Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Sunday, June 2
Tucson, Ariz.
12 p.m.
Grand Canyon
36-24
12
vs
10
Dallas Baptist
45-15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Dallas Baptist
2
0
2
3
1
1
1
0
0
10
14
2
Grand Canyon
0
3
0
0
3
4
0
2
X
12
19
1
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Rally puts GCU in 1st regional final
6/2/2024 2:47:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
Lopes come back from 8-3 hole to eliminate No. 25 Dallas Baptist
TUCSON, Ariz. – Trailing by five runs in an elimination game Sunday is not the ideal way for a program to reach its first Division I regional final, but Grand Canyon made it a memorable way to do it Sunday at Hi Corbett Field.
The Lopes eliminated No. 25 Dallas Baptist with the comeback 12-10 win and live to see another game, moving to a chance to advance if they can beat West Virgnia on Sunday night and Monday night. Now one of 32 teams remaining in the NCAA tournament, the next quest begins with a 6 p.m. Sunday rematch of the Lopes' Saturday 5-2 loss to the Mountaineers in the double-elimination Tucson Regional.
"It's a huge moment," said GCU head coach Gregg Wallis, who got choked up in the postgame press conference with two years at the helm after being on the Lopes staff since 2013. "The coaching staff talked about this before the game, that this is the new standard for us. I'm getting a bit emotional because I've been here for 12 years, and this is what we've been building toward. We set up the beginning of the year that this group was going to be the group to take the program further than it's ever been. That's going to be the legacy for our seniors that have been here four years."
GCU moved to 4-0 against top-25 teams. shaking off an 8-3 hole by piling up 19 hits off the DBU staff with the nation's seventh-best ERA. Every Lopes starter had at least one hit and one RBI against Patriots starting pitcher Jerrod Jenkins, who entered with an opponent .178 batting average. It came on the same field where the Lopes battered then-No.21 Arizona for 23 hits and 24 runs in April.
On Sunday afternoon, the Lopes used a three-run fifth inning and a fourth-run sixth inning to catch up to the Patriots and set up a finish that broke a 10-10 tie after seven innings.
Lopes sophomore reliever Walter Quinn, the staff ERA leader at 2.22, shut out DBU in the eighth and ninth innings without a threat. In between, GCU took the lead by drawing four eighth-inning walks off Patriots closer Conner Mackay, who also allowed Lopes sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras' third hit of the game. Senior outfielders Cade Verdusco and Eddy Pelc drew the run-scoring, bases-loaded walks with two outs for the 12-10 edge.
"Grand Canyon played an outstanding game, and they really swung the bats," DBU head coach Dan Heefner said of GCU. "I think we've got a really good pitching staff with guys that have good stuff, and they have not been hit like they got hit today. I'm going to give the credit to Grand Canyon for playing a great game, and they deserve to move on after doing that."
Coming off four consecutive outings without allowing an earned run, Quinn made his regional debut with his sidearm delivery in the seventh, where he escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a RBI sacrifice fly and the Lopes' second pickoff at second base of the game. He retired the Patriots in order for the first time in the eighth and then only allowed a walk in the ninth for his third win of the season.
"I was very pumped up," said Quinn, who was discovered two years ago in the GCU Club Sports program. "We've been trusting all of our guys, so it's been awesome to watch everyone pitch. I was definitely ready to go. Once my number was called, I went and did it."
After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning on DBU junior Tom Poole's home run off senior left fielder Tyler Wilson's glove (Poole's third homer in two days), GCU took a second-inning lead with separate rallies.
Lopes junior designated hitter Michael Diaz and senior second baseman Dustin Crenshaw opened the inning with singles, and Diaz scored on a double play ball. The Lopes then delivered three consecutive two-out hits with senior catcher Alton Gyselman's double and RBI singles by sophomore shortstop Emilo Barreras and Wilson for a GCU 3-2 lead.
GCU sophomore starting pitcher Isaac Lyon, who threw a three-inning save Friday, was replaced in the fourth inning after DBU took a 4-3 lead in the third, when a double play and a fly out ended the threat. The Patriots moved ahead 7-3 in the fourth on another clutch Poole hit, a two-run double. DBU left fielder Ethan Mann made it an 8-3 advantage with a fifth-inning leadoff home run.
The Lopes changed momentum with defense, ending the fifth-inning threat for freshman right-hander Hunter Watkins with senior third baseman Eli Paton throwing out a runner at home and Gyselman throwing out a potential base stealer to end the inning.
"There was a turn right there because the game could've got away," Wallis said. "Eli makes the great play at the plate. We were pretty sure that we had an out, so that's why we challenged it. That got overturned, and then we felt like they were going to get aggressive right there because that's their style. So we called an extended outside pitch that was going to give Alton a great chance to throw on. I did feel like that started the momentum shift in our favor, and then the bats got hot. Eddy Pelc and the guys took short swings all day against really good pitching."
DBU, second in the nation for fielding percentage, made two errors to help a GCU fifth-inning rally. The Lopes scored three runs, including Yorke scoring from second on Gyselman's two-out RBI single with a slide under the tag at home plate.
After the Patriots tacked on a run for a 9-6 lead in the top of the sixth, the Lopes responded with a four-run bottom half that took a10-9 lead and chased starting pitcher Jerrod Jenkins.
Wilson sparked the outburst by lining a single and the Lopes crushed three RBI doubles off the bats of senior right fielder Eddy Pelc, Yorke (a 400-foot blast to center field) and Crenshaw. In his first weekend start, Crenshaw tied the game by pulling a two-out dobule into the right-field corner. Pelc went 3 for 4 after moving up to the third spot in the batting order, making him 7 for 10 in the tournament despite spraining his ankle on the first-base bag in the third inning and telling Wallis to not think about replacing him.
"It's just playing for the guys beside me, trying to keep the line moving and pulling for each other," Pelc said. "We've played here a couple times so there's some familiarity with the park."
Dallas Baptist went to the bullpen again and Paton greeted reliever River Ridings with another two-out RBI hit, a single to center field past the infield shift that put GCU ahead 10-9 -- its first lead since the second inning.
The Patriots scored for the fifth consecutive inning to tie the game at 10-10 in the top of the seventh on a RBI sacrifice fly.
GCU will start senior right-hander Carter Young (3-2, 4.26 ERA) in the Sunday night game after he tossed 2/3 shutout innings against West Virginia on Saturday night. The Mountaineers will start senior right-hander Hayden Cooper, who is 1-4 with a 5.88 ERA this season after a four-inning, one-run outing against TCU on May 21.
The Lopes eliminated No. 25 Dallas Baptist with the comeback 12-10 win and live to see another game, moving to a chance to advance if they can beat West Virgnia on Sunday night and Monday night. Now one of 32 teams remaining in the NCAA tournament, the next quest begins with a 6 p.m. Sunday rematch of the Lopes' Saturday 5-2 loss to the Mountaineers in the double-elimination Tucson Regional.
"It's a huge moment," said GCU head coach Gregg Wallis, who got choked up in the postgame press conference with two years at the helm after being on the Lopes staff since 2013. "The coaching staff talked about this before the game, that this is the new standard for us. I'm getting a bit emotional because I've been here for 12 years, and this is what we've been building toward. We set up the beginning of the year that this group was going to be the group to take the program further than it's ever been. That's going to be the legacy for our seniors that have been here four years."
GCU moved to 4-0 against top-25 teams. shaking off an 8-3 hole by piling up 19 hits off the DBU staff with the nation's seventh-best ERA. Every Lopes starter had at least one hit and one RBI against Patriots starting pitcher Jerrod Jenkins, who entered with an opponent .178 batting average. It came on the same field where the Lopes battered then-No.21 Arizona for 23 hits and 24 runs in April.
On Sunday afternoon, the Lopes used a three-run fifth inning and a fourth-run sixth inning to catch up to the Patriots and set up a finish that broke a 10-10 tie after seven innings.
Lopes sophomore reliever Walter Quinn, the staff ERA leader at 2.22, shut out DBU in the eighth and ninth innings without a threat. In between, GCU took the lead by drawing four eighth-inning walks off Patriots closer Conner Mackay, who also allowed Lopes sophomore shortstop Emilio Barreras' third hit of the game. Senior outfielders Cade Verdusco and Eddy Pelc drew the run-scoring, bases-loaded walks with two outs for the 12-10 edge."Grand Canyon played an outstanding game, and they really swung the bats," DBU head coach Dan Heefner said of GCU. "I think we've got a really good pitching staff with guys that have good stuff, and they have not been hit like they got hit today. I'm going to give the credit to Grand Canyon for playing a great game, and they deserve to move on after doing that."
Coming off four consecutive outings without allowing an earned run, Quinn made his regional debut with his sidearm delivery in the seventh, where he escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a RBI sacrifice fly and the Lopes' second pickoff at second base of the game. He retired the Patriots in order for the first time in the eighth and then only allowed a walk in the ninth for his third win of the season.
"I was very pumped up," said Quinn, who was discovered two years ago in the GCU Club Sports program. "We've been trusting all of our guys, so it's been awesome to watch everyone pitch. I was definitely ready to go. Once my number was called, I went and did it."
After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning on DBU junior Tom Poole's home run off senior left fielder Tyler Wilson's glove (Poole's third homer in two days), GCU took a second-inning lead with separate rallies.
Lopes junior designated hitter Michael Diaz and senior second baseman Dustin Crenshaw opened the inning with singles, and Diaz scored on a double play ball. The Lopes then delivered three consecutive two-out hits with senior catcher Alton Gyselman's double and RBI singles by sophomore shortstop Emilo Barreras and Wilson for a GCU 3-2 lead.GCU sophomore starting pitcher Isaac Lyon, who threw a three-inning save Friday, was replaced in the fourth inning after DBU took a 4-3 lead in the third, when a double play and a fly out ended the threat. The Patriots moved ahead 7-3 in the fourth on another clutch Poole hit, a two-run double. DBU left fielder Ethan Mann made it an 8-3 advantage with a fifth-inning leadoff home run.
The Lopes changed momentum with defense, ending the fifth-inning threat for freshman right-hander Hunter Watkins with senior third baseman Eli Paton throwing out a runner at home and Gyselman throwing out a potential base stealer to end the inning.
"There was a turn right there because the game could've got away," Wallis said. "Eli makes the great play at the plate. We were pretty sure that we had an out, so that's why we challenged it. That got overturned, and then we felt like they were going to get aggressive right there because that's their style. So we called an extended outside pitch that was going to give Alton a great chance to throw on. I did feel like that started the momentum shift in our favor, and then the bats got hot. Eddy Pelc and the guys took short swings all day against really good pitching."
DBU, second in the nation for fielding percentage, made two errors to help a GCU fifth-inning rally. The Lopes scored three runs, including Yorke scoring from second on Gyselman's two-out RBI single with a slide under the tag at home plate.
After the Patriots tacked on a run for a 9-6 lead in the top of the sixth, the Lopes responded with a four-run bottom half that took a10-9 lead and chased starting pitcher Jerrod Jenkins.
Wilson sparked the outburst by lining a single and the Lopes crushed three RBI doubles off the bats of senior right fielder Eddy Pelc, Yorke (a 400-foot blast to center field) and Crenshaw. In his first weekend start, Crenshaw tied the game by pulling a two-out dobule into the right-field corner. Pelc went 3 for 4 after moving up to the third spot in the batting order, making him 7 for 10 in the tournament despite spraining his ankle on the first-base bag in the third inning and telling Wallis to not think about replacing him."It's just playing for the guys beside me, trying to keep the line moving and pulling for each other," Pelc said. "We've played here a couple times so there's some familiarity with the park."
Dallas Baptist went to the bullpen again and Paton greeted reliever River Ridings with another two-out RBI hit, a single to center field past the infield shift that put GCU ahead 10-9 -- its first lead since the second inning.
The Patriots scored for the fifth consecutive inning to tie the game at 10-10 in the top of the seventh on a RBI sacrifice fly.
GCU will start senior right-hander Carter Young (3-2, 4.26 ERA) in the Sunday night game after he tossed 2/3 shutout innings against West Virginia on Saturday night. The Mountaineers will start senior right-hander Hayden Cooper, who is 1-4 with a 5.88 ERA this season after a four-inning, one-run outing against TCU on May 21.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Quinn, Walter (3-3)
L: MACKAY, Conner (3-2)
Batting:
2B: POOLE, Tom 2 ; JAY, Grant 1
HR: POOLE, Tom 1 ; MANN, Ethan 1
RBI: KRAUSS, Chayton 1 ; POOLE, Tom 6 ; MANN, Ethan 1 ; HEEFNER, Luke 1
SF: HEEFNER, Luke 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DATTALO, Michael 2 ; KRAUSS, Chayton 3 ; POOLE, Tom 1 ; MANN, Ethan 1 ; JAY, Grant 1 ; PENDERGAST, Alex 1 ; HEEFNER, Luke 1
SB: KRAUSS, Chayton 1
CS: PENDERGAST, Alex 1
HBP: SANTOS, Miguel 1
PO: JAY, Grant 1 ; HUMPHREYS, Nathan 1
Batting:
2B: Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 1 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Crenshaw, Dustin 1 ; Gyselman, Alton 1
RBI: Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 2 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Diaz, Michael 1 ; Crenshaw, Dustin 1 ; Paton, Eli 2 ; Gyselman, Alton 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 1
SF: Paton, Eli 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wilson, Tyler 1 ; Verdusco, Cade 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 2 ; Yorke, Zach 2 ; Diaz, Michael 1 ; Crenshaw, Dustin 1 ; Gyselman, Alton 2 ; Barreras, Emilio 2
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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/ 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