GCU polishes off sweep of Tarleton

Sunday, May 7

Stephenville, Texas

11 a.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

30-19, 0

Tarleton

23-22, 0

Grand Canyon

Tarleton State

5/7/2023 2:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Lopes strike for 4 runs in 1st; Young scatters 4 hits in 6-inning outing

By: Josh Hauser

STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Grand Canyon finished off its second straight WAC series sweep, won its eighth straight conference game and ran its overall win streak to seven games in a 6-2 win at Tarleton on Sunday.

Lopes junior starting pitcher Carter Young set the tone with six innings of two-run baseball as GCU (30-19, 17-7 WAC) limited Tarleton (23-22, 7-15 WAC) to two runs on seven hits for the day.

"The story of the day was the pitching," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "C.Y. was outstanding. He continues to put together great starts for us. He went six strong. He could have gone longer, but we knew we had the full bullpen. The pitching and the defense was the story. It was awesome. That's why we were able to get a huge conference sweep."

Young was a winner on the mound for the second straight weekend after defeating Long Beach State last week.

The Lopes pulled back within one game in the WAC standings of Sam Houston, who was off from conference action this weekend.

"We're extremely excited," Wallis said. "We played great baseball. It's not an easy place to play. Today, they had all their best guys ready. Each bullpen guy they brought in had low ERAs with a lot of strikeouts. We knew that they had a full bullpen. It was huge that we got out to an early lead."

GCU scored in the first inning for the third straight game, adding four runs on Sunday to total 10 first-inning runs for the weekend.

After Lopes junior center fielder Homer Bush Jr. was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, graduate second baseman Zack Gregory homered to right-center field for the second straight game. Gregory ran his home run total to eight to tie for the team lead and match his career total at Arkansas.

The inning continued when junior right fielder Cade Verdusco hit an infield single and freshman first baseman Zach Yorke doubled him home. Yorke scored when junior designated hitter Tyler Wilson doubled for an early 4-0 lead.

"It definitely gives our pitchers confidence," Wallis said of the first-inning offense. "When you've got Homer Bush Jr. leading off for you, he's instant offense. What he's doing this year in the leadoff spot, he's getting on base so much. He's got so many stolen bases, so many extra-base hits. We have scoring opportunities early in almost every game.

"The early offense is a credit to the type of season that Homer is having. He gets on base, he steals a base. Gregory with a big swing in the No. 2 hole today. But all year, whoever's been behind him. We're just finding ways to get him on, get him over and get him in in that first. It helps our pitching settle in."

Young certainly settled in quickly. Staked to a 4-0 lead, Young retired the Tarleton lineup in order the first time around.

Tarleton broke through for its first run in the fourth inning. But the Lopes responded with back-to-back one-run innings.

In the fifth, Yorke walked and scored on an RBI single by Wilson.

To build its lead up to 6-1, Gregory lined a single into right field to score freshman shortstop Emilio Barreras in the sixth.

After Tarleton scored the game's final run in the sixth inning, the teams went scoreless in the final third.

Young handed the ball off to graduate right-hander Cody Tucker for the seventh, and the Lopes went to junior right-hander Nathan Ward for the eighth and ninth. Both relievers dealt with traffic on the basepaths but kept Tarleton off the scoreboard.

With two hits and two walks, Yorke was on base four times for the Lopes. He ran his reached-base streak to 29 games.

GCU completed the first leg of its Texas road trip with a 3-0 mark and will now head to Waco, Texas, for midweek action at Baylor on Tuesday.