Lopes dodge weather, win series opener

Thursday, May 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

34-19, 20-7

California Baptist

28-26, 15-13

California Baptist

Grand Canyon

5/18/2023 11:49:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

GCU breaks 5-5 tie in 6th after teams return from lengthy rain delay

By: Josh Hauser

Grand Canyon opened the final series of the regular season with an 8-5 win over California Baptist on Thursday night at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.

The Lopes (34-19, 20-7 WAC) grabbed a 3-2 lead through three innings before lightning and rain in the surrounding area forced the suspension of the contest. An ensuing delay lasted 1 hour, 24 minutes and forced both GCU and CBU (28-26, 15-13 WAC) to go to their bullpens early.

GCU grabbed a 5-2 lead immediately after the resumption of play before California Baptist fought back to tie the game at 5-5 in the sixth. GCU scored the game's final three runs, however, to claim the win and move within a half-game of WAC leader Sam Houston (21-7 in conference).

"It's tough for everyone," Lopes junior left fielder Elijah Buries said. "The muscles start tightening up. Luckily, it wasn't really too long. We were able to keep moving around and stay updated. It's not easy, especially out here. We don't have a ton of those rain-delay type situations."

A career milestone came before the rain delay for Buries, who singled in the first inning on a perfectly placed bunt to record his 200th career hit.

"We were joking around in the clubhouse and saying that I should drop a bunt down since Jacob (Wilson) went grand slam for it just to get the other end of the spectrum," Buries said. "The situation came up and it was the right spot and it just worked out that way. Thank God that it went in the right spot. It was awesome.

"I've been sitting on the 199 for the last week after coming back from Texas. Just happy to get it out of the way. I couldn't do it without the support of my teammates and coaches and the ones who got me here. I thank God most importantly. Coming out of high school, I didn't even know if I was going to play college baseball. And to see myself up there with all the Lope legends, it's special. It means a lot."

Buries became the sixth GCU batter to log 200 hits at the Division I level, joining teammate Jacob Wilson, who accomplished the feat last month.

Buries' bunt single was a part of a two-run, four-hit second inning for GCU. RBI knocks came from senior catcher Josh Buckley and junior center fielder Homer Bush Jr.

Lopes starting pitcher Daniel Avitia was strong through three innings of work before the rain delay forced him out of the game. The sophomore struck out six batters in three innings of work.

"Danny was looking fantastic today," Buckley said. "That would have been a really good start for him. He would've gone deep into the seventh, maybe even eighth inning. This would have been a great start for him. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. But he looked fantastic."

CBU tied the game in the third on a two-run homer, but Wilson responded for GCU with a solo shot to grab the 3-2 edge heading into the rain delay. Wilson tied GCU's Division I career hits record with his 217th.

On the other side of the delay, GCU quickly struck for two runs to grow its lead to 5-2 on a sacrifice fly from freshman third baseman Emilio Barreras and another RBI hit from Bush, who went 4 for 4 to put his season batting average at .372.

"I feel like I'm at the point of the season where you're continuing to battle the highs and the lows," Bush said. "I was able to get a couple of off-days after that road trip and I was able to find myself again and get back to my approach, just staying middle and working counts and barreling stuff up if they leave it over the plate early in the count. Obviously, a good job of doing it today and, hopefully, I can continue doing it through the rest of the season."

The Lancers tied the game in the sixth inning on another two-run homer. But again, GCU responded immediately. Buckley drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third and scored when graduate second baseman Zack Gregory grounded into a double play.

GCU scored insurance runs in the eighth on a productive out from junior second base substitute Dustin Crenshaw and freshman first baseman Zach Yorke.

The Lopes used three bullpen arms to work through the six innings after the delay. GCU's pitching staff combined to match a season high with 16 strikeouts on the night.

"Every single one of our bullpen arms has really taken it upon themselves to master their craft of what their job is and what their role is," Buckley said. "We have a lot of different guys and a lot of different types of arms. There's a lot of different stuff we do. Just knowing what your role is and executing your role."

Freshman left-handed reliever Grant Richardson helped get the game back on track after the delay. Junior right-hander Shawn Triplett tossed 1 2/3 innings and earned his fifth victory of the year. Junior right-hander Nathan Ward closed the game out with two scoreless innings for his second save.

GCU extended its longest D-I winning streak to 11 games, the third-longest active winning streak in the nation.

"This is the greatest time to have a hot streak," Buckley said. "End of the year going into a tournament, into a regional, is a great time to get hot. It feels pretty good."

Amid the action, Bush also swiped his 22nd bag of the season to match GCU's D-I single-season record.

"A lot of that started in the fall," Bush said. "A lot of work that you wouldn't see unless you're out here. I knew that if I failed in the fall and the early spring, by the time I got to the spring, I would be able to be successful and that confidence would continue to ride. It has throughout the year. It's been fun getting to show off the wheels a little bit."

Before Thursday night's action started, the Lopes received good news that Tarleton had defeated Sam Houston in Stephenville, Texas. With the Lopes' victory, GCU pulled within a half game of the Bearkats in the WAC standings. The Lopes need to win their final two games and hope for at least one more Sam Houston loss to clinch another WAC regular-season title and the conference tournament's No. 1 seed. Sam Houston will play one more conference game this season because one of GCU's games at UT Rio Grande Valley was canceled last weekend.

GCU and California Baptist resume the three-game set on Friday at 7 p.m. and play a Saturday finale at noon at GCU Ballpark.