Crucial win gives Wallis No. 100 on Senior Day

Sunday, May 4

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

27-20, 13-8

Sacramento State

28-20, 12-6

Sacramento State

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Darryl Webb

5/4/2025 5:14:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes reach base 24 times as Mattison, Bailey lead pitching effort

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon's path from setback to comeback began with the fireworks of a four-game losing streak going off in their heads.

That internal noise transferred to an external energy that overwhelmed Sacramento State 9-2 on Sunday at GCU Ballpark. The Lopes' victorious Senior Day marked Gregg Wallis' 100th win as GCU's third-year head coach.

It was a must-win mentality for the Lopes' pursuit of a WAC regular-season five-peat after falling behind Sacramento State with lopsided losses on Friday and Saturday nights.

GCU (27-20, 13-8 WAC) closed the conference race's first-place gap to a half-game with the Lopes having one WAC series remaining and Sacramento State (28-20, 12-6) playing two more conference series. Abilene Christian (11-7) and Utah Valley (12-9) also remain factors.

The Lopes hit so well Sunday that they set a season high for runners left on base (14) and still pummeled the Hornets by seven with 14 hits, half of which were for extra bases, and 10 more times that they reached base.

Wallis 100 wins

"It feels great just that we played a great baseball game today and after three pretty rough ones," Wallis said. "It was great to play great baseball and in all areas. We pitched really well, we played great defense, and we hit well. We put a lot of pressure on them with the offense, and we also got timely hits."

With GCU sophomore right-hander Connor Mattison's two no-hit innings to start and senior left-hander Gray Bailey's three shutout relief innings, the Lopes were able to leave four runners in scoring position over the first four innings and only trail 2-1.

Six of GCU's first seven batters in the bottom of the fifth reached base, but it was junior first baseman Zach Yorke's three-run, line-drive home run over the right-field bullpen that went as far for the Lopes as the ball's roll down the garage-side road.

"That was the game-changing swing, so we needed that," senior third baseman Eli Paton said of Yorke's home run.

Yorke tied the GCU Division I-era career home run record at 29 with Tayler Aguilar (2020-22), Jon Hamel (1996-98) and Doug Kimball (1991-92). He turned on a 2-2 pitch following a double by Lopes junior shortstop Emilio Barreras, who snapped a 0-for-20 slump by reaching base four times Sunday.

Sacramento State went to closer Kade Brown in the bottom of the fifth, but GCU senior Michael Diaz ripped his two-out pitch to the left-field corner for Diaz's fifth triple of the season and a 5-2 lead. The rest of the Lopes have five triples combined.

The Lopes touched Brown, who entered with a 2.03 ERA, for two more runs with a two-out rally in the sixth inning. Barreras singled, and senior center fielder Eddy Pelc picked up the second of his three walks in three consecutive innings.

Yorke took the first pitch he saw from Brown to right field for a 6-2 lead and his season-high fourth RBI of the game, giving him 41 on the season and 152 career RBIs, three shy of Jacob Wilson's GCU D-I era record.

Eli Paton

Paton, now on a seven-game hitting streak, backed him up with his second double of the day for a 7-2 lead. Paton went 3 for 4 to cap his 6-for-11 weekend with three doubles and a home run.

"I like to joke with Eli that he's really, really old and that he's not as good as he once was, like that song by Toby Keith, but he's come out this year and he's showing us he's still got some left in the tank," Yorke said of Paton.

That offensive swell was coming at a time when Bailey was earning his second win of the late-season boost he is providing GCU's bullpen. After being limited to one early-season appearance because of injury, Bailey has allowed two earned runs over 10 2/3 innings (1.68 ERA) in four outings since April 15.

Gray Bailey

On Sunday, Bailey kept the Hornets to two hits over three scoreless innings after they had battered the Lopes for 44 hits over the series' previous two games.

"He gave us huge length in the middle of the game when it was a really tight ball game," Wallis said of Bailey, who was among six of the seven seniors who played Sunday. "He kind of settled things down. That's the fourth quality out in a row for him, so that is a huge piece for us."

That also came with the good news of Mattison returning to form against the team he no-hit last season. Sacramento State still could not hit Mattison on Sunday over his two innings, which he was able to last with an efficient 28-pitch count.

Because of injury, Mattison had thrown one inning since March 21.

Connor Mattison

"He's just going to be able to build from there," Wallis said of Mattison. "He'll start again the next week at Stanford and then the following week at Tarleton. Hopefully, by the time we get to the postseason, he's built up pretty good."

GCU threatened to win by run rule as it scored a run and loaded the bases in a three-walk eighth inning. With nine walks, a hit batsman and .400 hitting, the Lopes reached base in 24 of 47 plate appearances Sunday.

That hit attack included Lopes junior catcher Luke Moeller going 2 for 5. In spot duty this season, Moeller was 3 for 11 previously with all three hits coming March 25 at New Mexico.

The GCU leaders stepped up Sunday with Barreras, Paton and Yorke each having three-hit days, and Pelc reaching base three times on walks.

"We needed a big bounce-back day," Yorke said. "(Wallis) kind of told us that it's on us, really. There's nothing much this late in the season that he can do to get through to us, that we need to do this as a team. We need to come together and win some games and fight. We're in a pennant race."

GCU will play five consecutive nonconference games, starting with a Tuesday home finale before the Lopes go to Stanford next weekend for a series and Arizona State on the following Tuesday.

The Lopes close the regular season with a May 15-17 conference series at Tarleton State. Sacramento State plays its final WAC series at Utah Valley and then has a home series against Utah Tech. Abilene Christian, trailing Sacramento State by one game, plays series against Tarleton State at home this weekend and at California Baptist.

Tuesday's 7 p.m. game against Arizona marks the final GCU Ballpark game for the seven seniors recognized Sunday – Maxwell Andeel, Bailey, Diaz, Paton, Pelc, Walter Quinn and Barrett Skaugrud.

"It was a really cool day because all seven of these guys are big contributors," Wallis said. "That doesn't always happen on Senior Day. It was important for us to play hard for the seniors on Senior Day, especially coming off two rough ones on Friday and Saturday. I had a feeling they would bring it today, and they did."