Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Tuesday, April 9
Phoenix, Ariz.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
17-15
5
vs
3
Arizona State
15-18
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Arizona State
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
3
10
3
Grand Canyon
1
0
0
1
0
3
0
0
X
5
9
0
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
All phases click for Lopes to down Devils
4/9/2024 10:17:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
Wilson's bat, Valley natives' arms beat ASU on Buries' record-breaking night
Amid eight road games in a 13-day span, Grand Canyon stopped by GCU Ballpark for an ideal midseason pick-me-up – a home victory against Arizona State that thrived in every element.
The Lopes layered timely hitting, perfect defense and quality pitching from a pair of Valley-produced young arms to hold off the Sun Devils 5-3 in front of a Tuesday night crowd of 3,014 fans.
"We came to play tonight," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "It was really weird this weekend (a 1-3 series at Saint Mary's). It was like we were in The Twilight Zone. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes. When we got back here today and we were going through our pregame routine, I could tell the boys were back."
GCU senior left fielder Tyler Wilson delivered three opposite-field hits and three RBIs to share the offensive spotlight with senior designated hitter Elijah Buries, who broke Jacob Wilson's Lopes Division I-era program record with his 225th career hit on a first-inning single.
With an error-less defense, GCU sophomore Grant Richardson and freshman Garrett Ahern delivered career-long pitching outings to set up senior Nathan Ward's sixth save.
Every scoring inning featured Wilson, who put GCU ahead 1-0 in the first inning when a scoring opportunity nearly slipped away. Senior center fielder Eddy Pelc and Buries opened the game with singles but were nearly stranded until Wilson's two-out, opposite-field single.
"He's one of our seniors that's just on a mission to take this team around their arms," Wallis said. "We've struggled of late a little bit out of conference. Last week was tough, getting left on the field twice. Our seniors really stepped forward, led by Tyler Wilson.
"He deserves this. Four years of hard work. He's having a career year."
Having his fourth consecutive .300-plus hitting season, Wilson jumped on 3-1 fastball the next time up and rocketed a line-drive home run to right field. Wilson's fourth-inning home run tied the game at 2-2.
"Coach Caleb Dupre, our weight strength coach, is getting me right," Wilson said of his bump to a career-high eight home runs this season. "Shout out to him."
With the game still tied at 2-2 in the sixth, sophomore first baseman Zach Yorke blasted a double off the top of the right-center field wall to put runners at second and third bases with nobody out. For the third consecutive at bat, Wilson came through and knocked a RBI single to the opposite field for the second time.
That hit rolled into a game-changing, three-run inning once junior right fielder Maxwell Andeel pulled a RBI single into left field and sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras added a RBI sacrifice fly for a 5-2 lead.
"We had a good mentality of that as an offense of just trying to get it to the next guy," Wilson said. "Just trying not to do too much and put the ball in play and good things will happen."
Meanwhile, Richardson, Ahern and Ward followed up on quality staff outings in the last two games at Saint Mary's by limiting ASU (15-18) to three runs, four below its average.
Richardson, a 6-foot-3 left-hander from Horizon High School, flipped his outing from last Tuesday's loss at Arizona State and made his electric tools work for a four-inning start that included six strikeouts and two earned runs.
Ahern, a 6-foot-5 freshman right-hander from Campo Verde High School, earned his first win with outstanding pitch location for three shutout innings before being relieved by Ward.
"Garrett just built upon what he did at Saint Mary's," Wallis said. "He went out in a ballgame that was really offensive (on Saturday) and threw two great innings of shutout baseball.
"He came in here tonight and shut down a really powerful offense for three innings. Wow, that was pretty impressive."
Ward inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth inning and escaped with the Lopes' lead only trimmed to 5-3. The Phoenix Mountain Pointe High School graduate faced the minimum in the ninth inning, when Barreras fielded and turned a game-ending double play.Buries breaks GCU hits record for D-I era
Buries' record-setting hit continued his in-season turnaround after suffering a preseason right hand fracture for the second straight year. That affected him for a slow hitting start, but he is batting .381 since March 17 and has a .324 career average.
His 225th hit was a hard chopper down the third-base line that was too difficult for the third baseman to make a throw after needing to lunge for the ball into foul territory.
"It's a great honor," said Buries, who came to GCU from Upland, California, in 2020. "When Jacob did it last year, everyone was saying if you come back and play, it'll be there for you. It's pretty amazing that he did it in three years. I love this program and to be atop the D-I hit list is pretty special to me. I couldn't have done it without the coaches believing in me and getting me here out of high school.
"I couldn't have done it without my faith in Jesus. It's been a life-changer for me. Thank you to my teammates. (team chaplain Brian) Beltramo and the people who have brought me toward Jesus. It's the way I've been able to keep my head level through a lot of challenges the last two years. For as long as it stands, it'll mean the world to me."
GCU (18-15) resumes WAC play this weekend, when the Lopes take a half-game lead atop the conference to UT Arlington for a series starting Friday.
The Lopes layered timely hitting, perfect defense and quality pitching from a pair of Valley-produced young arms to hold off the Sun Devils 5-3 in front of a Tuesday night crowd of 3,014 fans.
"We came to play tonight," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "It was really weird this weekend (a 1-3 series at Saint Mary's). It was like we were in The Twilight Zone. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes. When we got back here today and we were going through our pregame routine, I could tell the boys were back."
GCU senior left fielder Tyler Wilson delivered three opposite-field hits and three RBIs to share the offensive spotlight with senior designated hitter Elijah Buries, who broke Jacob Wilson's Lopes Division I-era program record with his 225th career hit on a first-inning single.
With an error-less defense, GCU sophomore Grant Richardson and freshman Garrett Ahern delivered career-long pitching outings to set up senior Nathan Ward's sixth save.
Every scoring inning featured Wilson, who put GCU ahead 1-0 in the first inning when a scoring opportunity nearly slipped away. Senior center fielder Eddy Pelc and Buries opened the game with singles but were nearly stranded until Wilson's two-out, opposite-field single."He's one of our seniors that's just on a mission to take this team around their arms," Wallis said. "We've struggled of late a little bit out of conference. Last week was tough, getting left on the field twice. Our seniors really stepped forward, led by Tyler Wilson.
"He deserves this. Four years of hard work. He's having a career year."
Having his fourth consecutive .300-plus hitting season, Wilson jumped on 3-1 fastball the next time up and rocketed a line-drive home run to right field. Wilson's fourth-inning home run tied the game at 2-2.
"Coach Caleb Dupre, our weight strength coach, is getting me right," Wilson said of his bump to a career-high eight home runs this season. "Shout out to him."
With the game still tied at 2-2 in the sixth, sophomore first baseman Zach Yorke blasted a double off the top of the right-center field wall to put runners at second and third bases with nobody out. For the third consecutive at bat, Wilson came through and knocked a RBI single to the opposite field for the second time.That hit rolled into a game-changing, three-run inning once junior right fielder Maxwell Andeel pulled a RBI single into left field and sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras added a RBI sacrifice fly for a 5-2 lead.
"We had a good mentality of that as an offense of just trying to get it to the next guy," Wilson said. "Just trying not to do too much and put the ball in play and good things will happen."
Meanwhile, Richardson, Ahern and Ward followed up on quality staff outings in the last two games at Saint Mary's by limiting ASU (15-18) to three runs, four below its average.
Richardson, a 6-foot-3 left-hander from Horizon High School, flipped his outing from last Tuesday's loss at Arizona State and made his electric tools work for a four-inning start that included six strikeouts and two earned runs.
Ahern, a 6-foot-5 freshman right-hander from Campo Verde High School, earned his first win with outstanding pitch location for three shutout innings before being relieved by Ward."Garrett just built upon what he did at Saint Mary's," Wallis said. "He went out in a ballgame that was really offensive (on Saturday) and threw two great innings of shutout baseball.
"He came in here tonight and shut down a really powerful offense for three innings. Wow, that was pretty impressive."
Ward inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth inning and escaped with the Lopes' lead only trimmed to 5-3. The Phoenix Mountain Pointe High School graduate faced the minimum in the ninth inning, when Barreras fielded and turned a game-ending double play.
Buries breaks GCU hits record for D-I era
Buries' record-setting hit continued his in-season turnaround after suffering a preseason right hand fracture for the second straight year. That affected him for a slow hitting start, but he is batting .381 since March 17 and has a .324 career average.His 225th hit was a hard chopper down the third-base line that was too difficult for the third baseman to make a throw after needing to lunge for the ball into foul territory.
"It's a great honor," said Buries, who came to GCU from Upland, California, in 2020. "When Jacob did it last year, everyone was saying if you come back and play, it'll be there for you. It's pretty amazing that he did it in three years. I love this program and to be atop the D-I hit list is pretty special to me. I couldn't have done it without the coaches believing in me and getting me here out of high school.
"I couldn't have done it without my faith in Jesus. It's been a life-changer for me. Thank you to my teammates. (team chaplain Brian) Beltramo and the people who have brought me toward Jesus. It's the way I've been able to keep my head level through a lot of challenges the last two years. For as long as it stands, it'll mean the world to me."
GCU (18-15) resumes WAC play this weekend, when the Lopes take a half-game lead atop the conference to UT Arlington for a series starting Friday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ahern, Garrett (1-0)
L: Fitzpatrick, Sean (0-2)
S: Ward, Nathan (6)
Batting:
2B: Campos, Ryan 1 ; Tobias, Jacob 1 ; Karstetter, Kevin 1
RBI: Vu, Kien 1 ; Compton, Brandon 1 ; Karstetter, Kevin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vu, Kien 1 ; Lance, Eamonn 1 ; Jackson, Isaiah 1
CS: Campos, Ryan 1
HBP: Campos, Ryan 1 ; Tobias, Jacob 1 ; Ondina, Steven 1
Batting:
2B: Yorke, Zach 1 ; Paton, Eli 1
HR: Wilson, Tyler 1
RBI: Wilson, Tyler 3 ; Andeel, Maxwell 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 1
SF: Barreras, Emilio 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pelc, Eddy 1 ; Crenshaw, Dustin 1 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Andeel, Maxwell 1
CS: Crenshaw, Dustin 1
PO: Crenshaw, Dustin 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
3
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
1B
/ 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