Sophomores steal headlines in series clincher

Saturday, April 26

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

26-16, 12-5

UT Arlington

13-26, 5-9

UT Arlington

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Sebastian Molinar

4/26/2025 10:05:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Ahern earns 6th win; Peery collects 3 hits, including home run

By: Josh Hauser

Grand Canyon sophomore pitcher Garrett Ahern delivered a dominant start and fellow sophomore Cannon Peery sparked the offense as the Lopes rolled to a 7-2 victory to clinch the series over UT Arlington on Saturday night at GCU Ballpark.

With wins on Friday and Saturday, the Lopes (26-16, 12-5 WAC) got back in the win column for WAC series and maintain pace with conference co-leader Utah Valley, which won again on Saturday.

Ahern improved to 6-2 on the season, matching his career high of seven innings that he set last week. He allowed just two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks.

"It started on the mound," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "Garrett Ahern was just outstanding. He was working quick. I think he was winning counts. He was mostly two or three strikes, getting ahead and then finishing off hitters. They got two solo home runs. He wasn't giving up free passes. So solo home runs, we talk about how those don't beat you. He did a great job."

GCU took its first lead in the fourth inning with back-to-back, two-out RBI singles from senior third baseman Eli Paton and sophomore second baseman Troy Sanders. The Lopes built a 2-1 lead exiting the fourth after the Mavericks got on the scoreboard with a leadoff home run earlier in the inning.

The Lopes used the long ball in the fifth to extend their lead, with graduate center fielder Eddy Pelc hitting a two-run no-doubter to right field, and Peery hitting a line-drive homer to left field.

"I had a feeling they were going to spin me one early, so I was sitting on it," Peery said. "I just caught it out front and put a good swing on it. I think I've just been seeing the ball a lot better, slowing the game down and locking in on every pitch."

Peery finished 3 for 4 with two runs and an RBI. He leads the Lopes in WAC play with a .417 batting average and .525 on-base percentage, and also leads GCU in April with marks of .396 and .500, respectively.

GCU put runs on the board for a third consecutive inning with a two-run sixth. Paton and Sanders again singled consecutively and scored on balls put in play by sophomore catcher Marcus Galvan and junior right fielder Josh Wakefield.

After Ahern's seven innings, junior reliever Elijah Higginbottom finished the job for the second straight night. He tossed two shutout frames, striking out two.

The Lopes will go for the series sweep Sunday at 12 p.m.

"We know we're in a pennant chase," Wallis said. "It's time for playoff mode, right? There's no game that you can just come in and say, 'Well, it's just a Sunday. We've won the series.' Especially at this point in the year, we're playing every game with some intensity to just go and win innings and win that individual ball game and then worry about the standings and the rankings and all that later."