MESA, Ariz. — Senior Adam Wheaton took a shutout into the sixth inning and Lamar University pushed the 2022 WAC regular season champions to the brink before Grand Canyon rallied for a 4-3 walk off win Thursday evening at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.
Wheaton put together one of his strongest performances of the season allowing just one earned run on five hits in 7.1 innings pitched. He also finished the game with three strikeouts. Senior Jack Dallas pitched the final 1.1 allowing one run on three hits but suffered his first loss of the season (4-1).
GCU’s Nick Hull was also strong going 7.0 innings allowing two runs – one earned – on five hits with six strikeouts, with a walk. The starting duo didn’t allow a run to cross the plate until the bottom of the sixth inning.
LU (37-20) finished the night with three runs on five hits but was hurt defensively by four errors. The ‘Lopes scored four runs on eight hits with two costly errors. Five different Cardinals recorded a hit Thursday with Harper recording the lone RBI for LU.
The ‘Lopes broke through first with an unearned run in their half of the sixth inning. A ball hit down the first baseline off the bat of Juan Colato turned into two bases following an error. After moving over to third Colato scored the game’s first run on a single from Tayler Aguilar. GCU tacked on a second unearned run in the inning to take a 2-0 leading into the seventh.
The bottom half of the sixth woke up the offense for LU as the Cardinals responded with two runs in the top half of the next inning. With runners at first and second and two outs, the Cardinals got a single up the middle from Kemp scoring Blankenship. A wild pitch allowed runners to get to second and third, and Ethan Ruiz was then able to reach on an error which allowed Banks to score.
The Cardinals grabbed their first lead of the game on a passed ball in the next inning, which allowed Bermudez – who led off the inning by reaching on an error where he advanced to second. Unfortunately, the ‘Lopes managed to tie the game back up in their half of the eighth with a run on three hits with the score coming with two outs in the inning.
The game was still tied heading into the bottom of the ninth and LU starting the inning by getting first batter out. With two outs and runners still at first and second, Colato delivered the game-winning hit scoring Jonny Weaver.
The Cardinals return to Hohokam Stadium Friday to face No. 4 (Southwest Division) seed Abilene Christian at noon (2 p.m. Central time). Big Red won the season series over Abilene, 4-2.