Completed Event: Baseball versus Cal State Fullerton on November 8, 2025 ,
Baseball
vs Cal State Fullerton
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, April 26
Bellevue, Wash.
4 p.m.
Grand Canyon
23-18, 14-5
7
at
0
Seattle U
12-29, 6-13
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Grand Canyon
1
0
2
0
0
2
1
1
0
7
13
2
Seattle U
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
2
Richardson Ks 10 in series-opening win
4/26/2024 7:28:00 PM | Baseball
Richardson, Avitia hold Seattle U to 4 hits, post Lopes' 5th shutout of season
BELLEVUE, Wash. — Grand Canyon posted its fifth shutout victory of the season, limiting Seattle U to four hits and opening a three-game series with a 7-0 conference win at Bannerwood Park on Friday.
Lopes left-handed pitcher Grant Richardson made just the second weekend start of his career but looked like an experienced Friday night ace. The sophomore tossed a career-high six innings, struck out a career-high 10 batters and extended his scoreless innings streak to 12 to keep GCU in a WAC first-place tie with California Baptist.
Richardson led the Lopes (23-18, 14-5 WAC) to a series-opening shutout for the second straight week, limiting Seattle U (12-29, 6-13 WAC) to one hit in his six innings.
"Grant was awesome," second-year Lopes pitching coach Nathan Bannister said. "He attacked the zone and was pitching in pitcher counts. When he's in those counts and you add in his swing-and-miss stuff, he's a tough matchup. I'm proud of the way he competed tonight."
Richardson never faced more than four batters in an inning and only one Redhawk advanced into scoring position.
Junior right hander Daniel Avitia made his second relief appearance after missing over a month due to injury. He finished off the combined shutout with a three-inning save.
GCU's offense had no singular overwhelming inning, rather posting modest tallies in six frames.
Senior second baseman Elijah Buries helped jump-start the afternoon with a first-inning double, later scoring on a throwing error.
Sophomore first baseman Zach Yorke pushed GCU's lead to 3-0 on a two-out, two-run double in the third.
In the sixth, junior designated hitter Beau Ankeney and senior right fielder Eddy Pelc opened the inning with back-to-back singles. A sacrifice fly by sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras plated one run, and a two-out single by senior center fielder Cade Verdusco plated another as GCU's lead grew to 5-0.
The Lopes capped off Friday's win with single runs in the seventh (Yorke RBI single) and eighth (error).
Yorke led GCU with three hits and three RBIs, and he was one of four Lopes with multi-hit efforts.
GCU will look to secure an 18th consecutive WAC road series win on Saturday at 11 a.m. (Phoenix time).
Lopes left-handed pitcher Grant Richardson made just the second weekend start of his career but looked like an experienced Friday night ace. The sophomore tossed a career-high six innings, struck out a career-high 10 batters and extended his scoreless innings streak to 12 to keep GCU in a WAC first-place tie with California Baptist.
Richardson led the Lopes (23-18, 14-5 WAC) to a series-opening shutout for the second straight week, limiting Seattle U (12-29, 6-13 WAC) to one hit in his six innings.
"Grant was awesome," second-year Lopes pitching coach Nathan Bannister said. "He attacked the zone and was pitching in pitcher counts. When he's in those counts and you add in his swing-and-miss stuff, he's a tough matchup. I'm proud of the way he competed tonight."
Richardson never faced more than four batters in an inning and only one Redhawk advanced into scoring position.
Junior right hander Daniel Avitia made his second relief appearance after missing over a month due to injury. He finished off the combined shutout with a three-inning save.
GCU's offense had no singular overwhelming inning, rather posting modest tallies in six frames.
Senior second baseman Elijah Buries helped jump-start the afternoon with a first-inning double, later scoring on a throwing error.
Sophomore first baseman Zach Yorke pushed GCU's lead to 3-0 on a two-out, two-run double in the third.
In the sixth, junior designated hitter Beau Ankeney and senior right fielder Eddy Pelc opened the inning with back-to-back singles. A sacrifice fly by sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras plated one run, and a two-out single by senior center fielder Cade Verdusco plated another as GCU's lead grew to 5-0.
The Lopes capped off Friday's win with single runs in the seventh (Yorke RBI single) and eighth (error).
Yorke led GCU with three hits and three RBIs, and he was one of four Lopes with multi-hit efforts.
GCU will look to secure an 18th consecutive WAC road series win on Saturday at 11 a.m. (Phoenix time).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Richardson, Grant (2-0)
L: Alwood, L (1-4)
S: Avitia, Daniel (1)
Batting:
2B: Buries, Elijah 1 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 1
RBI: Verdusco, Cade 1 ; Yorke, Zach 3 ; Barreras, Emilio 1
SH: Buries, Elijah 1 ; Gyselman, Alton 1
SF: Barreras, Emilio 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Buries, Elijah 2 ; Ankeney, Beau 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 2
SB: Wilson, Tyler 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
3
RBI
3
AB
6
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball1B
/ BaseballGCU Baseball - WAC Tournament vs. Utah Tech - Highlights
Thursday, May 22
Baseball at Stanford - Barreras' game-winning double
Saturday, May 10
Baseball vs. Arizona (5/6/25) - Yorke homers twice to break record
Wednesday, May 07
GCU Baseball - Eli Paton walk-off single vs. UTA
Saturday, April 26