Big crowd ses Lopes' largest D-I Opening Night win

Friday, February 13

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

1-0

Northeastern

0-1

Northeastern

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Jayden Todd

2/13/2026 9:27:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Ahern's 5 shutout innings keys 10-0 win vs. 2025 NCAA regional finalist

By: Paul Coro

For the first time since 2017, Grand Canyon baseball was not the preseason favorite to win its conference. It's a good thing the Lopes do not plan to let others write the script for their season.

GCU Ballpark crowd

Opening Night went to script Friday night for the authors (GCU coaches) and the actors (Lopes players) on a compelling Opening Night show in front of 4,008 fans at GCU Ballpark.

GCU recorded a 10-0, run-rule win against 2025 NCAA regional finalist Northeastern for the Lopes' largest Opening Night margin of victory since their last opening shutout in 2004, a Division II-era rout vs. Westmont.

"I don't think we could've drawn it up any better," Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis said. "We knew that's a good program, and we just came and took them out of it in the first inning. It's the little things, and that's what this team is about. The big home run didn't come until we were up 8-0, and that's what this team is committed to being about – executing the little things well."

The little things added up to big damage against Northeastern, which posted the best record in Division I baseball last season (49-11). GCU great and MLB All-Star Jacob Wilson barely had returned to his seat after throwing the first pitch when the Lopes took a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

Lopes junior starter Garrett Ahern, the 6-foot-6 right-hander from Campo Verde High School, already was in command before he needed to warm up again in the batting cages while GCU batted around the lineup. Ahern pitched five shutout innings with five strikeouts, no walks and three hits allowed, one of which came on an outfielder slip.

GCU enforced the run rule with opportunistic offense, turning four first-inning hit batsmen into four runs and having six players knock in runs after four of six leadoff batters reached base.

"This just shows the new Lopes and our new brand of baseball," Ahern said. "That's just how we're going to play ball this year, and we're going to do it every single game."

The Lopes unveiled a new star in graduate catcher Mito Perez, a Tarleton State transfer. He blistered a first-pitch leadoff double to the left-field corner in the second inning and scored the fifth run. Perez pulled another first-pitch hit, a single, to spark a two-run fourth inning that stretched GCU's lead to 7-0.

Perez reveled in the "electric" Opening Night environment at GCU Ballpark, but he already had fallen for the Tim Salmon Clubhouse vibe through the fall ball and preseason.

"We jelled in the clubhouse, and the clubhouse environment is unbelievable," Perez said. "We believe in one another, like it's a brotherhood. I mean that with everything I say. We've got each other's back, and I think that showed tonight with how much we trusted each other and how much we love on each other. We just try to make each other better every single day."

Perez credited Ahern's command on the mound for energizing the team and setting an aggressive tone Friday night. Ahern attacked the zone with mostly fastballs and sliders, but also using a change-up and a cutter.

"When you smother the strike zone like that with quality stuff, it makes it really hard on the hitter," Wallis said of Ahern throwing 48 of 73 pitches for strikes.

Ahern started each weekend last season and posted a 4.15 ERA until a May slide, but he has returned with more velocity in his three-quarter delivery slot and more pitches in his arsenal. He only needed to face 18 batters over five innings, and that was with two defensive miscues. He wiped out one hit with a pickoff to junior second baseman Troy Sanders.

On his 73rd pitch, Ahern finished with flare when he kissed the outside corner with a sweeping slider that struck out Wildcats second baseman Chris Walsh looking.

"Leading up to today, I was little nervous going into it, but it was a good nervous," Ahern said. "I knew I was prepared for this with all my training, and I felt good out there."

GCU senior designated hitter Dominic Chacon sparked the first-inning scoring with a RBI double to right-center field on a 2-2 pitch. The Lopes pushed the other three first-inning runs across home on senior left fielder Cael Boever's RBI grounder and two bases-loaded hit batsmen.

Lopes junior first baseman Cannon Peery struck out in the first inning with one out and runners on second and third, but Peery made up for it with a RBI sacrifice fly in the second inning and a two-run moon shot onto 35th Avenue in the sixth inning.

With the boost of junior third baseman Billy Scaldeferri's two-out, two-run single in the fourth, Peery later put GCU ahead 10-0 to set it up to enact the MLB Desert Invitational run rule. Lopes junior right-hander JT Guerrero, who will build into a starting role, polished off the Huskies with two shutout innings on 17 pitches.

It marked just the second time Northeastern had been shut out in its past 180 games.

"That's what good baseball teams do," Wallis said. "They were opportunistic early, and when you get the opponent down, you throw the big punch."

GCU's MLB Desert Invitational action continues Saturday, when it faces Penn State at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale for a 1 p.m. MLB Network game. The weekend ends with another 2025 NCAA Tournament qualifier, Nebraska, for a 1 p.m. game at Sloan Field in Mesa.

Junior right-hander Nicholas Robb, a UT Arlington transfer, will get the Saturday start for his Lopes debut.

"He competes," Wallis said. "He throws strikes, any pitch, any count. Three quality offerings, and he's just a kid you want to root for. He works hard. He's a great teammate. We're just excited to see him compete."