Win streak vs. Arizona reaches 4

Tuesday, April 1

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

18-10

Arizona

20-8

Arizona

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Chris Baumgardner

4/1/2025 9:33:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lopes bullpen allows 1 earned run over 5 2/3 innings

By: Paul Coro

If three times in a row is a pattern, a fourth consecutive Grand Canyon win in games against Arizona is more about consistent success.

For a Lopes program pursuing its fourth NCAA regional trip in five seasons, performances like GCU's 11-5 Tuesday night win against Arizona are becoming more of the standard.

The Lopes' winning streak against the Wildcats (20-8) had been extended twice in Tucson last season, including a 24-8 rout and GCU's 9-4 win at the NCAA regional against 15th-ranked host Arizona. On Tuesday night, beating Arizona extended another Lopes win streak — eight consecutive home victories.

"We showed up with a lot of enthusiasm today," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "Typically, we do show up with a lot of enthusiasm. The challenge is, no matter who we play, to show up with that enthusiasm. I saw it in our cage work. I saw it in our BP, infield, outfield. And it just carried over to the game."

The Lopes (18-10) opened this season's set of three midweek meetings against the Wildcats with another brilliant bullpen outing.

In front of 1,732 fans at GCU Ballpark, Lopes relievers Cam Cunnings, Elijah Higginbottom and Billy Gregory combined to allow one earned run over 5 2/3 innings. Arizona had been hitting .294 this season and was ranked No. 22 in NCAA Rating Percentage Index.

Cunnings, normally a back-end reliever, entered early to a two-on, no-out jam in the fourth because of matchups and delivered 1 2/3 shutout innings to drop his ERA to 3.18.

"We just felt like at the spot in the lineup they were that he was the better matchup," Wallis said of Cunnings.

Over the last three games, the GCU bullpen has allowed two earned runs in 15 2/3 innings (1.15 ERA).

The Lopes advanced runners and jumped on the Wildcats' gifts in what Wallis called a "gritty" performance with 11 hits, four sacrifices and five walks, marking GCU's fourth consecutive game with at least five walks. The Lopes' 11 runs matched the third-highest total scored against Arizona this season.

"It was a pretty complete game," Wallis said. "We got bunts down for the most part. We always talk about that it's never about hits. It's always about execution. We get hits, but you've got to move runners and you've got to score them. We had some timely at bats. We were moving runners. We were committed to putting the ball in play, and that's why we scored some runs."

A walk and a hit batsman set up GCU junior first baseman Zach Yorke's opposite-field, two-run single on a 1-2 pitch in the first inning, wiping out Arizona's 2-0 lead.

"When they put two, I told our guys, 'Let's respond real quick,' and we did," Lopes junior left fielder Carson Ohland said. "That just brings the juice for the whole game because you know that if they score, we can respond right back. And that's what we did all game."

The Lopes responded again to a 3-2 hole in the fourth inning, when the Wildcats helped again with a leadoff walk and error to set up GCU freshman second baseman Scuba Smolinski's two-run single up the middle for a 4-3 lead. With junior Emilio Barreras out injured since March 9 and sophomore Troy Sanders sliding to shortstop, Smolinski has started the past two games and delivered two RBIs in each win.

Smolinski's go-ahead hit sent the Lopes to an eighth consecutive home victory, as Ohland's fourth-inning RBI sacrifice fly and senior third baseman Eli Paton's fifth-inning home run padded the edge.

With two outs and a strong wind blowing in from left field, Paton hammered a first-pitch breaking ball that cut the wind to land in the right-field bullpen for a 6-4 advantage. It was Paton's team-leading sixth home run of the season and 17th of his three-year GCU career.

Arizona mustered some offensive danger in the top of the eighth inning, capitalizing on a fielding error with the Wildcats' nation-leading 18th triple that was hit by third baseman Mathis Maurant.

Gregory, the freshman right-hander from Scottsdale Saguaro High School, entered and stranded Maurant with a strikeout and an inning-ending pop-up.

In each inning Arizona scored until the ninth, GCU responded with multiple runs. This time, the Lopes peppered the Wildcats for four more runs with the first three coming on consecutive RBI hits by sophomore catcher Marcus Galvan, junior right fielder Josh Wakefield and Ohland.

W

akefield has filled the lineup's leadoff spot with more than a good bat that is hitting .429. He reached base three times Tuesday and had one of GCU's four sacrifices. The Glendale Mountain Ridge High School graduate energizes the dugout with his passion and the game with his speed.

"We're taking team at bats and we're doing it for each other, just trying to get the next guy up," Wakefield said. "I try to get us going. I'm just trying to do everything for the team. I'm just trying to be that guy that's here for everybody and just do my part."

On Sunday and Tuesday, Ohland recorded his first two multi-hit games and first two doubles as a Lope.

"We have fun, honestly," said Ohland, who transferred from Washington. "We just have a blast out here in the sun. You can't beat Arizona baseball. All of the guys just love being around each other, and it's just a blast every single day coming out here.

"I love the baseball program. I love the school. I love being down here, and I'm excited to keep going."