Big-league parks bring out GCU's bigtime play

Monday, February 19

Mesa, Ariz. / Sloan Park

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

3-0

BYU

1-2

BYU

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Rachel Sollazzo

2/19/2024 5:19:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lopes go 3-0 in MLB Desert Invitational with 6-2 win vs. BYU

By: Paul Coro

MESA, Ariz. – Grand Canyon already had the college baseball dream scenario set up before the Lopes season began Friday night.

The Lopes knew they would play at home in front of an overflow GCU Ballpark and then play the same Cactus League fields that the Diamondbacks and Cubs will roam this weekend.

GCU dreamed bigger to make the most of the big-league experience, beating BYU 6-2 on Monday at Sloan Park to go 3-0 against Big East, Pac-12 and Big 12 opponents in the MLB Desert Invitational.

The Lopes dominated the event with pitching and defense, going three wins without an error to support a staff that tamed bats with a 1.67 ERA, .170 opponent batting average and 35 strikeouts to seven walks.

"It's always going to be about pitching and defense," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "Pitching and defense is going to keep you in every ball game. We're trying to have pitching, defense and a complete team offense."

Monday's game began with the debut of 6-foot-8 right-hander Hunter Watkins, who struck out two batters on fastballs in a perfect debut inning and ended a second shutout inning with another strikeout on a fastball.

A third-inning walk, single and hit batsman led to BYU scoring twice on a deep sacrifice fly and a two-out single to cap Watkins work at 56 pitches, including 34 strikes.

"He came in establishing strikes, a lot of strikes," Wallis said of the Simi Valley, California, product from the same high school (Grace Brethren) as former Lopes ace Pierson Ohl. "Almost maybe too many strikes. With two strikes, he threw too good of strikes. That'll be part of his development – learning how to expand the zone down a little bit with two strikes. Overall, I was really, really pleased with him."

January forearm tightness had shut down sophomore right-hander Isaac Lyon for a few days, keeping him from starting and putting him on a 50-pitch cap. He made the most of it, throwing four innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts on just 43 pitches.

"It was good pitch-calling by Banni," Lyon said of pitching coach Nathan Bannister. "Great catching by (John) Sheehan and I just trusted my stuff. I kind of banged up my arm a couple weeks ago, but I felt really good for getting my first outing."

Lyon is within two strikeouts of his 2023 total in 10 appearances after getting his first career win Monday, when he shut down BYU to set up six unanswered runs.

His most impressive work came in the sixth, when a leadoff bloop hit to center field took an awkward spin by center fielder Cade Verdusco for a triple. Lyon, who is from Santa Clara, Utah, struck out the next two batters as he leaned on the strength of his slider and fielded a come-backer to escape unharmed.

BYU was shut out for the final six innings by Utah natives after senior right-hander Shawn Triplett finished the Cougars with two perfect innings. He also worked economically, needing only 19 pitches.

"They stayed in character," Wallis said of the pitchers, including the work of Daniel Avitia, Connor Mattison, Grant Richardson and Carter Young. "We've seen that from them the whole year. Coach Bannister is doing an outstanding job with these guys. We've recruited some talented arms, and they're getting better."

BYU gave a surprise start to Candon Dahle, who held GCU scoreless until Wallis pinch-hit Yuma native and Central Arizona College transfer Blake Avila for his first at bat to open the fifth inning.

Avila had noticed Dahle working left-handed hitters away and was ready to hit to the opposite field until Dahle left a fastball over the plate on the second pitch he saw. Avila launched a 400-foot home run to the vast park's right-field berm, cutting the BYU lead to 2-1.

"I've been waiting for this AB for the last two games we played," Avila said. "Today was probably one of the biggest times it could come, being down 2-0. I let my nerves disappear once I got to the plate, so I felt calm. The second pitch felt like it was in slow motion, and I put a good swing on it. I didn't think it was gone at all, so it surprised me when it went out. It was a crazy moment."

The Lopes built off that energizer and assembled a three-run seventh inning set up by loading the bases with two walks and an error.

On a 1-2 pitch, senior left fielder Tyler Wilson tied the game by pulling a single to right-center field. The Lopes took a 4-2 lead when senior center fielder Cade Verdusco grounded the go-ahead run in and senior third baseman Eli Paton laid down a suicide squeeze bunt, GCU's second in three games.

"We executed some quality bunts," Wallis said. "That's our goal – put the ball down in a good area and make the defense handle the baseball."

GCU loaded the bases without a hit again in the eighth and made BYU pay for it when senior second baseman Dustin Crenshaw sent a two-run single up the middle for a 6-2 lead.

"This was a dogfight," Wallis said. "BYU's good. They threw some really good arms at us. It didn't start out going our way, but then we just stuck with it, took some good ABs and did some team execution things."

The Lopes continue their stretch of eight games in the first 10 days with a Tuesday 6 p.m. home game against Ohio State (2-1) before a four-game series against Nebraska at GCU Ballpark. The Buckeyes ended the weekend on two wins, a 7-2 victory against BYU and a 5-2 win against USC.