Record crowd, national TV sees Vandy edge GCU

Friday, February 14

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

0-1

Vanderbilt

1-0

Vanderbilt

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Jayden Todd

2/14/2025 10:10:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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Mattison's 5 shutout innings, Yorke's 2-run home run threaten 16th-ranked Commodores on Opening Night

By: Paul Coro

Vanderbilt took Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark on Friday night with four preseason All-Americans, two national championships since 2014 and the status as one of D1Baseball.com's top four college baseball programs over the past decade.

Grand Canyon countered with a building resume of success, a GCU Ballpark record crowd of 5,294 fans and enough elite moments to be one run away from a pre-eminent program.

The Lopes opened the season and many college baseball eyes with a season-opening, 4-3 loss to No. 16 Vanderbilt. GCU nearly knocked off a top-25 visitor on Opening Night for the fourth time this decade, but the MLB Invitational effort still left an impression on MLB Network's national audience.

"I told the boys after the game, 'We just competed against one of the best programs in the country," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We want to win Opening Night and we want to put on a good show for our fans, but our goal is never to just win Opening Night or get out of the shoot 8-0. We just want to keep getting better.

"What I saw tonight, if this group can get getting better daily, keep their heads up with the schedule we're playing, we're going to have a real nice season."

With three quality games in the next three days, the Lopes only needed to use two pitchers Friday night because junior right-hander Isaac Lyon battled to strand two runners in three of his four innings and sophomore right-hander Connor Mattison confounded Vanderbilt's touted lineup for five shutout innings.

Commodores junior left-handed starter JD Thompson lived up to his billing on Preseason All-America third team, but the Lopes pounced on freshman left-hander Matthew Shorey with junior Zach Yorke's two-run home run and sophomore right fielder Carson Ohland's two-out RBI single for a three-run sixth inning.

Then within striking distance at 4-3, GCU only had close calls to tie.

Yorke hummed a seventh-inning line drive directly at center field with sophomore second baseman Troy Sanders on base after his first career three-hit game. Lopes sophomore catcher Marcus Galvan had the other mutli-hit game when he singled in the ninth inning before junior shortstop Emilio Barreras hit into a game-ending double play when Vanderbilt second baseman Jayden Davis was shaded up the middle as Barreras struck it there.

"It got interesting, and it's good to have real competition again because it definitely is a great thing to be back," Wallis said.

GCU looked like it had carryover from last season's team that upset two top-25 teams at the NCAA Tucson Regional. Five starters and Lyon were back on Wallis' lineup card Friday night, when they were greeted with Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List center fielder RJ Austin ripping Lyon's first pitch down the left-field line for a double.

Austin scored, but Lyon emerged from a two-on, no-out situation with only the 1-0 hole by luring two ground outs and getting a full-count strikeout for the first of his four Ks in four innings.

Isaac Lyon

A leadoff hit batman hurt Lyon in the second, when the Commodores scored twice with an Austin RBI single before Lyon picked him off at first.

"He was really good," Wallis said of Lyon. "I thought he almost was too good late in the count with two strikes, so if he could clean that up a little bit, I think he's going to be great. He didn't have his best day, but he still kept us right in the ball game."

Mattison entered to open the fifth inning and put a runner on third with a double and a failed pickoff but stranded him there with the first of his six strikeouts and a Vastine fly out.

"The juices were definitely flowing, and I couldn't ask for a better place to be," Mattison said. "I absolutely love it here, I love the fans and I love this team

"My worst is always my first inning, and once I get rolling, I think I'm pretty hard to stop."

That was the case Friday night in an electric atmosphere that was charged by the Lopes' three-run sixth inning. Sanders led off with a double to left-center field on an 0-2 pitch before Yorke yanked a first-pitch curveball over the right-field wall, making Vanderbilt's lead 4-2.

Zach Yorke

"They started me with curveballs for balls," Yorke said. "My third at bat, they put it in a different lefty, and I kind of figured he was going to go back to it, and I was just looking for one over the plate. He hung one, and I just put a good swing on it."

Yorke's 20th career home run came in the same week he was named to Baseball America's Preseason All-America second team.

"Zach had great swings all night," Wallis said. "The ball out of the yard, the line drive he hit with a runner on first late in the game. I've got to check the exit velo on that, because thing was hit really hard. Quality from him all night, so that's exciting."

GCU senior third baseman Eli Paton followed Yorke with the Lopes' third consecutive extra-base hit, a double to right-center field that chased freshman reliever Matthew Shorey. Ohland, a transfer who started for Washington last season, was a mid-game substitution and delivered another GCU 0-2 hit for a RBI single that made Vanderbilt's lead 4-3.

Connor Mattison

Mattison was gaining steam, sitting down Vanderbilt in order on eight pitches in the seventh inning. The Canyon View High School graduate was able to throw five relief innings because he only threw 59 pitches, a huge feat with GCU playing San Diego State, Austin Peay and No. 23 Nebraska over the next three days.

"I just thought I need to attack the zone and really in this game we have nothing to lose," Mattison said. "That's kind of how it's kind of how I went about it and it was working. They were doing exactly what I wanted them to do, and I kept my pitch count low. I knew I had three, four innings, maybe. I didn't think I was going to get to five."

Mattison's change-up was show-stopping again, much like his no-hitter last season. He closed the game with two strikeouts, as he and Lyon combined to strike out Vanderbilt clean-up hitter Chris Maldonado four times.

"If Connor's going to do that consistently all year, we're going to be in a great spot because Isaac is going to do what he does," Wallis said.

GCU plays 5:30 p.m. games at Spring Training facilities on Saturday (vs. San Diego State at Sloan Field in Mesa) and Sunday (vs. Austin Peay at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale). The Lopes will be back at GCU Ballpark for a 1 p.m. Monday game against No. 23 Nebraska.

"With this team, nothing's too big," Yorke said. "No moment is too big. and I think we're going to just keep getting better as we go. Tonight, we put a put a good effort out and competed, but obviously it wasn't enough. But I think I think we've got good things coming down the road."