FRESNO, Calif. — Grand Canyon secured its first Mountain West series win in program history Saturday afternoon, winning the rubber match at Fresno State with a 7-5 victory at Pete Beiden Field. The series-clinching win sends GCU home for a 10-game homestand with momentum after a winning road weekend.
“I thought they came out ready to take a series,” GCU interim head coach Nathan Bannister said. “We got the lead and sustained it. With only using one pitcher yesterday, we had a full bullpen ready to go, and I think we wanted to stay one step ahead. We were able to execute our game plan.”
The Lopes built the win with production throughout the order, especially from the bottom third. Junior shortstop Camden Bates and junior center fielder Griffin Cameron repeatedly flipped the lineup over, combining for four hits, three runs scored and four RBIs from the No. 7 and No. 9 spots. Cameron’s RBI double and RBI single helped fuel early separation, while Bates delivered a pair of RBI hits and scored twice.
Freshman Tanner Johns delivered one of his best games of the season to break a slump at the plate. The left fielder went 3 for 4 with a double, RBI and run scored, igniting multiple rallies in the middle innings. Johns jump-started the fifth with a double that led to two runs, added a run-scoring single in the seventh and posted his second three-hit game of his freshman campaign.
GCU first broke through in the third when Bates reached on a throwing error, Cameron lined an RBI double to left-center and graduate catcher Mito Perez followed with an RBI single through the left side for a 2-0 lead.
After Fresno State answered to tie it, the Lopes reclaimed control in the fifth as Johns doubled, Bates brought him home with a double of his own and Cameron added an RBI single up the middle to make it 4-2.
GCU kept adding pressure from there. In the sixth, Johns singled and Bates drove in junior first baseman Cannon Peery with a single. Johns later added an RBI single in the eighth, and junior right fielder Billy Scaldeferri’s solo homer in the ninth provided a critical insurance run that proved decisive.
The Lopes recovered from a series-opening loss to win back-to-back games and clinch a series.
“I think it just shows what a series in college baseball is like,” Bannister said. “Ups and downs. I told the guys we have to love it, right? We have to love these situations. We have to embrace it, and we have to expect to win. We can’t just play on our heels. We got to be the aggressor and the go-getter. So I love that they were attacking it all weekend.”
On the mound, Fresno native Cam Cunnings closed the door for his third save, though the ninth inning did not come easy. After the Bulldogs cut the lead to two and brought the tying run into scoring position, the senior right-hander recorded the final strikeout in front of family and friends to lock down the hometown save.
The Lopes now return to Phoenix for 10 straight home games, a stretch Bannister sees as an opportunity to build on the breakthrough weekend.
“That’s awesome, I’m happy for that,” Bannister said. “It’s a nice chance to keep it rolling and playing one pitch at a time.”
GCU hosts Arizona State, UNLV, Air Force, Kansas State, BYU and Arizona in a 10-game homestand that begins on Tuesday at 6 p.m.