Early lead slips away in San José State finale

Sunday, May 3

Excite Ballpark • San José, Calif.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

17-28, 0

San José State

20-25, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Grand Canyon	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	1
San Jose State	0	0	0	0	5	0	1	0	X	6	10	1

Photo by: Braden Dohrmann

5/3/2026 3:35:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Ahern scoreless in brief return; Johns homers for 2nd time in series

By: Josh Hauser

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Grand Canyon got another encouraging swing from freshman right fielder Tanner Johns, but San José State used one decisive inning to claim Sunday's series finale 6-1 at Excite Ballpark.

Though its path narrowed with the series loss, GCU remains very much alive in the race for the conference tournament, where the Mountain West's top six teams qualify. At 7-11 in conference play, the Lopes are in a three-way tie with UNLV and San José State for the sixth and final spot. Both teams hold head-to-head tiebreakers over GCU, meaning the Lopes will need to outpace both by at least one game over the final two conference weekends.

Johns gave GCU (17-28, 7-11 MW) the first lead of the afternoon in the fourth inning, launching a solo home run to right field for his second homer of the series and third of his freshman season. After going opposite field for a home run to left in Friday's opener, Johns turned on one Sunday for a no-doubter to right.

The 1-0 lead held up briefly as GCU's pitching staff kept San José State (20-25, 7-11 MW) quiet for the first half of the contest.

Junior right-hander Garrett Ahern's return was one of the more encouraging developments for GCU's pitching staff. Ahern, the Lopes' Opening Day starter, made his first appearance since April 4 and opened with two scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and one walk while striking out two, giving GCU a clean start and offering a potential boost down the stretch.

Senior right-hander Tommy McGuire followed with a clean fourth inning before San José State broke through in the fifth. The Spartans scored five runs with two outs in the frame including a series-deciding three-run double down the left-field line to turn GCU's one-run lead into a 5-1 deficit.

Outside of that one inning, the Lopes' pitchers combined to keep the Spartans to one run across the other seven frames. Junior right-hander Nicholas Robb helped stabilize the game with two innings of relief, allowing one run while striking out two and ending the seventh with a strikeout-caught stealing double play. Senior righty Brock Toney followed by striking out three in the eighth after San José State put its first two batters aboard.

GCU junior left fielder Carson Ohland had one of the Lopes' best offensive days, going 2 for 4 with a double, while senior designated hitter Trevor Schmidt also doubled and senior Dominic Chacon added a pinch-hit single in the ninth.

The Lopes had early chances to add to their lead, putting runners in scoring position in the first, second, third, fifth, sixth and ninth innings. GCU finished with seven hits but was held to 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position, preventing the offense from building around Johns' fourth-inning swing.

After GCU's scheduled two-game midweek series at Oregon was canceled on Friday, the Lopes will instead return to Phoenix and await the final home conference series against New Mexico.