Bats belt 29 hits in 2 wins to take series

Saturday, March 30

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

15-11, 9-3

Sacramento State

11-17, 5-7

Sacramento State

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Sebastian Molinar

3/30/2024 4:21:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lyon pitches career-high 7 innings; Pelc reaches base 5 times in finale vs. Sac State

By: Paul Coro

One night, Grand Canyon can't be hit.

The next day, the Lopes seemingly can't be kept off the bases.

GCU already is atop the WAC by winning its ninth consecutive conference series with Saturday's 12-4 home victory against Sacramento State. But the Lopes are trending upward with the way they are finishing series wins, even without injured ace Daniel Avitia since March 15.

After freshman Connor Mattison pitched the first GCU no-hitter in 42 years on Friday night, the Lopes (15-11, 9-3 WAC) swatted the Hornets with their third consecutive double-digit scoring game in a series rubber match Saturday at GCU Ballpark.

GCU opened with three multi-run innings for a 7-0 lead and rode a career-long, seven-inning outing from sophomore right-hander Isaac Lyon. The Lopes hit .403 in Friday's and Saturday's wins to take the series and be one game ahead of UT Arlington and Abilene Christian in the WAC and one ahead of the 12-game pace of GCU's 2023 WAC champions.

"I think our best baseball is ahead of us," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "I really believe in this team. We're good in every area. We can pitch. We can play defense. We can hit. We're some consistency away from being a really tough team down the stretch."

Isaac Lyon

Lyon followed up five shutout innings Sunday at UT Rio Grande Valley with a different type of quality start Saturday. The Utah native did not walk a batter again but had to battle through off-speed issues early, establishing his fastball until it paired later with getting his slider and change-up pitches down.

Stranding runners in each of his seven innings, Lyon was especially impressive in the fifth inning after yielding a leadoff double. Facing the top of Sacramento State's order, he induced a grounder and then left the runner at third base with consecutive strikeouts on eight pitches combined.

"I was glad they kept sending me back out," Lyon said of the coaches. "I definitely didn't have my best stuff today, but I just kept on battling and left a lot of guys on base."

Lyon allowed 11 hits but only gave up three runs over seven innings, putting his record at 3-0 and his ERA at 4.28 this season.

"This is just what you're going to see with Isaac becoming a full-time pitcher," Wallis said. "In high school, he could get away with being a position guy and letting his athleticism take over as a pitcher. Now he's being trained as a pitcher all fall, winter and spring, and you're seeing a guy with a ton of potential finding himself as a starting pitcher. He's going to keep getting better."

The tremendous run support helped with seven GCU players recording multi-hit games.

Lopes senior center fielder Eddy Pelc moved into the leadoff spot and extended his reached-base streak to 11 games by getting aboard in all five plate appearances, giving him an on-base percentage of .533 during that stretch.

Pelc went 3 for 3 with two walks Saturday for his second three-hit game of the week, ripping a RBI double for a 3-0, second-inning lead and starting two other innings with singles.

Pelc's second-inning RBI single extended a rally to set up a two-out, three-run home run by junior third baseman Eli Paton. It was Paton's second home run of the week and fifth of the season after hitting three last season. Paton is batting .389 over the past 13 games.

"I'm just trying to stay simple, keeping a smaller leg kick than usual," Paton said. "I just try to hit the ball hard up the middle and it's working out well."

GCU pushed the lead to 9-0 in the third inning, when junior designated hitter Beau Ankeney led off with the first of his two Saturday doubles. The inning included a single from sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras, who set a season high and matched his career high with a three-hit day.

The Casa Grande native is 10 for 21 over the past six games.

"It's going to be a bumpy road, but at the end of the day, I'm confident in my abilities and it showed out today," Barreras said. "I was confident. I put in a lot of work with Wally (Wallis) and (assistant coach Nate) Causey, talking about details and how it can impact my game in a good way. Their trust in me is huge.

Tyler Wilson

GCU's 12-run output matched the most Sacramento State (11-7, 5-7 WAC) had allowed this season, but the Lopes did it in the fewest innings (eight).

When the Hornets narrowed the gap to 9-3 in the sixth, the Lopes scored three runs with two outs in the seventh on senior left fielder Tyler Wilson's RBI single and Ankeney's second double. The Lopes are averaging 14.3 runs in the three consecutive WAC series rubber matches.

The Lopes take a break from WAC play but stay active with six games over an eight-game stretch, which is bookended by Tuesday games against Arizona State (14-14). GCU goes to Phoenix Municipal Stadium this Tuesday before the Sun Devils come to GCU Ballpark a week later on April 9 for the Lopes' next home game. In between, GCU will play a four-game series at Saint Mary's (15-10) starting Thursday in Moraga, California.