WAC home run leader Tayler Aguilarwhacked two out of Hi Corbett Field to lead a 17-hit parade that marched GCU to an 11-7 win on Tuesday night. The Lopes (31-15) won a season series against the Wildcats (32-15) for the first time since 1993 and recorded two wins in a season against Arizona for the second time in the programs’ 65-year history.
“Just a gutsy performance,” GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said after his team surrendered and rebuilt a four-run lead in front of a crowd of 2,624 fans.
Inspired to go beyond its season ending in an NCAA regional at Hi Corbett Field last year, GCU has returned to Arizona’s home field for two of its top six hitting days this season and two vengeful wins.
The Lopes built a 7-3 lead with clutch hits throughout the game and the lineup, starting with the night’s tone-setter — a two-out, two-run blast by Aguilar in the first inning for the junior right fielder’s 16th home run. With sophomore shortstop Jake Wilson knocking in three runs and junior Adrian Torres’ pinch-hit, two-run double, GCU led 7-3 in the seventh before Arizona tied the game an inning later.
The Lopes responded with a four-run ninth inning that included Aguilar belting a breaking ball for his 17th home run, a national top-20 tally and the most by a GCU player since Craig Caballero’s 19 in 1994. After going 4 for 5 with a career-high tying 5 RBI, Aguilar is 14 for 24 (.583) in the past six games with eight home runs.
“Right now, I’m just so relaxed at the plate and everything’s coming to me,” said Aguilar, who is from Evans, Colorado. “That’s when you’re at your best. It’s awesome that I’m doing this right now and I’m just along for the ride. It’s exciting to help GCU do the things we’re doing.”
GCU built on Aguilar’s jump-start in the third, when sophomore center fielder Homer Bush Jr.’s single and senior third baseman Jonny Weaver’s double set up a two-run double by sophomore shortstop Jacob Wilson for a 4-1 lead.
“It’s a fun thing to watch our guys establish themselves,” Stankiewicz said. “It can’t matter who we’re playing. What’s got to matter is who we are and what we’re bringing that particular night. That part has been fun to watch, the mentality of our ball club.”
After Arizona tightened the lead to 4-3, the Lopes’ third clutch two-run hit came in the sixth inning. Torres dug himself out of an 0-2 count to deliver GCU’s third consecutive two-out hit, a pinch-hit triple to right field for a 6-3 lead and his first hit since April 15.
“That was a great swing by him,” Stankiewicz said. “It’s not easy to come off the bench. The matchup seemed like a good one, so we went with him. That was a big, big hit with two outs to keep it rolling.”
Wilson added an RBI triple in the seventh for part of his 3-for-5, 3-RBI game. The Lopes led 7-3, but Arizona chipped one run off the lead in the seventh and tied the score at 7-7 in the eighth with four consecutive hits to open the inning.
GCU junior reliever Vince Reilly closed off the rally with consecutive strikeouts that started a run of him retiring the last six batters for Arizona, which is still ranked No. 7 by Collegiate Baseball.
After losing a four-run lead, the Lopes reversed the momentum swing in a hurry when sophomore second baseman Dustin Crenshaw went the opposite way on the first pitch for a triple that darted past the left fielder.
Weaver knocked in the go-ahead run with a single past the diving shortstop. Arizona reliever Trevor Long entered with a 1.33 ERA, but he surrendered four runs without an out after Wilson singled and Aguilar homered off the right-field Terry Francona Hitting Center for the second time.
Sophomore Carter Young gave GCU a four-inning start before senior Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis put up shutout fifth and sixth innings with four strikeouts. The Lopes’ defense went without an error, keeping their nine-game road trip to two errors, and came up with two double plays and a leaping, wall-crashing catch by sophomore left fielder Cade Verdusco.
After the game, Arizona star catcher Daniel Susac said GCU and Texas State are the best teams that the Wildcats have faced this season.
“When I came in as a freshman, everyone looked at us as the third school in Arizona that nobody really looked at,” said Weaver, the Phoenix native who went 3 for 5 on Tuesday. “Now we’re taking series against them. That’s huge for us and a testament to how far we’ve come.
“We’re more comfortable now. We know we have the talent and the right guys to compete with them and everybody in the country. This team has no panic. It’s a great trait to have as a team.”
After going 5-3 this season against ranked teams, the Lopes now also hold a 7-3 record against Power 5 teams and a 5-3 mark against Pac-12 teams for postseason committees to consider in NCAA tournament bracket seeding. GCU and Arizona entered Tuesday night as the nation’s No. 35 and 36 teams in RPI.
“I want our guys to feel like they can play with anybody any time and I think that’s what has been most important about all this,” Stankiewicz said. “Part of it is playing these guys. This ball club had some success last year and a lot of guys are returning. I think there’s a little bit of some business that we’ve got to take care of, that we left on the table last year. These guys want to keep having a good season and they’re staying on it. As much as anything else, that’s what I’m proud of.”
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics – Paul Coro
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