Frey masterful again with 14 Ks in win

Saturday, April 11

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

12-23, 4-7

UNLV

20-15, 4-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UNLV	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	4
Grand Canyon	1	0	0	0	1	4	0	0	X	6	8	0

Photo by: Nate Cochran

4/11/2026 10:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU lefty stretches scoreless streak to 17 innings, ties most strikeouts since Lopes' D-I return in 2014

By: Josh Hauser

Grand Canyon rode another extraordinary Chase Frey performance Saturday night, as the junior left-hander followed last week's complete-game shutout with 8 2/3 dominant innings in a 6-1 win over UNLV to even the Mountain West series and set up a Sunday rubber match at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.

Frey's outing joined the short list of the best starts in the program's modern era. He struck out 14 to tie the most by a Lopes pitcher since the program's 2014 return to Division I, matching Daniel Avitia's 14-strikeout game against Sacramento State on May 7, 2022. It also marked one of only two 14-strikeout performances since Jeff Swanson fanned 18 in 2004 and sets a Mountain West high for this season.

Combined with last Friday's nine-inning shutout at Fresno State, Frey ran his scoreless inning streak to 17, GCU's longest streak since Dawson McCarville's 32 scoreless innings from March 23 to May 1, 2021. Lopes interim head coach Nathan Bannister said Frey earned the chance to chase another complete game for the Lopes (12-23, 4-7 MW).

"I think he's earned the right," Bannister said. "Last week with the complete-game shutout and he's 17 innings straight without giving up a run, definitely want to go out there and give him that opportunity."

The masterpiece nearly never got started. Frey opened the game with two walks and a hit batter to load the bases for UNLV (20-15, 4-7 MW) with no outs. After a mound visit from Bannister, the ace flipped the entire game, striking out the next three hitters in succession to escape the jam and ignite a stretch of complete dominance.

"I try to just simplify it as much as I could and go pitch to pitch," Frey said. "I didn't know I was going to just flip the switch just like that, but I got a bunch of guys behind me who were playing great defense."

Bannister said the first-inning visit was all about resetting the moment.

"It was a reset of, 'All right, forget about the first three minutes of this game. Right now you're in the game. Go attack,' " Bannister said. "He took that to heart, and from that moment on, he really attacked and laid it out on the line for his teammates."

The Lopes gave Frey an immediate lead in the bottom of the first, when junior right fielder Billy Scaldeferri was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on sophomore second baseman Jake Sanko's RBI double into the left-center gap. GCU added another in the fifth when freshman third baseman Jose Lopez III doubled home junior first baseman Cannon Peery for a 2-0 cushion.

Then came the game-breaking sixth, where UNLV's four-error inning unraveled the night. Junior shortstop Camden Bates reached and moved into scoring position on a throwing error. Two wild pitches brought home the first two runs of the inning, and the Rebels committed two more errors that allowed junior designated hitter Trevor Schmidt and Lopez to score as the Lopes turned a tight game into a 6-0 lead.

While the offense created long innings, Frey never lost his rhythm despite a 128-pitch workload, the second-highest pitch count by a GCU arm since the 2014 D-I return, trailing only Jake Repavich's 129-pitch outing on April 29, 2017.

"Adrenaline definitely helped," Frey said. "The further on we went, the more in a rhythm I felt. After that, I just kind of caught a groove."

He carried the shutout into the ninth and came within one out of back-to-back complete-game shutouts before UNLV finally broke through with an RBI single. After the scoreless streak ended and the pitch count climbed, Bannister turned to senior right-hander Cam Cunnings for the final out.

The series is now tied, giving GCU a chance Sunday to claim its second consecutive MW series win after last weekend's series victory at Fresno State. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. on the Mountain West Network and Arizona's Family Sports.