Two local teams squared off in the Tucson regional of the NCAA baseball postseason with GCU beating Arizona 9-4 on Friday night.
It was a bit of a surprise as Arizona – the regional host – was coming off a Pac-12 regular season championship and tournament title last week. The fourth-seeded GCU – the top seeded WAC team in the WAC tournament – dropped two straight in the conference tournament and earned a postseason bid because Tarleton State won the WAC tournament but is on postseason probation as they make the jump to Division I.
That didn’t matter for the Lopes, who beat Arizona in two of its three match-ups this regular season.
WAC Player of the Year Tyler Wilson led the game off with a home run, and the Lopes struck gi in the sixth inning with running thanks to a Eddy Pelc double. Zach Yorke brought in two more runs in the ninth with a two-run double to extend the lead.
Lopes sophomore Grant Richardson threw six innings, giving up four runs, but setting up the Lopes bullpen to bridge the gap to the end of the game.
The fourth-seeded Lopes will face off against West Virginia in the 1-0 game on Saturday, and Arizona will face an elimination game against No. 2 seed Dallas Baptist.
Jordan Hamm
