Lopes drop finale, maintain 1st-place tie

Sunday, April 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

26-17, 12-6

UT Arlington

14-26, 6-9

UT Arlington

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Rachel Sollazzo

4/27/2025 3:20:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

UT Arlington uses 5 home runs to win 17-5 blowout

By: Josh Hauser

Grand Canyon dropped Sunday's series finale to UT Arlington 17-5 on Sunday afternoon at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.

Despite the loss in the finale, the Lopes (26-17, 12-6 WAC) emerge from the weekend with a series victory in hand and remain in a first-place tie in the WAC standings after Utah Valley also lost Sunday.

The Lopes made things interesting with a five-run sixth inning that cut a 10-run lead in half. That inning included sophomore second baseman Billy Scaldeferri's first career home run. He was a late add into GCU's starting lineup on Sunday morning and hammered a 3-2 pitch to right-center.

Scaldeferri's home run capped a streak of four consecutive run-scoring hits: an RBI single by sophomore designated hitter Cannon Peery, an RBI triple by junior first baseman Zach Yorke and an RBI single from senior third baseman Eli Paton.

The Lopes were held scoreless outside of the sixth, and UT Arlington (14-26, 6-9 WAC) made use of the long ball with five home runs on the day to assist in racking up 17 runs. The Mavericks scored in six different innings, including four runs in the second, sixth and eighth and a three-run ninth.

GCU tallied nine hits in the loss with two-hit afternoons from Yorke, Paton, Scaldeferri and graduate center fielder Eddy Pelc. Yorke doubled and tripled, capping a 7-for-12 series (.583) with five extra-base hits.

The Lopes used four pitchers to navigate the game, and junior righty Jace Smith had the most success with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball.

GCU will step out of conference play to host BYU on Monday at 1 p.m. before a key WAC showdown with Sacramento State starting on Friday in Phoenix.