Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, March 25
Phoenix, Ariz.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
15-7, 6-2
11
vs
12
Sam Houston
14-10, 7-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
R
H
E
Sam Houston
0
0
1
2
0
3
4
0
0
1
0
1
12
17
4
Grand Canyon
1
4
0
1
0
0
2
2
0
1
0
0
11
16
3
Lopes drop 12-inning thriller to Bearkats
3/25/2023 10:11:00 PM | Baseball
Teams combine for 23 runs, 33 hits, 7 errors
Grand Canyon dropped a 12-inning battle to Sam Houston on Saturday night at GCU Ballpark, setting up the rubber match of a key three-game series.
The Lopes (15-7, 6-2 WAC) built an early 5-0 lead before Sam Houston (14-10, 7-1 WAC) to lead by as many as four at 10-6 through seven innings.
GCU fought its way back, scoring a pair in the seventh and the eighth to force extras. The Lopes had the winning run on third base in the 10th inning and the tying run in scoring position with one out in the 12th. GCU kept extending the ballgame but couldn't push across the winning run.
"We got out to a lead and the game got away from us in the middle innings," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We scrapped back. In extra innings it seemed like there was too many baserunners. Eventually they cashed it in and we couldn't. We had Homer (Bush) out there on second with the middle of our lineup coming up but couldn't get it done."
GCU built its early 5-0 lead with a run in the first and four more in the second on RBI knocks from freshman first baseman Zach Yorke, senior catcher Josh Buckley and junior shortstop Jacob Wilson.
Lopes sophomore starting pitcher Daniel Avitia cruised through the first two innings before Sam Houston's offense awoke with a run in the third and two runs in the fourth.
The Bearkats continued their momentum into the sixth with three runs coming off an RBI double and two-run home run. Sam Houston grabbed its first lead of the night with a four-run seventh inning on five hits. Three of the runs came with two outs in the inning.
But as GCU has consistently done in 2023, the Lopes fought back late in the game.
Junior designated hitter Tyler Wilson and sophomore left fielder Maxwell Andeel each had key base hits in a two-run seventh inning.
The Lopes tied the score in the eighth. With runners on first and second base and two outs, Yorke hit a ball to right field that was dropped. Two runs scored on the error that would have ended the inning.
Both teams went quiet in the ninth before matching each other with one-run 10th innings. GCU stranded a Bearkat runner on third base to limit Sam Houston to a one-run lead. The Lopes scored their 10th-inning run on a bases-loaded wild pitch.
Sam Houston took a 12th-inning lead on an unearned run after a pickoff attempt got away and pushed the Bearkat runner into scoring position before the eventual game-winning single.
Bush drew a four-pitch leadoff walk in the 12th inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt before a fly out and strikeout ended the game.
"The bullpen gave us a chance," Wallis said. "We just didn't do enough at the end to cash in some runners. We came up short. We didn't play well enough to win."
GCU finished the night 0 for 3 with runners on third and less than two outs.
The Lopes take their 2-0 record in rubber matches into Sunday's game.
"This is the third time we're going to a Sunday split 1-1," Wallis said. "You feel good with Connor (Markl) out there. Connor's a Friday starter pitching on a Sunday. We feel good about him going. I'm sure it's going to be a battle but I like that we've got Connor going."
First pitch is set for 12 p.m.
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The Lopes (15-7, 6-2 WAC) built an early 5-0 lead before Sam Houston (14-10, 7-1 WAC) to lead by as many as four at 10-6 through seven innings.
GCU fought its way back, scoring a pair in the seventh and the eighth to force extras. The Lopes had the winning run on third base in the 10th inning and the tying run in scoring position with one out in the 12th. GCU kept extending the ballgame but couldn't push across the winning run.
"We got out to a lead and the game got away from us in the middle innings," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We scrapped back. In extra innings it seemed like there was too many baserunners. Eventually they cashed it in and we couldn't. We had Homer (Bush) out there on second with the middle of our lineup coming up but couldn't get it done."
GCU built its early 5-0 lead with a run in the first and four more in the second on RBI knocks from freshman first baseman Zach Yorke, senior catcher Josh Buckley and junior shortstop Jacob Wilson.
Lopes sophomore starting pitcher Daniel Avitia cruised through the first two innings before Sam Houston's offense awoke with a run in the third and two runs in the fourth.
The Bearkats continued their momentum into the sixth with three runs coming off an RBI double and two-run home run. Sam Houston grabbed its first lead of the night with a four-run seventh inning on five hits. Three of the runs came with two outs in the inning.
But as GCU has consistently done in 2023, the Lopes fought back late in the game.
Junior designated hitter Tyler Wilson and sophomore left fielder Maxwell Andeel each had key base hits in a two-run seventh inning.
The Lopes tied the score in the eighth. With runners on first and second base and two outs, Yorke hit a ball to right field that was dropped. Two runs scored on the error that would have ended the inning.
Both teams went quiet in the ninth before matching each other with one-run 10th innings. GCU stranded a Bearkat runner on third base to limit Sam Houston to a one-run lead. The Lopes scored their 10th-inning run on a bases-loaded wild pitch.
Sam Houston took a 12th-inning lead on an unearned run after a pickoff attempt got away and pushed the Bearkat runner into scoring position before the eventual game-winning single.
Bush drew a four-pitch leadoff walk in the 12th inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt before a fly out and strikeout ended the game.
"The bullpen gave us a chance," Wallis said. "We just didn't do enough at the end to cash in some runners. We came up short. We didn't play well enough to win."
GCU finished the night 0 for 3 with runners on third and less than two outs.
The Lopes take their 2-0 record in rubber matches into Sunday's game.
"This is the third time we're going to a Sunday split 1-1," Wallis said. "You feel good with Connor (Markl) out there. Connor's a Friday starter pitching on a Sunday. We feel good about him going. I'm sure it's going to be a battle but I like that we've got Connor going."
First pitch is set for 12 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Davis, Braden (3-1)
L: Reilly, Blake (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Wishkoski, Justin 2
3B: Brewster, Lane 1
HR: Janek, Walker 1 ; Jefferson, Myles 1
RBI: Davis, Tyler 2 ; Janek, Walker 1 ; Wishkoski, Justin 2 ; Loyd, Easton 1 ; Contreras, Carlos 1 ; Jefferson, Myles 4 ; Brewster, Lane 1
SF: Wishkoski, Justin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Redfield, Joe 1 ; Davis, Tyler 1 ; Janek, Walker 2 ; Chadwick, Clayton 1 ; Wishkoski, Justin 2 ; Loyd, Easton 1 ; Contreras, Carlos 1 ; Jefferson, Myles 1 ; Brewster, Lane 2
SB: Davis, Tyler 1 ; Janek, Walker 1 ; Loyd, Easton 1
HBP: Jefferson, Myles 1
Batting:
2B: Wilson, Jacob 1 ; Andeel, Maxwell 1 ; Buckley, Josh 1
3B: Andeel, Maxwell 1
RBI: Wilson, Jacob 3 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Buckley, Josh 1
SH: Gregory, Zack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bush Jr., Homer 4 ; Gregory, Zack 1 ; Wilson, Jacob 2 ; Wilson, Tyler 2 ; Buckley, Josh 1 ; Buries, Elijah 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
7
R
2
H
4
RBI
3
AB
6
R
0
H
3
RBI
0
AB
6
R
4
H
2
RBI
0
AB
6
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
UTIL
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