Upcoming Event: Baseball versus Cal State Fullerton on November 8, 2025 at 11 a.m.
Baseball
11 a.m.
vs Cal State Fullerton
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Tuesday, May 7
Phoenix, Ariz.
1 p.m.
Grand Canyon
30-18
6
vs
2
Washington
18-23-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Washington
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
9
0
Grand Canyon
0
1
0
0
0
4
1
0
X
6
7
0
Photo by: Wesley Kurz
Arms match bats' roll to beat UW, win 8th straight
5/7/2024 5:31:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
Wilson hits grand slam for 2nd time in 4 days with Ahern pitching sharply
One of Grand Canyon's stingiest pitching stretches ever has been hidden under the mask of one of the Lopes' most explosive hitting stretches ever.
GCU ended its longest streak of games with nine runs or more since 2015 on Tuesday, when a 6-2 win against Washington unveiled the Lopes' first four-game streak of holding opponents to two runs or fewer since 2013.
GCU, a team that ranks in the national top 25 for batting average and ERA, won its eighth consecutive game with senior left fielder Tyler Wilson's third grand slam of the season and a five-arm outing that quieted the Huskies after they scored 39 runs in a weekend series at ASU.
With seven regular-season games remaining, the Lopes (30-18) have recorded their sixth consecutive 30-win campaign in full seasons.
"I feel awesome about the way this team is going," Wilson said. "It's going upward, for sure, with our pitching and our hitting. Our pitchers have been shutting down offenses. Our hitters have been lighting up that scoreboard. I hope we just keep doing what we do, and it should be a lot of fun going forward."
GCU finished the season 5-5 against Pac-12 opponents with freshmen pitchers Garrett Ahern and Ben Smith combining for 5 1/3 innings with one run allowed. Senior Carter Young returned from injury for his first work since April 12, and the back-end tandem of Walter Quinn and Nathan Ward closed with 2 2/3 shutout innings.
"The pitching staff has been phenomenal," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "This was a great one because that's a good program over there. It's a regional team from last season. It was a great ballgame. I told the guys, 'That's what a postseason game feels like.' It was 1-1 into the sixth. We got a huge swing from Tyler Wilson, but it was the pitching and the defense that kept us in the ballgame."
The Lopes had been limited to three hits over the first five innings and were tied 1-1 when sophomore Emilio Barreras' single was sandwiched by walks to junior right fielder Michael Diaz and freshman second baseman Cooper Neville.
With two outs, Wilson worked a 2-0 count before he ripped a high fastball 390 feet over the right-center wall for a 5-1 lead and his second grand slam in four days. He also hit a slam on Feb. 25 against Nebraska and has four for his career with his first career home run being a grand slam.
"I'm just getting in good hitter's counts and switching at good pitches and not missing them," Wilson said. "With 2-0 and 3-1, a good hitter's count, we've been talking all year to stay disciplined and not just swing because it's a hitter's count. I was looking for one pitch, one spot. I got that pitch and I didn't miss it."
Wilson ranks second in the WAC for batting average (.372) and RBIs (50). The switch-hitter from Chandler Hamilton High School has hit more home runs this season (12) than in his first three seasons combined.
He returned to the lineup Tuesday after leaving Sunday's game early when he exited for illness after singling in his first at batl.
"It's a senior that is putting every ounce of his body, every ounce of his heart, every ounce of his soul into the team right now," Wallis said of Wilson. "So he's getting rewarded. He's in a mode right now, where he's doing this for the team. It's fun to watch. That's why he comes up biggest in the biggest situations. He's playing hurt. He's playing sick. It doesn't matter. He's carrying this program right now. He's driving the bus."
Ahern, a right-hander from Gilbert Campo Verde High School, faced a Pac-12 opponent for the fifth time in nine appearances and retired the first 10 Huskies he faced Tuesday. The 6-foot-5 right-hander improved to 3-0 and dropped his season ERA to 3.45.
"Garrett did an outstanding job of attacking the strike zone, mixing pitches and challenging hitters," Wallis said. "He was ahead 0-1, 1-2 on almost every hitter. When you do that, you're going to have success."
Quinn inherited a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh and escaped with a strikeout and groundout. Smith allowed two men on with nobody out in the first two innings of the game and always got out of each situation with a first-inning double play and a key second-inning strikeout.
After winning by an average of 12.2 runs in the previous five games, the Lopes needed to play without a defensive error Thursday for the 24th time in 48 games.
"It felt good to be in a game where it felt like every pitch mattered and every at bat mattered," Wallis said. "It's going to get us back on track for a big series this weekend."
GCU stays home this weekend, when it will take a four-game WAC lead into a conference series with Abilene Christian. Friday and Saturday games will start at 7 p.m. with the Sunday home finale at noon.
GCU ended its longest streak of games with nine runs or more since 2015 on Tuesday, when a 6-2 win against Washington unveiled the Lopes' first four-game streak of holding opponents to two runs or fewer since 2013.
GCU, a team that ranks in the national top 25 for batting average and ERA, won its eighth consecutive game with senior left fielder Tyler Wilson's third grand slam of the season and a five-arm outing that quieted the Huskies after they scored 39 runs in a weekend series at ASU.
With seven regular-season games remaining, the Lopes (30-18) have recorded their sixth consecutive 30-win campaign in full seasons.
"I feel awesome about the way this team is going," Wilson said. "It's going upward, for sure, with our pitching and our hitting. Our pitchers have been shutting down offenses. Our hitters have been lighting up that scoreboard. I hope we just keep doing what we do, and it should be a lot of fun going forward."
GCU finished the season 5-5 against Pac-12 opponents with freshmen pitchers Garrett Ahern and Ben Smith combining for 5 1/3 innings with one run allowed. Senior Carter Young returned from injury for his first work since April 12, and the back-end tandem of Walter Quinn and Nathan Ward closed with 2 2/3 shutout innings."The pitching staff has been phenomenal," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "This was a great one because that's a good program over there. It's a regional team from last season. It was a great ballgame. I told the guys, 'That's what a postseason game feels like.' It was 1-1 into the sixth. We got a huge swing from Tyler Wilson, but it was the pitching and the defense that kept us in the ballgame."
The Lopes had been limited to three hits over the first five innings and were tied 1-1 when sophomore Emilio Barreras' single was sandwiched by walks to junior right fielder Michael Diaz and freshman second baseman Cooper Neville.
With two outs, Wilson worked a 2-0 count before he ripped a high fastball 390 feet over the right-center wall for a 5-1 lead and his second grand slam in four days. He also hit a slam on Feb. 25 against Nebraska and has four for his career with his first career home run being a grand slam."I'm just getting in good hitter's counts and switching at good pitches and not missing them," Wilson said. "With 2-0 and 3-1, a good hitter's count, we've been talking all year to stay disciplined and not just swing because it's a hitter's count. I was looking for one pitch, one spot. I got that pitch and I didn't miss it."
Wilson ranks second in the WAC for batting average (.372) and RBIs (50). The switch-hitter from Chandler Hamilton High School has hit more home runs this season (12) than in his first three seasons combined.
He returned to the lineup Tuesday after leaving Sunday's game early when he exited for illness after singling in his first at batl.
"It's a senior that is putting every ounce of his body, every ounce of his heart, every ounce of his soul into the team right now," Wallis said of Wilson. "So he's getting rewarded. He's in a mode right now, where he's doing this for the team. It's fun to watch. That's why he comes up biggest in the biggest situations. He's playing hurt. He's playing sick. It doesn't matter. He's carrying this program right now. He's driving the bus."
Ahern, a right-hander from Gilbert Campo Verde High School, faced a Pac-12 opponent for the fifth time in nine appearances and retired the first 10 Huskies he faced Tuesday. The 6-foot-5 right-hander improved to 3-0 and dropped his season ERA to 3.45.
"Garrett did an outstanding job of attacking the strike zone, mixing pitches and challenging hitters," Wallis said. "He was ahead 0-1, 1-2 on almost every hitter. When you do that, you're going to have success."
Quinn inherited a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh and escaped with a strikeout and groundout. Smith allowed two men on with nobody out in the first two innings of the game and always got out of each situation with a first-inning double play and a key second-inning strikeout.After winning by an average of 12.2 runs in the previous five games, the Lopes needed to play without a defensive error Thursday for the 24th time in 48 games.
"It felt good to be in a game where it felt like every pitch mattered and every at bat mattered," Wallis said. "It's going to get us back on track for a big series this weekend."
GCU stays home this weekend, when it will take a four-game WAC lead into a conference series with Abilene Christian. Friday and Saturday games will start at 7 p.m. with the Sunday home finale at noon.
𝐆𝐎-𝐀𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐌, @TyWilson44! 💪
— Grand Canyon Baseball (@GCU_Baseball) May 7, 2024
Third grand slam of the season for the reigning WAC Hitter of the Week and second in a three-game span. #LopesUp pic.twitter.com/5OzVB3UQvN
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ahern, Garrett (3-0)
L: Evangelista, J. (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Arquette, Aiva 1 ; Ybarra, Jeter 1
RBI: Terry, Braeden 1 ; DeCarlo, Sam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Arquette, Aiva 1 ; Whitton, Cooper 1
HBP: Bower, Colton 1
Batting:
HR: Wilson, Tyler 1
RBI: Wilson, Tyler 4 ; Ankeney, Beau 1
SF: Ankeney, Beau 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Ankeney, Beau 1 ; Diaz, Michael 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 1 ; Neville, Cooper 1
HBP: Verdusco, Cade 1 ; Ankeney, Beau 1
Game Leaders
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
4
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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INF
/ BaseballOF
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INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballUTIL
/ Baseball
RHP
/ 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