Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Monday, April 28
Phoenix, Ariz.
1 p.m.
Grand Canyon
26-18
9
vs
10
BYU
21-21
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
BYU
2
0
6
1
1
0
0
0
0
10
12
1
Grand Canyon
0
0
6
0
1
0
0
2
0
9
11
0
Photo by: Nick Garcia
Rally from 8-0 hole falls 1 run shy vs. BYU
4/28/2025 5:35:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro
Lopes leave potential tying run at 3rd base in final 2 innings
The story of the greatest Grand Canyon baseball comeback in eight years was being written until the final pages of the script were torn away in a flip Monday.
GCU rallied from BYU's 8-0 lead to put the tying run on third base with one out in each of the final two innings, but the Cougars held for a 10-9 victory at GCU Ballpark.
The Lopes (26-18) were on the verge of tying and/or go-ahead runs in the eighth and ninth innings, but a diving catch by BYU center fielder Crew McChesney in the eighth and a game-ending, line-out double play sealed the Cougars' win.
GCU won its weekend series against UT Arlington but faced a similar deficit Sunday (10-0) before losing 17-5. Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis' postgame speech about staying.determined no matter the deficit carried over when GCU was faced with an 8-0 hole after 2 1/2 innings Monday.
The Lopes answered a Cougars six-run top half with a six-run bottom half and pulled within a run in the eighth inning.
"It's a tough one with the way things ended," Wallis said. "It leads into what we talk about on Sunday. This time of year, weird things happen. Whether you're up or down in the first, down eight or up eight, it doesn't matter. You turn off the scoreboard and play every inning tough."
GCU last rallied from an eight-run hole in 2017 to walk off an extra-inning hole against UT Rio Grande Valley and almost did the same Monday against BYU (21-21).
Trailing 10-7, the Lopes opened the eighth with consecutive singles from senior third baseman Eli Paton, senior left fielder Michael Diaz and sophomore second baseman Billy Scaldeferri. The later hit cut the BYU lead to 10-8 before one-out walks by junior right fielder Josh Wakefield and junior shortstop Emilio Barreras loaded the bases closed the margin to 10-9.
After senior center fielder Eddy Pelc struck out for the second out, junior designated hitter Zach Yorke popped up to short right-center field for the McChesney diving catch.
With junior right-hander Walter Quinn shutting out BYU over the final two innings, the Lopes created another chance to tie or win in the bottom of the ninth with sophomore first baseman Cannon Peery leading off with a single and Paton following with a walk. After a fielder's choice out at third base, Scaldeferri singled for his career-high third hit and to make him 5 for 9 over Sunday and Monday.
Senior pinch-hitter Maxwell Andeel hit a liner up the middle, but BYU second baseman Luke Anderson was perfectly positioned and threw to first to double up Scaldeferri and end the game.
"Playing four straight, it's a grind and we came out ready to go," Paton said. "They hang up an eight-spot in the first three innings, but we fought back. That's what we want to see going into the playoffs and down the stretch. We put up quality at bats, and we kept passing it to the next guy. We had a shot at the end, and that's all you want."
GCU was also in that position because of the third consecutive quality relief outing from senior left-hander Gray Bailey. After not recording an out in his only previous outing, Bailey has thrown 7 2/3 innings against Arizona, Arizona State and BYU in the past two weeks with an ERA of 2.34.
After a four-inning performance against Arizona State, Bailey struck out three BYU batters in three innings Monday.
"Huge, bright spot," Wallis said. "Two times in a row, he's gone multiple innings. It seems like he's getting stronger. He gave us a shot to win, and we almost did. The fact that we're playing on a Monday means we can flip him and get him to a weekend. That's a big thing for us as we try to get all things arms back healthy."
GCU's six-run third inning was its highest scoring inning since a seven-run inning at California Baptist and the fourth-highest scoring inning of the season.
It began with two hit batsman sandwiching an error to load the bases. Wakefield, who had his third mutli-hit game in seven days, gave GCU its first runs with a two-run single. A Barreras walk set up Pelc's RBI sacrifice fly, which was followed by Yorke's three-run blast for his eighth home run of the season and an 8-6 deficit.
"I would've liked this lesson to happen in a win," Wallis said. "We got down big, and we were trying to fight back and turn the scoreboard off."
The Lopes will finish this nine-game homestand with a weekend series against Sacramento State (10-5 in WAC play), which trails conference co-leaders GCU (12-6) and Utah Valley (12-6) by a half-game with three fewer games played.
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GCU rallied from BYU's 8-0 lead to put the tying run on third base with one out in each of the final two innings, but the Cougars held for a 10-9 victory at GCU Ballpark.
The Lopes (26-18) were on the verge of tying and/or go-ahead runs in the eighth and ninth innings, but a diving catch by BYU center fielder Crew McChesney in the eighth and a game-ending, line-out double play sealed the Cougars' win.
GCU won its weekend series against UT Arlington but faced a similar deficit Sunday (10-0) before losing 17-5. Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis' postgame speech about staying.determined no matter the deficit carried over when GCU was faced with an 8-0 hole after 2 1/2 innings Monday.
The Lopes answered a Cougars six-run top half with a six-run bottom half and pulled within a run in the eighth inning.
"It's a tough one with the way things ended," Wallis said. "It leads into what we talk about on Sunday. This time of year, weird things happen. Whether you're up or down in the first, down eight or up eight, it doesn't matter. You turn off the scoreboard and play every inning tough."
GCU last rallied from an eight-run hole in 2017 to walk off an extra-inning hole against UT Rio Grande Valley and almost did the same Monday against BYU (21-21).
Trailing 10-7, the Lopes opened the eighth with consecutive singles from senior third baseman Eli Paton, senior left fielder Michael Diaz and sophomore second baseman Billy Scaldeferri. The later hit cut the BYU lead to 10-8 before one-out walks by junior right fielder Josh Wakefield and junior shortstop Emilio Barreras loaded the bases closed the margin to 10-9.
After senior center fielder Eddy Pelc struck out for the second out, junior designated hitter Zach Yorke popped up to short right-center field for the McChesney diving catch.
With junior right-hander Walter Quinn shutting out BYU over the final two innings, the Lopes created another chance to tie or win in the bottom of the ninth with sophomore first baseman Cannon Peery leading off with a single and Paton following with a walk. After a fielder's choice out at third base, Scaldeferri singled for his career-high third hit and to make him 5 for 9 over Sunday and Monday.
Senior pinch-hitter Maxwell Andeel hit a liner up the middle, but BYU second baseman Luke Anderson was perfectly positioned and threw to first to double up Scaldeferri and end the game.
"Playing four straight, it's a grind and we came out ready to go," Paton said. "They hang up an eight-spot in the first three innings, but we fought back. That's what we want to see going into the playoffs and down the stretch. We put up quality at bats, and we kept passing it to the next guy. We had a shot at the end, and that's all you want."
GCU was also in that position because of the third consecutive quality relief outing from senior left-hander Gray Bailey. After not recording an out in his only previous outing, Bailey has thrown 7 2/3 innings against Arizona, Arizona State and BYU in the past two weeks with an ERA of 2.34.
After a four-inning performance against Arizona State, Bailey struck out three BYU batters in three innings Monday.
"Huge, bright spot," Wallis said. "Two times in a row, he's gone multiple innings. It seems like he's getting stronger. He gave us a shot to win, and we almost did. The fact that we're playing on a Monday means we can flip him and get him to a weekend. That's a big thing for us as we try to get all things arms back healthy."
GCU's six-run third inning was its highest scoring inning since a seven-run inning at California Baptist and the fourth-highest scoring inning of the season.
It began with two hit batsman sandwiching an error to load the bases. Wakefield, who had his third mutli-hit game in seven days, gave GCU its first runs with a two-run single. A Barreras walk set up Pelc's RBI sacrifice fly, which was followed by Yorke's three-run blast for his eighth home run of the season and an 8-6 deficit.
"I would've liked this lesson to happen in a win," Wallis said. "We got down big, and we were trying to fight back and turn the scoreboard off."
The Lopes will finish this nine-game homestand with a weekend series against Sacramento State (10-5 in WAC play), which trails conference co-leaders GCU (12-6) and Utah Valley (12-6) by a half-game with three fewer games played.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lybbert, Rockwell (1-0)
L: Clark, Ross (2-2)
S: Reiser, Justis (2)
Batting:
2B: Robinson, Ryder 1 ; Vest, Cooper 1 ; McChesney, Crew 1
HR: Anderson, Luke 1 ; Hurdsman, Bryker 1
RBI: Anderson, Luke 4 ; Vest, Cooper 1 ; Hurdsman, Bryker 4 ; Erickson, Ridge 1
SF: Erickson, Ridge 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Painter, Keoni 2 ; Robinson, Ryder 2 ; Anderson, Luke 2 ; Vest, Cooper 1 ; Hurdsman, Bryker 1 ; Watkins, Brock 1 ; Beck, Chipper 1
Batting:
HR: Pelc, Eddy 1 ; Yorke, Zach 1
RBI: Wakefield, Josh 2 ; Barreras, Emilio 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 2 ; Yorke, Zach 3 ; Scaldeferri, Billy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wakefield, Josh 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 1 ; Pelc, Eddy 1 ; Yorke, Zach 1 ; Paton, Eli 1 ; Diaz, Michael 2 ; Scaldeferri, Billy 1 ; Galvan, Marcus 1
CS: Wakefield, Josh 1 ; Barreras, Emilio 1
HBP: Diaz, Michael 1 ; Galvan, Marcus 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballOF/LHP
/ Baseball1B
/ BaseballGCU Baseball - WAC Tournament vs. Utah Tech - Highlights
Thursday, May 22
Baseball at Stanford - Barreras' game-winning double
Saturday, May 10
Baseball vs. Arizona (5/6/25) - Yorke homers twice to break record
Wednesday, May 07
GCU Baseball - Eli Paton walk-off single vs. UTA
Saturday, April 26