Big-game Lopes topple No. 23 Nebraska

Monday, February 17

Phoenix, Ariz.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

2-2

Nebraska

2-2

Nebraska

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Rachel Sollazzo

2/17/2025 5:24:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU moves to 5-1 vs. top-25 programs since 2024

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon continues to back up its rising stature on the college baseball landscape.

The program that reached its first two Division I baseball regionals in 2021 and 2022 moved forward to a regional final last season.

That 2024 regional finalist logged four wins against top-25 opponents, including two at the Tucson Regional, and backed it up Monday with a 3-1 victory against No. 23 Nebraska in front of 3,413 sun-splashed fans at GCU Ballpark.

With a GCU record crowd of 5,294 on Friday night, the Lopes drew their largest attendance total in program history for any consecutive home games (8,707).

Just three days after leaving the potential tying run on base in a 4-3 loss to No. 16 Vanderbilt, the Lopes won Monday with clutch moments from a pair of emerging players and a staff four-hitter that included one Nebraska hit over the final seven innings. They are 5-1 in their last six games against top-25 teams since last year.

GCU right-handed reliever Elijah Higginbottom, a Tacoma (Washington) Community College transfer, sizzled in his Lopes debut with five one-hit innings with five strikeouts and no walks. That held a 1-1 tie for GCU sophomore Cannon Peery to break when he delivered in his first pinch-hit at bat of the season with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning.

"Everyone feels amazing," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "A great way to cap the weekend against a really good program that had played great baseball out here. That's a regional team. We have a ton of respect for them, their players and their coaching staff. What a great way to finish this first week of of the season."

Elijah Higginbottom

Higginbottom entered with a two-on, no-out situation in the fourth inning and kept GCU tied at 1-1 against the Cornhuskers, who won 40 games last season to reach the NCAA tournament and beat No. 16 Vanderbilt and San Diego State this weekend.

"That was so fun, such an environment to throw in front of and I'm so happy that it happened today just like that," said Higginbottom, whose family and friends traveled from Sumner, Washington, for all four GCU games since Friday night. "I couldn't have drawn it up any better.

"It was electric … That's what I live for. It's just so much adrenaline. It's so exciting. I just love pitching in games like that."

Pegged for two or three innings, Higginbottom worked economically for five innings with just 59 pitches dotting the edges. Nebraska batters went down by strikeout or ground ball for 12 of his 15 outs. He struck out three of his final four batters despite not having his best slider.

PHOENIX, AZ - FEBRUARY 17: Grand Canyon University baseball defeats University of Nebraska-Lincoln 3-1 (Photo by: Rachel Sollazzo/GCU)

"He just showed us why he's here and what we saw at him at junior college," Wallis said. "I don't think we could have expected him to be that good. That was just a pretty special performance, and I don't even have the words to say. He just competed his tail off."

GCU pitching coach Nathan Bannister added a cutter to Higginbottom's pitch mix and helped add velocity to his slider since the fall while developing his pitch strategy.

"They just were struggling because I was hitting the corners, and my cutter was really good early on," Higginbottom said. "And the change-up, I was landing it."

GCU freshman Gunnar Penzkover, the opening-day starting right fielder, made his first pitching start and stranded a runner at second base in each inning to limit Nebraska to a run. It was his first start for a school since pitching last May for Northwest Christian in an Arizona 3A prep semifinal against Yuma Catholic.

Coming off an injury redshirt year, Lopes junior right-hander Jace Smith pitched a shutout inning in his first appearance since May, 2, 2023.

Higginbottom earned the win with GCU tying the game in the fifth inning on senior third baseman Eli Paton's first home run of the season, when the left-handed rocketed a 1-1 pitch to right field for the only damage against Nebraska southpaw starter Jackson Brockett. The Huskers senior no-hit Kansas State last season.

GCU junior first baseman Zach Yorke sparked a seventh-inning threat with a leadoff single, and junior designated hitter Cael Boever, in his first Lopes start, added a one-out single off the pitcher before both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Freshman Jake Sanko pinch-run for Yorke but was stranded on a strikeout and grounder.

Peery, who started the Lopes' first three games, replaced Yorke positionally and fatefully.

The game-winning, eighth-inning rally began with the Lopes' fourth leadoff hit, a single to center field that was sophomore pinch-hitter Kade Huff's first hit for GCU. Junior shortstop Emilio Barreras, who went 3 for 4, squirted an infield single between the drawn-in third baseman and pitcher to set up sophomore second baseman Troy Sanders' successful sacrifice bunt.

Following a strikeout for the second out, Peery watched four consecutive off-speed pitches for a 2-2 count before fouling off the fifth. Given a sixth hanging over the plate, Peery smashed his first career double down the left-field line for a two-run, game-winning hit.

"I was still waiting for the heater, but I'd seen that off-speed many times so I was seeing it better," said Peery, who went 4 for 11 last season.

"You've got to stay ready for situations like that, and just knowing that the guy on the mound couldn't beat me. I'm trying to come through for the boys and win a big game for us."

Wallis turned the 3-1 lead over to his most accomplished reliever, junior right-hander Walter Quinn. He struck out the side and now has a save in each Lopes win.

"He's free and easy," Wallis said. "He's having fun. He's got a big smile. The whole crowd's going crazy, and he's got a big smile on his face. He's like a kid out in Little League playing baseball, so the moment's never too big for him."

Rutgers visits GCU Ballpark next weekend for a four-game series against the Lopes with a 6 p.m. Friday game, a 1 p.m. Saturday doubleheader and a 1 p.m. Sunday finale. The 70-degree first pitches and elite baseball already are drawing GCU's largest crowds ever.

"Today was incredible," Wallis said. "This is a great college baseball atmosphere. Obviously, Nebraska has something to do with that the way they travel. But our side was packed too.

"The fan support on our side really helped us through this."