Upcoming Event: Baseball versus MLB Desert Invitational on February 13, 2026
Baseball
vs MLB Desert Invitational
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Sunday, May 5
Phoenix, Ariz.
12 p.m.
Grand Canyon
29-18, 19-5
9
vs
1
California Baptist
29-19, 14-10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
California Baptist
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
6
1
Grand Canyon
0
2
4
1
0
0
2
0
X
9
11
1
Photo by: Jack Gilday
GCU wins 7th straight, completes CBU sweep
5/5/2024 2:53:00 PM | Baseball
Lopes grow lead in conference standings to 4 games with 6 remaining
In a series between two teams atop the WAC standings, Grand Canyon thoroughly dominated California Baptist in a three-game sweep that ended with a 9-1 victory on Sunday at Brazell Field.
The Lopes (29-18, 19-5 WAC) outscored the Lancers (29-19, 14-10 WAC) 34-4 to run their win streak to seven games and build a four-game lead in the conference standings with six games to play.
"I thought all week, starting on Tuesday, it was just a really special week," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We talked about this in the postgame, this week everything was clicking. I think it showed us the type of team we can be."
GCU's week began with a 24-8 blowout of No. 21 Arizona and continued with successive lopsided victories over California Baptist.
"After tonight, we have to keep moving forward," Wallis said. "We know it was a great week and we're really, really happy with it, but we have to continue to stay aggressive and continue to do the things that allowed us to have this great week. We can't rest on it. It was a special week and I don't want to take anything away from that because we beat two really good teams and we did it convincingly. I'm really proud of the guys."
The Lancers entered the weekend with a top-20 earned run average nationally at 4.22. GCU had pressure on CBU in almost every inning of the series, forcing the Lancers to post a 12.46 weekend ERA that raised their season ERA by 0.36.
In the first two games of the weekend, GCU's heavy scoring came in the later innings. The Lopes flipped the script on Sunday, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage through three innings.
Sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras and senior left fielder Tyler Wilson strung together consecutive two-out RBI singles in the second for an early GCU lead.
In the third inning, patience was the key in drawing five walks in a six-batter span to fuel a four-run inning.
Junior right fielder Michael Diaz tagged a ball to right for a solo homer in the fourth. Junior designated hitter Beau Ankeney capped a three-hit, three-RBI day with a two-run single in the seventh to get the game to 9-1.
"We have a lot of good players," Wallis said. "We all felt really good about the work Beau's been doing even though he hasn't been playing much. His batting practice has been good, his work with (hitting coach Nate) Causey has been good. We felt good about putting him back in the lineup, and he hit three balls really hard and he looked great. Hopefully that's what Beau's going to give us the rest of the year."
The pitching staff was just as impressive throughout the series, limiting California Baptist to four runs on 19 hits and .213 hitting.
On Sunday, it was the freshman duo of Connor Mattison and Hunter Watkins combining for eight innings of one-run baseball. Senior closer Nathan Ward finished the day with a scoreless ninth inning.
"They competed," Wallis said. "Connor gave us five and only gave up two hits. He was still very effective, but his velocity had kind of dropped a little bit. So we felt like it was a good time to get him out. Because we've been scoring so many runs, we knew that we had the full bullpen. Watty was great. It was good to see Wardo who's getting back to form. That was important for us to get Wardo in there as well."
GCU swept California Baptist for the second consecutive season and has now won 11 of the last 12 meetings.
The Lopes host their final week of home games with Washington visiting on Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Abilene Christian visiting for a weekend series.
The Lopes (29-18, 19-5 WAC) outscored the Lancers (29-19, 14-10 WAC) 34-4 to run their win streak to seven games and build a four-game lead in the conference standings with six games to play.
"I thought all week, starting on Tuesday, it was just a really special week," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We talked about this in the postgame, this week everything was clicking. I think it showed us the type of team we can be."
GCU's week began with a 24-8 blowout of No. 21 Arizona and continued with successive lopsided victories over California Baptist.
"After tonight, we have to keep moving forward," Wallis said. "We know it was a great week and we're really, really happy with it, but we have to continue to stay aggressive and continue to do the things that allowed us to have this great week. We can't rest on it. It was a special week and I don't want to take anything away from that because we beat two really good teams and we did it convincingly. I'm really proud of the guys."
The Lancers entered the weekend with a top-20 earned run average nationally at 4.22. GCU had pressure on CBU in almost every inning of the series, forcing the Lancers to post a 12.46 weekend ERA that raised their season ERA by 0.36.
In the first two games of the weekend, GCU's heavy scoring came in the later innings. The Lopes flipped the script on Sunday, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage through three innings.
Sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras and senior left fielder Tyler Wilson strung together consecutive two-out RBI singles in the second for an early GCU lead.
In the third inning, patience was the key in drawing five walks in a six-batter span to fuel a four-run inning.
Junior right fielder Michael Diaz tagged a ball to right for a solo homer in the fourth. Junior designated hitter Beau Ankeney capped a three-hit, three-RBI day with a two-run single in the seventh to get the game to 9-1.
"We have a lot of good players," Wallis said. "We all felt really good about the work Beau's been doing even though he hasn't been playing much. His batting practice has been good, his work with (hitting coach Nate) Causey has been good. We felt good about putting him back in the lineup, and he hit three balls really hard and he looked great. Hopefully that's what Beau's going to give us the rest of the year."
The pitching staff was just as impressive throughout the series, limiting California Baptist to four runs on 19 hits and .213 hitting.
On Sunday, it was the freshman duo of Connor Mattison and Hunter Watkins combining for eight innings of one-run baseball. Senior closer Nathan Ward finished the day with a scoreless ninth inning.
"They competed," Wallis said. "Connor gave us five and only gave up two hits. He was still very effective, but his velocity had kind of dropped a little bit. So we felt like it was a good time to get him out. Because we've been scoring so many runs, we knew that we had the full bullpen. Watty was great. It was good to see Wardo who's getting back to form. That was important for us to get Wardo in there as well."
GCU swept California Baptist for the second consecutive season and has now won 11 of the last 12 meetings.
The Lopes host their final week of home games with Washington visiting on Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Abilene Christian visiting for a weekend series.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mattison, Connor (6-3)
L: Nathan Hemmerling (4-3)
Batting:
RBI: Josiah Chavez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Connor Mcguire 1
HBP: Josh Paino 1 ; Matthew Darr 1
Batting:
2B: Andeel, Maxwell 1 ; Buries, Elijah 1
HR: Diaz, Michael 1
RBI: Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Andeel, Maxwell 1 ; Diaz, Michael 1 ; Ankeney, Beau 3 ; Gyselman, Alton 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Yorke, Zach 1 ; Paton, Eli 1 ; Diaz, Michael 2 ; Buries, Elijah 3 ; Ankeney, Beau 2
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
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RHP
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RHP
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RHP
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