Lopes complete sweep of Texas Tech

Sunday, March 9

Phoenix, Ariz.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

11-4

Texas Tech

3-11

Texas Tech

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Chris Baumgardner

3/9/2025 4:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

GCU scores runs in 7th, 8th to pull away from Red Raiders

By: Josh Hauser

Grand Canyon polished off a series sweep of Texas Tech with a 4-2 victory on Sunday afternoon at GCU Ballpark.

The Lopes (11-4) have won four consecutively to match the program's 1994 and 2023 teams for most wins through 15 games of a Division I season. GCU has won all three of its single-opponent weekend series to open the season but took it a step further on Sunday with its first weekend sweep of the season.

"We talked about that last night, that we had played two winning weeks and we hadn't played our best baseball on Sunday," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We wanted to come in and play good baseball and try to finish the job. And we did."

GCU continued its success against Texas Tech (3-11), now having won seven of the last nine games in the series.

"We played great baseball," Wallis said. "Starts on the mound, the defense, and then we did enough offensively. It was a great week to finish the sweep and win the midweek and go 4-0 on the week. We're really excited about it."

The six combined runs scored between the two teams on Sunday were all scored in their own half innings.

Texas Tech scored the game's first run in the fourth, before the Lopes quickly responded. A double by senior center fielder Eddy Pelc fueled the inning. Pelc scored when senior designated hitter Michael Diaz stole second base and forced a wild throw that allowed Pelc to trot home.

The fifth inning followed a similar script with Texas Tech scoring a run and GCU responding. Sophomore outfielder Carson Ohland logged his first home run in a GCU uniform, hammering the eighth pitch of the at bat to right field to knot the score at 2-2.

From there, the Lopes kept adding on and managed to hold Texas Tech scoreless.

In the seventh, sophomore second baseman Troy Sanders singled and came into score when junior right fielder Josh Wakefield came up with a clutch two-out RBI single to give GCU the 3-2 lead.

GCU added an insurance run in the eighth when senior third baseman Eli Paton opened the frame with a single and eventually scored on a Red Raiders' throwing error.

The key in holding Texas Tech scoreless late in the game was freshman righty Billy Gregory who threw three scoreless innings and earned his first college win.

"He came in on Tuesday and looked great," Wallis said. "We wanted to get him the ball again and felt like after the first inning, he just kept getting more aggressive. Let's see if he can close this thing out. In the ninth, he even got more aggressive than he was in the eighth. I think his hardest pitch of his career was the fastball that he got the guy out on at the end of the game."

Gregory threw six scoreless innings on the week and lowered his ERA to 0.82.

It was a slightly below average day from the plate for GCU (8 for 32, .250), but the Lopes complemented their hits with an aggressive running game. GCU swiped five bases, their most in a game since March 14, 2021, against UT Rio Grande Valley.

"I think we were just trying to push the envelope a little bit," Wallis said. "We were just trying to create opportunities at second base, and we got some team speed, some guys that can steal. Wakefield got one. Pelc and Eli get great jumps. So that was it. We were just trying to create second base when we felt like it was the right situation."

GCU has stolen 18 bases on the season and is already approaching last season's 61-game total of 27 stolen bases.

The lone GCU multi-hit game came from sophomore Kade Huff, recording a pair of hits in his first start at catcher for the Lopes.

The Lopes will embark on an extended stretch of road action with nine straight games away from home. That stretch begins with five games in Oregon including a two-game midweek set against the Ducks.

"We know it's going to be really difficult," Wallis said. "Four of the five games are going to be against two top-10 teams in the country. Santa Clara is really good as well.

"This is why we set this up. We wanted to go really, really difficult and challenge ourselves and see what kind of team we have playing a Big 12 opponent at home. And then this is going to be our toughest test of the year going into Oregon and Oregon State, who are really good baseball teams. It's just a great opportunity to continue to compete against the best. I mean, there's two top-10 teams. What else could you want?"

First pitch on Tuesday is set for 5 p.m.