May surge nets Lopes 3rd straight WAC title

Saturday, May 20

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

36-19, 22-7

California Baptist

28-28, 15-15

California Baptist

Grand Canyon

5/20/2023 4:41:00 PM | Baseball

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Lopes cap drama-filled day by sweeping CBU after needed Sam Houston loss

By: Josh Hauser

All the cards fell the right way on Saturday.

Grand Canyon had a tall task entering the regular season's final weekend: the Lopes needed to sweep a good California Baptist team and hope that league leader Sam Houston dropped at least two games to Tarleton.

At about 2 p.m., word trickled through the Lopes dugout of the first domino falling some 810 miles away: Tarleton held up its end of the bargain by beating Sam Houston 6-4.

GCU just needed to put the finishing touches on a 6-1 lead to claim its third consecutive WAC regular-season championship and its fifth in the last six seasons.

"We were watching that game and saw that Sam Houston lost, which is really big for us," Lopes junior shortstop Jacob Wilson said. "But we were still focused on making sure we won our game today. We ended up winning today and ended up winning the conference championship. It was a pretty special moment to be out there with those guys."

After word of the Sam Houston loss circulated, the GCU dugout excitement quickly translated to on-field momentum in the seventh inning with a bunt single from junior left fielder Elijah Buries and a no-doubt home run from junior designated hitter Tyler Wilson to put the game out of doubt at 8-1.

On April 14, the Lopes were 9-7 and in fourth place in the WAC.

On May 20, the Lopes are 22-7 and champions of the WAC for the seventh time in program history.

2023 baseball champs logo

"It's incredible," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "Look at them jumping around over there. I told them after the game that what they just accomplished was incredible.

"Our last 12 games of the year, we knew we really had no room for error. We went 11-0 and we got some help. We know Sam Houston is a great team. We knew we would have to be perfect to win this thing, and they did it. I can't believe it. They get to enjoy it tonight. They get to enjoy it because we're off tomorrow, and then it's back to work on Monday. We got our sights set on the conference tournament."

The Lopes have won 13 games in a row overall for the nation's second-longest active winning streak. They also concluded the conference schedule with 13 wins consecutively.

"It's awesome," Jacob Wilson said. "It's amazing to be a part of this program. The last three years we've won the championship. It's been a cool, special three years having multiple dogpiles now. It's been my most favorite three years of my life."

GCU's roster is heavily led by standout juniors who won regular-season championships in each of their three GCU seasons and compiled a 76-19 (.800) conference record.

"That's amazing," Buries said. "That's our class. Those are my boys forever now. We've grown really, really close. We've pretty much all stuck together too. We all love it here. We love this program. We'll do anything for this program. It's showing that we're bought in to GCU, and we bleed purple at the end of the day."

Tyler Wilson's fifth home run of the season came in the seventh inning and put an exclamation point on what turned into a shockingly celebratory weekend at GCU Ballpark.

"That's one of the best feelings ever," Tyler Wilson said. "What's fun is we get another chance to go out next week and win the tournament championship. It's pretty special to do it with that group of guys — my brothers and what I would consider my best friends, To do it with them and see how hard they've worked, we earned it. It was pretty special right there."

Another junior — starting pitcher Carter Young — was the story of the Lopes' regular-season finale. He tossed seven innings of one-run baseball, scattering five hits.

"I think that might have been the best start of my career," Young said. "I've been working really hard with Banni (pitching coach Nathan Bannister) all year. He's got me in a different zone lately. And I've been talking with our team chaplain, Brian Beltramo, a lot. He helped get me in the right headspace just about every time I go out there. A lot of props to them. The defense was great for me. That's what allowed me to go so long. Shout out to everybody else, honestly."

Young won his third consecutive start and went seven innings deep for only the second time in his career.

"C.Y. has been amazing," Jacob Wilson said. "He's gone out the second half of the year and he's really pounded the zone. He's gotten outs. He's had multiple quality starts in a row. To be behind that guy, it's pretty special to see how much of a competitor he is."

A team that has done first-inning damage all season long continued the trend on Saturday, scoring four runs in the first. Five Lopes batters strung together consecutive singles to fuel the big inning.

GCU tacked on single runs in the fourth and sixth innings before Tyler Wilson's two-run shot in the seventh.

Jacob Wilson drove in a run in his second-to-last at bat in the sixth, a signature hard-hit ground ball perfectly placed to get through the infield and drive in his 60th run of the season.

GCU's Division I career hits and career RBIs leader couldn't help but think about how he might be playing his final game at Brazell Field.

"It has a couple times," the MLB Draft first-round prospect said. "I think I was out there (thinking about it) in that last inning. Anything can happen, but the possibilities are there. I got a little emotional there. We'll see what happens, but I'm thankful for everything that GCU has given me over these past couple of years."

Though essential in many of GCU's previous championships, Wallis won his first championship as the head coach of the Lopes.

"We've attracted some really good players here," Wallis said. "We've got the good facilities, and it's an outstanding school. GCU's always had (baseball) history. But our march toward being a real Division I power started when Coach (Andy) Stankiewicz got this job, and it's just kept moving. That's what I said when I got the job is my goal is to continue to move it forward. I know that's going to be a challenge, but this is a great step in that direction is winning another conference title."

GCU has now won WAC regular-season crowns in 1998, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

"It's a great accomplishment," Wallis said. "We're going to enjoy it. The numbers they just put on the wall, they'll be there forever. Our goal is to put numbers on the left side too. We want to make a regional. We know we have to go in and continue to play great baseball in that tournament and do what we've been doing. We say we're getting tournament ready the last 12 because we knew an elimination game was every day. We're back to that starting on Wednesday."

GCU's 2023 championship included drama down to the last hours of an exceptional stretch of baseball that the Lopes had to compile to fight back from an early standings hole. The Lopes dropped two of three series in late March into early April before turning the tide with a momentous series win at Abilene Christian and reeling off four straight sweeps of Utah Tech, Tarleton, UT Rio Grande Valley and California Baptist.

"We have our back against the wall here," Tyler Wilson said of GCU's 9-7 start to conference play. "We can either go forward or keep cowering down and back away from competition. Just keep grinding and keep working and get after it. We know how good this team can be. This is a perfect time to start clicking on every cylinder."

The WAC Tournament looms at Mesa's Hohokam Stadium, where the Lopes have grabbed the No. 1 overall seed. GCU will receive a first-round bye and play the lowest-seeded winner of Tuesday's matchups that include No. 5 Abilene Christian vs. No. 8 California Baptist and No. 6 UT Arlington vs. No. 7 UT Rio Grande Valley. GCU's first game will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

"We feel good," Buries said. "I think we learned a lot from last year (in the WAC Tournament). We feel good we got the bye. That's always a luxury. We just have to play good baseball and stay together and not panic. If they go up on us early or something, we know we can come back. We've seen it throughout the last few weeks and throughout the whole season. We've got to keep playing good baseball and not look too far ahead."