude a 13-game homestand. GCU will hit the road for a three-game weekend WAC series at Sacramento State on March 17-19.
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The Lopes (11-4, 3-0 WAC) completed the sweep over the Aggies (0-13, 0-3 WAC) with strong middle inning performances on the mound and in the batter's box. Freshman first baseman Zach Yorke tied up the game with a two-run homerun in the fourth while strong pitching from GCU reliver Shawn Tripplett kept the Aggies at bay. Insurance runs in the sevnth and eighth included a three-run home run from right fielder Cade Verdusco to seal the win.
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"It was a hard-fought game and we thought we extended there in the eighth, but they punched right back but we built a nice cushion," head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We took nice at bats all game and we got strong starting pitching. Shawn Tripplett with a couple huge outs in the middle of the game in a sticky situation. Credit to Shawn he's a hard worker, just a great kid that does everything right. For him to come up huge in a big conference game, I was really proud of what he did today."
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Tied at 3-3 in the top of the seventh, Tripplett entered  with two outs and the bases loaded after the Aggies worked a trio of walks in the inning. The GCU redshirt junior struck out the final batter to end the inning and threw a shutdown inning in the eighth after the Lopes regained the lead to earn his third win of the season.
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"Credit to Shawn he's a hard worker, just a great kid that does everything right," Wallis added. "For him to come up huge in a big conference game, I was really proud of what he did today."
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After the Aggies regained the lead in the sixth, the Lopes answered with two runs in the seventh to make it a 5-3 ballgame. Junior shortstop Jacob Wilson singled to left field to score lead-off man Homer Bush Jr. to give GCU the lead and Verdusco added another run on a fielder's choice groundout.
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Wilson had four hits on the day and collected 10 hits in the weekend series to bat .833 with a double and a pair of triples. He now leads the Lopes with a .439 batting average and 25 hits so far this season.
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"He's had an incredible year starting with his first at bat of the year and the triple he hit against UC San Diego," Wallis added. "With Jacob we've come to expect so much from him that when he's hitting .330 everyone is saying 'what's going on?' But the truth is he's so consistent when he gets it going that's what he does."
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The Lopes didn't get the offense going till the third when Yorke launched a two-run home run to right field for his second round-tripper in as many days. The left-handed GCU freshman is hitting .381 in 13 games with 15 RBIs and slugging .690. Yorke has been an on-base machine leading the Lopes with .509 mark thanks to 16 hits and 12 walks this season.
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GCU added six more runs on four hits in the top of the eighth to make it a 11-3 lead. Verdusco applied the exclamation point with his second home run of the series, a three-run shot off the right field foul pole. Those runs would come in handy as the Aggies scored fourth in the ninth.
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In the series the GCU junior outfielder drove in a team-high seven runs and finished with six hits in three games.
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Left-handed starter Connor Markl went five and two-thirds innings in his third start while allowing three runs and recording seven strikeouts. The seven strikeouts match a season-high for the GCU junior and he has 23 on the season, second most on the team.
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The Lopes will have another busy week starting on Tuesday at home against New Mexico. The 2 p.m. game at GCU Ballpark will conclude a 13-game homestand. GCU will hit the road for a three-game weekend WAC series at Sacramento State on March 17-19.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Triplett, Shawn (3-0)
L: Matthew Maloney (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Kevin Jimenez 2 ; Christian Perez 1 ; Damone Hale 1 ; Keith Jones II 1
RBI: Edwin MartinezPagani 1 ; Kevin Jimenez 2 ; Christian Perez 3 ; Damone Hale 1
SF: Christian Perez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Edwin MartinezPagani 1 ; Kevin Jimenez 2 ; Nick Gore 1 ; Mitch Namie 1 ; Keith Jones II 2
CS: Damone Hale 1
HBP: Logan Gallina 1 ; Keith Jones II 1
Batting:
2B: Verdusco, Cade 1 ; Buries, Elijah 1
3B: Wilson, Jacob 1
HR: Yorke, Zach 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 1
RBI: Bush Jr., Homer 1 ; Gregory, Zack 1 ; Wilson, Jacob 2 ; Yorke, Zach 2 ; Verdusco, Cade 4
SF: Bush Jr., Homer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bush Jr., Homer 1 ; Gregory, Zack 2 ; Wilson, Jacob 2 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 2 ; Buries, Elijah 1 ; Buckley, Josh 1 ; Andeel, Maxwell 1
HBP: Bush Jr., Homer 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
4
RBI
2
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
4
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
UTIL
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