Sam Houston takes series despite GCU's quality relief

Sunday, March 26

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

15-8, 7-3

Sam Houston

14-11, 8-1

Sam Houston

Grand Canyon

3/26/2023 3:25:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lopes drop conference series for 1st time since 2019 after 6-hit day

By: Paul Coro

The shine of Grand Canyon baseball returning to the top 25 was dimmed in the ensuing days, which culminated Sunday with a WAC series loss that only one Lopes player previously had experienced.

GCU went 1-3 over five days after dropping a 4-2 rubber match in the home series against Sam Houston, which became the first team to beat the Lopes in a conference series since 2019.

GCU (15-8, 6-3 WAC) was limited to six hits, four of which came from junior shortstop Jacob Wilson, while first-place Sam Houston (15-10, 8-1 WAC) used seven infield singles for a 13-hit day with four stolen bases at GCU Ballpark.

Graduate pitcher Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis, the lone holdover from those 2019 Lopes, delivered four emergency relief innings of one-run pitching after junior left-hander Connor Markl's start ended after two innings as a precautionary measure for a back muscle strain.

After scoring 26 runs in the series' first two games, the Lopes left five runners on base in the first three innings and never led the game. Zack Gregory

Outside of Wilson going 4 for 4 to raise his batting average to .473, GCU went 2 for 29 against a contrasting Bearkats pitching duo of crafty left-hander Gavi Coldiron and hard-throwing right-hander Logan Hewitt.

Meanwhile, Sam Houston batters reached base 10 times on two-strike counts.

"You have to give them credit for putting the bat on the ball and having a good approach at the plate," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We gave up four (runs) on a Sunday, and I thought our pitchers were outstanding. We were uncharacteristic offensively. We didn't have the same type of at bats that we've been having."

GCU was keeping pace with Sam Houston for most of the game because Cooper-Vassalakis followed up two shutout innings at Sacramento State last weekend with limiting Sam Houston to three hits and one run over four relief innings on Sunday.

Using his three-pitch mix, the right-handed Australian set up Bearkats with off-speed pitches and overpowered them with heat for three strikeouts, giving him nine in his past eight innings.

"You're in before you even know you're in and start rolling," Cooper-Vassalakis said of taking over for Markl to start the third inning. "The job doesn't change. The situation is just different. Banny (pitching coach Nathan Bannister) preaches get ahead, stay ahead and expand on."

GCU senior right-hander Hunter Omlid made his second appearance since being cleared last week from a hip injury, and sophomore right-hander Carson Ohl added two shutout innings to drop his season ERA to 2.13.

"Those guys were all really good," Wallis said of Sunday's relief trio. "If we can get that type of performance the rest of the year, we'll be really good."

Lopes junior designated hitter Tyler Wilson went to the opposite-field corner for his second home run of the season, a leadoff solo shot that cut Sam Houston's lead to 2-1 in the second inning.

GCU tied the score at 2-2 in the fifth inning on a two-out rally that started with Jacob Wilson's ninth double of the season and a great at bat by freshman first baseman Zach Yorke, who fouled off five 1-2 pitches before lining a RBI single to center field.

That prompted Sam Houston to bring in Hewitt, who entered with a 9.00 ERA but allowed one hit over 4 1/3 shutout innings with a 93 to 94 mph fastball.

"Our bats were a little bit slow today, and that's why we were hitting fly balls," said Wallis, whose team had five fly ball outs in the seventh and eighth innings before striking out twice in the ninth.

GCU has another quick turnaround for a Tuesday night game at Arizona, where it will play its fifth game in seven days. The Lopes resume conference play next weekend at Utah Valley.

"We've got to bounce back quickly," Wallis said. "We've got another big week ahead of us."