Completed Event: Baseball at UC Irvine on February 24, 2026 , Loss , 0, to, 3
Baseball
at UC Irvine
L 0-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Sunday, March 1
Phoenix, Ariz.
1 p.m.
Grand Canyon
5-7
11
vs
10
Pacific
5-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Pacific
4
0
0
2
0
0
3
0
1
10
15
0
Grand Canyon
3
4
1
0
0
0
0
3
X
11
9
1
Photo by: Nate Cochran
Series of 1-run thrillers goes to Lopes
3/1/2026 5:13:00 PM | Baseball
GCU surrenders lead in 7th, takes it back in 8th, holds on in 9th
Grand Canyon erased an early four-run deficit, delivered the decisive blow in the eighth inning and stranded the tying run at third base in the ninth. GCU outlasted Pacific 11-10 on Sunday at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark to clinch a series that featured three one-run games.
The Lopes (5-7) trailed 4-0 before recording an out but responded with eight unanswered runs. Pacific (5-6) temporarily regained the lead in the seventh, but the Lopes scored three runs in the eighth to build a two-run lead that withstood a one-run ninth from the Tigers.
"I think you saw a pretty good college baseball series," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "Friday night looked like a Friday game, Saturday looked like a Saturday game. And then this is typically Sunday baseball.
"We talked about this last night. We didn't get the win, but we made them use their best arms out of the bullpen. That's what allowed us to have a rally there and score some runs. They did the same thing to us. Our starter showed up sick. So we had to use some guys that we weren't planning to use that had just pitched on Tuesday, but we gutted it out."
GCU's winning rally began with a spark off the bench.
After Pacific took a 9-8 lead in the seventh, graduate Mito Perez got the offense rolling in the eighth with a pinch-hit double down the right-field line. A wild pitch moved the tying run to third before sophomore third baseman Jake Sanko lined a single to shallow center to score Perez and tie the game.
Moments later, with the game tied and two outs, junior catcher Marcus Galvan delivered the decisive swing - a single to right-center that scored two runs for an 11-9 advantage.
"The at bat of the day was Marcus Galvan left on left, tie ballgame and driving in two runs," Wallis said. "I just thought that Marcus has been taking incredible at bats all year. The stat line doesn't show it yet, but that's baseball. … To see him come through in a tough situation, left on left, that to me was the at bat of the weekend."
The Lopes still had work to do entering the ninth with a two-run lead.
Pacific had three consecutive runners log hits including an RBI double that narrowed the gap to 11-10. With the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position and only one out, GCU intentionally loaded the bases.
To escape with a win, senior right-hander Brock Toney induced a ground ball that turned into a 4-6-3 double play, ending the game. Toney earned the win with two innings of one-run relief, stabilizing a pitching plan that had to be adjusted when GCU's starter Nicholas Robb arrived at the park under the weather. Five Lopes pitchers combined to navigate 15 Pacific hits and 45 batters faced.
Before the late-inning drama, GCU had already flipped the game once.
Pacific scored four runs before the Lopes recorded an out in the first inning.
GCU immediately answered. Junior right fielder Billy Scaldeferri tripled to deep center to score Galvan. Senior designated hitter Dominic Chacon followed with an RBI single, and freshman left fielder Tanner Johns grounded out to plate another run, cutting the deficit to 4-3 after one.
An inning later, the Lopes built their first lead. Freshman shortstop Austin Owens walked, Sanko was hit by a pitch and Galvan drew another walk to load the bases. Scaldeferri then crushed a 394-foot grand slam to center field, a swing that gave GCU a 7-4 lead.
"Billy's had a really impressive couple of weeks here," Wallis said. "He's just turned himself into a really mature hitter. He's taking good, short swings on the ball, and he's swinging at good pitches. And it was nice to see that today. Another double and the big grand slam."
GCU added another run in the third on Sanko's sacrifice fly, completing an eight-run response to Pacific's opening punch.
Pacific chipped away with a two-run homer in the fourth and a three-run seventh to briefly reclaim momentum, but the Lopes answered one final time in the eighth and then trusted their defense and bullpen to close it out.
With a series win under their belt, the Lopes turn their attention to the first of three games against Arizona on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
"Just another opportunity to get better," Wallis said. "This is a new team, and we're still figuring some things out. We're still finding our identity. And we're still learning how to compete at this level day in and day out."
The Lopes (5-7) trailed 4-0 before recording an out but responded with eight unanswered runs. Pacific (5-6) temporarily regained the lead in the seventh, but the Lopes scored three runs in the eighth to build a two-run lead that withstood a one-run ninth from the Tigers.
"I think you saw a pretty good college baseball series," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "Friday night looked like a Friday game, Saturday looked like a Saturday game. And then this is typically Sunday baseball.
"We talked about this last night. We didn't get the win, but we made them use their best arms out of the bullpen. That's what allowed us to have a rally there and score some runs. They did the same thing to us. Our starter showed up sick. So we had to use some guys that we weren't planning to use that had just pitched on Tuesday, but we gutted it out."
GCU's winning rally began with a spark off the bench.
After Pacific took a 9-8 lead in the seventh, graduate Mito Perez got the offense rolling in the eighth with a pinch-hit double down the right-field line. A wild pitch moved the tying run to third before sophomore third baseman Jake Sanko lined a single to shallow center to score Perez and tie the game.
Moments later, with the game tied and two outs, junior catcher Marcus Galvan delivered the decisive swing - a single to right-center that scored two runs for an 11-9 advantage.
"The at bat of the day was Marcus Galvan left on left, tie ballgame and driving in two runs," Wallis said. "I just thought that Marcus has been taking incredible at bats all year. The stat line doesn't show it yet, but that's baseball. … To see him come through in a tough situation, left on left, that to me was the at bat of the weekend."
The Lopes still had work to do entering the ninth with a two-run lead.
Pacific had three consecutive runners log hits including an RBI double that narrowed the gap to 11-10. With the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position and only one out, GCU intentionally loaded the bases.
To escape with a win, senior right-hander Brock Toney induced a ground ball that turned into a 4-6-3 double play, ending the game. Toney earned the win with two innings of one-run relief, stabilizing a pitching plan that had to be adjusted when GCU's starter Nicholas Robb arrived at the park under the weather. Five Lopes pitchers combined to navigate 15 Pacific hits and 45 batters faced.
Before the late-inning drama, GCU had already flipped the game once.
Pacific scored four runs before the Lopes recorded an out in the first inning.
GCU immediately answered. Junior right fielder Billy Scaldeferri tripled to deep center to score Galvan. Senior designated hitter Dominic Chacon followed with an RBI single, and freshman left fielder Tanner Johns grounded out to plate another run, cutting the deficit to 4-3 after one.
An inning later, the Lopes built their first lead. Freshman shortstop Austin Owens walked, Sanko was hit by a pitch and Galvan drew another walk to load the bases. Scaldeferri then crushed a 394-foot grand slam to center field, a swing that gave GCU a 7-4 lead.
"Billy's had a really impressive couple of weeks here," Wallis said. "He's just turned himself into a really mature hitter. He's taking good, short swings on the ball, and he's swinging at good pitches. And it was nice to see that today. Another double and the big grand slam."
GCU added another run in the third on Sanko's sacrifice fly, completing an eight-run response to Pacific's opening punch.
Pacific chipped away with a two-run homer in the fourth and a three-run seventh to briefly reclaim momentum, but the Lopes answered one final time in the eighth and then trusted their defense and bullpen to close it out.
With a series win under their belt, the Lopes turn their attention to the first of three games against Arizona on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
"Just another opportunity to get better," Wallis said. "This is a new team, and we're still figuring some things out. We're still finding our identity. And we're still learning how to compete at this level day in and day out."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Toney, Brock (1-0)
L: Moreno, Maddox (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Orr, Robert 2 ; O'Sullivan, Brendan 1
HR: Sloan, Andrew 1
RBI: Evans, Rylan 1 ; Orr, Robert 4 ; Tandy, Jake 1 ; Sloan, Andrew 2 ; MacArthur, Grant 2
SH: French, Blaine 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Sotomayor, Levi 1 ; Evans, Rylan 2 ; O'Sullivan, Brendan 1 ; Tandy, Jake 2 ; Sloan, Andrew 1 ; MacArthur, Grant 1 ; Shank, JT 2
SB: Evans, Rylan 1
Batting:
2B: Perez, Mito 1 ; Peery, Cannon 1
3B: Scaldeferri, Billy 1
HR: Scaldeferri, Billy 1
RBI: Sanko, Jake 2 ; Scaldeferri, Billy 5 ; Chacon, Dominic 1 ; Galvan, Marcus 2 ; Johns, Tanner 1
SF: Sanko, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Perez, Mito 1 ; Sanko, Jake 2 ; Scaldeferri, Billy 2 ; Chacon, Dominic 1 ; Galvan, Marcus 2 ; Owens, Austin 1 ; Sanders, Troy 1 ; Bates, Camden 1
SB: Sanko, Jake 1 ; Bates, Camden 1
HBP: Sanko, Jake 1 ; Peery, Cannon 2 ; Owens, Austin 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
5
PH/c
AB
1
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
C/3B
/ Baseball
1B/OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
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