Completed Event: Baseball versus Cal State Fullerton on November 8, 2025 ,
Baseball
vs Cal State Fullerton
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, May 10
Phoenix, Ariz.
7 p.m.
Grand Canyon
31-18, 20-5
10
vs
4
Abilene Christian
29-21, 15-10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Abilene Christian
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
4
5
3
Grand Canyon
0
0
3
5
0
1
0
1
X
10
13
0
Photo by: Jack Gilday
Win streak hits 9, puts WAC title clinch on radar
5/10/2024 11:20:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
GCU's Richardson strikes out 9 in 6 innings; Wilson rips 13th homer, goes 4 for 5
The WAC Tournament begins May 21, but Grand Canyon has been playing since April 21 like it already began.
The Lopes won their ninth consecutive game, the nation's second-longest streak to Hawaii (10), with a 10-4 Friday home victory against Abilene Christian to move into position to clinch its fourth consecutive WAC regular-season title in Saturday's 7 p.m. game at GCU Ballpark.
GCU (31-18, 20-5 WAC) holds a four-game conference lead on Utah Valley with five games remaining, meaning an outright title clinch could come Saturday night with a Lopes win and a Utah Valley loss at Tarleton State. A GCU win would at least clinch a share of the WAC championship.
"The last two to three weeks, it seems like we've gone into playoff mode," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We've got a little bit grittier."
Four of the nine consecutive wins have come from starts by sophomore left-hander Grant Richardson, who now has a 0.79 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings during his 4-0 stretch.
Richardson did not appear to be on his way to another stellar start when he was ill before the game and opened by allowing a double and a walk. It was the first extra-base hit he had allowed in four games.
Abilene Christian took a 1-0 lead on a double steal and Richardson issued a one-out walk before GCU pitching coach Nathan Bannister visited the mound.
The 6-foot-4 Scottsdale Horizon High School graduate drew a double-play chopper on the next pitch, starting a stretch in which he retired 15 of 16 Wildcats batters.
"I didn't feel good for the first three innings really," Richardson said. "I was just trying to fight through. I didn't have the best stuff. I had to trust my defense. I know they have my back. The first three innings were tough, but I had to get thought it, and then I put up some zeroes after that. It felt good."
Richardson said he was struggling with the power slider that complements his mid-90s fastball all game until he practiced throwing it off a corner dugout wall during the top of the sixth inning. When he emerged for the bottom half, he struck out the first two batters with slider use.
After back-to-back walks and a wild pitch, Richardson used career-high pitch No. 107 to escape with his ninth strikeout on a 94 mph fastball that painted the corner.
"I didn't know I was over 100-plus pitches," said Richardson, who was a reliever most of the season. "That's pretty crazy to think about.
"I told Banny (Bannister), 'I'm striking out a guy out with the slider here.' I told (catcher) Alton (Gyselman), 'I need a slider strikeout here.' "
Richardson was operating with a large cushion from a torrid offense that has outscored opponents 105-26 during the nine-game winning streak (11.7 to 2.9 on average).
The Lopes hit a pair of home runs to start their scoring in the third inning, when Gyselman used a short power swing to crush his fourth home run of the season on a 2-0 pitch. That tied the game at 1-1 before an error set up senior left fielder Tyler Wilson's home run over the right-center field wall.
Wilson's 13th home run of the season was part of 4-for-5 game that bumped his batting average to .384 to pass two Wildcats for first in the WAC. The Chandler Hamilton High School graduate is on a 19-game hitting streak, GCU's longest since Chad De Guerra's 24-game streak in 2015. Wilson is batting .493 during that stretch.
The Lopes broke open Friday's game in the fourth inning on Abilene Christian (29-21, 15-10 WAC), which entered the night tied with Utah Valley and Tarleton State for second place. Utah Valley won 9-6 at Tarleton State to move into second by itself.
An error plated the first run before senior right fielder Eddy Pelc's RBI single gave GCU a 5-1 lead and sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras made it 6-1 by belting a 1-2 pitch for an RBI double to the right-center field wall. Barreras has hit safely in 15 of the past 16 games, going 11 for 24 in the latest six-game stretch.
Wilson added a RBI single and later scored on moved around on an error and passed ball for an 8-1 Lopes lead. GCU's scoring later rounded out on sophomore first baseman Zach Yorke's RBI grounder and senior third baseman scoring on a passed ball on his 3-for-5 night.
With a .313 team batting average that is the program's best since 2011, 11 Lopes are hitting more than .300 this season. Eight of them have played at least 30 games.
"Our lineup has been on fire for the past two to three weeks," Wilson said. "Going into the postseason, it's so important to have guys who you can call off the bench. They're hitting over .300 off the bench. I think that's so awesome. I think going into the postseason, that'll be a key factor for us."
GCU and Abilene Christian return for Saturday's 7 p.m. game before 11 Lopes seniors are honored before Sunday's noon home finale.
The Lopes won their ninth consecutive game, the nation's second-longest streak to Hawaii (10), with a 10-4 Friday home victory against Abilene Christian to move into position to clinch its fourth consecutive WAC regular-season title in Saturday's 7 p.m. game at GCU Ballpark.
GCU (31-18, 20-5 WAC) holds a four-game conference lead on Utah Valley with five games remaining, meaning an outright title clinch could come Saturday night with a Lopes win and a Utah Valley loss at Tarleton State. A GCU win would at least clinch a share of the WAC championship.
"The last two to three weeks, it seems like we've gone into playoff mode," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We've got a little bit grittier."
Four of the nine consecutive wins have come from starts by sophomore left-hander Grant Richardson, who now has a 0.79 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings during his 4-0 stretch.
Richardson did not appear to be on his way to another stellar start when he was ill before the game and opened by allowing a double and a walk. It was the first extra-base hit he had allowed in four games.Abilene Christian took a 1-0 lead on a double steal and Richardson issued a one-out walk before GCU pitching coach Nathan Bannister visited the mound.
The 6-foot-4 Scottsdale Horizon High School graduate drew a double-play chopper on the next pitch, starting a stretch in which he retired 15 of 16 Wildcats batters.
"I didn't feel good for the first three innings really," Richardson said. "I was just trying to fight through. I didn't have the best stuff. I had to trust my defense. I know they have my back. The first three innings were tough, but I had to get thought it, and then I put up some zeroes after that. It felt good."
Richardson said he was struggling with the power slider that complements his mid-90s fastball all game until he practiced throwing it off a corner dugout wall during the top of the sixth inning. When he emerged for the bottom half, he struck out the first two batters with slider use.
After back-to-back walks and a wild pitch, Richardson used career-high pitch No. 107 to escape with his ninth strikeout on a 94 mph fastball that painted the corner.
"I didn't know I was over 100-plus pitches," said Richardson, who was a reliever most of the season. "That's pretty crazy to think about.
"I told Banny (Bannister), 'I'm striking out a guy out with the slider here.' I told (catcher) Alton (Gyselman), 'I need a slider strikeout here.' "
Richardson was operating with a large cushion from a torrid offense that has outscored opponents 105-26 during the nine-game winning streak (11.7 to 2.9 on average).
The Lopes hit a pair of home runs to start their scoring in the third inning, when Gyselman used a short power swing to crush his fourth home run of the season on a 2-0 pitch. That tied the game at 1-1 before an error set up senior left fielder Tyler Wilson's home run over the right-center field wall.
Wilson's 13th home run of the season was part of 4-for-5 game that bumped his batting average to .384 to pass two Wildcats for first in the WAC. The Chandler Hamilton High School graduate is on a 19-game hitting streak, GCU's longest since Chad De Guerra's 24-game streak in 2015. Wilson is batting .493 during that stretch.
The Lopes broke open Friday's game in the fourth inning on Abilene Christian (29-21, 15-10 WAC), which entered the night tied with Utah Valley and Tarleton State for second place. Utah Valley won 9-6 at Tarleton State to move into second by itself.
An error plated the first run before senior right fielder Eddy Pelc's RBI single gave GCU a 5-1 lead and sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras made it 6-1 by belting a 1-2 pitch for an RBI double to the right-center field wall. Barreras has hit safely in 15 of the past 16 games, going 11 for 24 in the latest six-game stretch.Wilson added a RBI single and later scored on moved around on an error and passed ball for an 8-1 Lopes lead. GCU's scoring later rounded out on sophomore first baseman Zach Yorke's RBI grounder and senior third baseman scoring on a passed ball on his 3-for-5 night.
With a .313 team batting average that is the program's best since 2011, 11 Lopes are hitting more than .300 this season. Eight of them have played at least 30 games.
"Our lineup has been on fire for the past two to three weeks," Wilson said. "Going into the postseason, it's so important to have guys who you can call off the bench. They're hitting over .300 off the bench. I think that's so awesome. I think going into the postseason, that'll be a key factor for us."
GCU and Abilene Christian return for Saturday's 7 p.m. game before 11 Lopes seniors are honored before Sunday's noon home finale.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Richardson, Grant (4-0)
L: Glaze, Austin (4-5)
Batting:
2B: Ladusau, Miller 1
RBI: Ladusau, Miller 1 ; D'Alessio, Gino 1 ; Borho, Reese 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ladusau, Miller 1 ; Miesse, Maddox 1 ; Staehely, Aaron 1 ; Radtke, Ranse 1
SB: Ladusau, Miller 1 ; Greer, Benjamin 1
HBP: Staehely, Aaron 1 ; Borho, Reese 1
Batting:
2B: Barreras, Emilio 1
HR: Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Gyselman, Alton 1
RBI: Wilson, Tyler 3 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 1 ; Gyselman, Alton 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wilson, Tyler 2 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Paton, Eli 1 ; Crenshaw, Dustin 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 1 ; Gyselman, Alton 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 3
SB: Paton, Eli 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 1
HBP: Ankeney, Beau 2
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
4
RBI
3
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ 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