GCU nabs rubber match with 14-0 rout

Sunday, March 17

Phoenix, Ariz.

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

11-8, 5-1

Tarleton State

11-10, 2-4

Tarleton State

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Rachel Sollazzo

3/17/2024 2:20:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Lopes win 2nd WAC series in as many tries, throttle Tarleton State for largest shutout since 2017

By: Josh Hauser

Grand Canyon clinched its second WAC series of the year by routing Tarleton State 14-0 in seven innings on Sunday afternoon at GCU Ballpark.

In the same game, GCU (11-8, 5-1 WAC) matched its highest run tally of the season and paired it with its first shutout of the season. The Lopes racked up their 14 runs on 17 hits while limiting Tarleton State (11-10, 2-4 WAC) to four hits.

Senior designated hitter Elijah Buries and sophomore first baseman Zach Yorke each had three-hit days. Both All-WAC players in their Lopes' careers who had gotten off to slow starts in 2024, GCU head coach Gregg Wallis hoped Sunday's results served as a turning point in the batter's box.

"It was nice to have a couple of breakout days from Zach Yorke and Elijah Buries," Wallis said. "We knew that was coming. Zach and Elijah are really good players and they have a track record of being great hitters. It was just a matter of time, and for both of them to break out on the same day was great. That's why we scored 14."

Yorke hit a three-run homer in the third to give GCU a 5-0 lead. He followed it up with an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run single in the sixth to match his career best of six RBIs (last May also against Tarleton State).

Buries singled and scored in the first, doubled and scored in the fourth and singled in the fifth.

GCU got contributions from up and down the lineup with six players recording multi-hit days. Freshmen Cooper Neville and Cannon Peery logged their first collegiate hits in pinch-hit appearances.

"(Junior designated hitter) Beau Ankeney was not feeling well today and (senior center fielder) Cade Verdusco went down with a hamstring yesterday," Wallis said. "Those guys have been our two and four hitters for basically the whole year. It was great to see the whole team step up. Buries and Yorke put up the big numbers in the box score, but I felt like it was a team offensive day. Everyone did great."

The Lopes' first shutout of the season was started by freshman righty Connor Mattison. After five innings of shutout baseball with five strikeouts, Mattison improved his record to 3-0. Sophomores Grant Richardson and Brock Toney each faced the minimum in one relief inning to get the Lopes to the seventh-inning finish line induced by the 10-run mercy rule.

GCU gradually flipped the script in a series that saw them drop the opener, fight to win Game 2 in extras before posting a blowout victory in the series finale.

The Lopes flashed power on Sunday with homers from Yorke and junior third baseman Eli Paton, who ran his batting average to a team-leading .542 in six conference games. Paton's two-run blast came in the first inning and staked the Lopes to an early 2-0 lead.

GCU played add on all afternoon with four-run spots in the third, fourth and sixth innings.

The Lopes head to Tucson for midweek baseball, taking on Arizona on Tuesday at 6 p.m.