Series-finale win ties GCU for 1st at WAC midpoint

Sunday, April 13

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

22-13, 9-3

Utah Valley

24-12, 9-3

Utah Valley

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Jack Gilday

4/13/2025 5:08:00 PM | Baseball, Paul Coro

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Higginbottom pitches well in 1st start; Sanders delivers 1st 4-hit game

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon baseball is not accustomed to playing catch up in the WAC standings and rarely do the Lopes need to do so in games or pitch counts.

So when GCU needed a win Sunday to return to a first-place conference tie, the Lopes handed strike-throwing Elijah Higginbottom his first start to stay ahead in counts and ultimately stay ahead of Utah Valley for a 10-4 win Sunday at GCU Ballpark.

Higginbottom gave a quality five-inning start that set up the Lopes (22-13, 9-3 WAC) to break the game open late with the help of sophomore second baseman Troy Sanders' first career four-hit game and junior shortstop Emilio Barreras' three-RBI game marking his first series back from a month-long injury.

"We wanted to be aggressive," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said of the mound approach. "We talked about that last night with the group that, win or lose, we want to set the tone on the mound by being aggressive in the strike zone early. He went out in the first and second (innings), and (Higginbottom) was controlling counts. He was controlling the tempo of the game and the time of possession, and it just led to us to being able to do some things offensively and get some momentum."

After Wallis' postgame talk Saturday, Higginbottom was taking care of clubhouse tasks when the 10:45 p.m. text came that the junior right-hander would be receiving his first start Sunday. Higginbottom had the same smile after Sunday, following five innings with two earned run, no walks and five strikeouts.

Tempe, AZ - April 13th, 2025, GCU Baseball defeats Utah Valley 10-4 in the final game of the series at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark. (Photo by: Jack Gilday/GCU).

Tempe, AZ - April 13th, 2025, GCU Baseball defeats Utah Valley 10-4 in the final game of the series at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark. (Photo by: Jack Gilday/GCU).

Of his career-high 71 pitches, Higginbottom threw 51 strikes. The only Utah Valley damage came on a pair of solo home runs in the fourth inning and when he lasted two batters in the sixth inning.

"I was excited just to go out there and give it my best shot," Higginbottom said. "I knew they were going to be swinging, and I was just not going to give them any free passes. Make them earn everything. That was my game plan, and it worked pretty well.

"If they're not on base, (a home run) is whatever. If you get a bomb off me, whatever, I'll move on. Next pitch. It doesn't really matter. With traffic, it's a little harder to pitch sometimes."

The Lopes took a one-run lead three times before busting the game open in the seventh and eighth innings.

Sanders' double on a 1-2 pitch set up Barreras' first RBI on a two-on, one-out grounder.

Tempe, AZ - April 13th, 2025, GCU Baseball defeats Utah Valley 10-4 in the final game of the series at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark. (Photo by: Jack Gilday/GCU).

"Emilio set the tone," Wallis said. "He's our heartbeat. We talked about second and third and fewer than two (outs), your job's not necessarily to hit a double. It's to put the ball in play and make sure we get on the scoreboard. He got a pitch he could handle, and he just played pepper with the middle of the field and got us on the board. It was our first lead in the series, and it kind of relaxed everybody in the dugout a little bit."

Utah Valley (24-12, 9-3 WAC) tied the game on solo home runs in the fourth and the sixth inning. Again, situation hitting had put GCU ahead 2-1 on a RBI sacrifice fly by sophomore first baseman Cannon Peery. It scored sophomore Carson Ohland, who was running for junior Zach Yorke after he was ejected following a double.

After Lopes junior reliever Walter Quinn escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth, Peery put GCU ahead 3-2 with a RBI double in the sixth inning. The Lopes never trailed again to avoid being swept for the first time since February 2021 vs. Oregon State.

Three hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly stretched the Lopes lead to 6-2 in the seventh inning, when Sanders sparked the rally again with a one-out single.

Tempe, AZ - April 13th, 2025, GCU Baseball defeats Utah Valley 10-4 in the final game of the series at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark. (Photo by: Jack Gilday/GCU).

Topping his 4-for-4 game, Sanders' RBI single put GCU ahead 7-2 before Barreras and senior third baseman Eli Paton ripped back-to-back home runs for a 10-2 advantage. Paton now shares the team home run lead with senior Micahel Diaz at eight.

GCU went 6 for 13 with runners on base as part of its 12-hit game, more hits than it had in the first two series games combined (11) against Utah Valley. The Lopes had swept California Baptist with .393 hitting on the previous weekend.

"Every conference game is huge, but this one meant a lot more," said Sanders, who is now hitting .281. "I'm glad we could salvage this one, and hopefully we can keep it going.

"We've got five weeks to go to bounce back, and that's exactly what we did."

With Sacramento State falling to 8-4 on Sunday, GCU and Utah Valley are tied for first place in the WAC at 9-3 midway through the conference season.

Tempe, AZ - April 13th, 2025, GCU Baseball defeats Utah Valley 10-4 in the final game of the series at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark. (Photo by: Jack Gilday/GCU).

Often a closer with seven saves, Quinn more than doubled his season-high pitch count Sunday to earn his second win with an 80-pitch, 3 1/3-inning outing.

"It was a great response by the team and some great individual performances, but it started on the mound with Higginbottom just going and competing and then Walter Quinn," Wallis said. "We asked him to do something that he really hadn't done all year, which was coming in the sixth inning. We felt like we needed a stop there. We needed to stop their momentum and he did it."

GCU plays at No. 24 Arizona at 6 p.m. Tuesday in search of its fifth consecutive victory in the head-to-head series. The Lopes defeated the Wildcats 11-5 at GCU Ballpark on April 1, when Ohland and Yorke each knocked in three runs. Arizona (25-10) won a series this weekend against Oklahoma State with a staff 2.33 ERA against the Cowboys.