It took the darlings of the 2017 National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) Division I World Series to silence the bats of the current 2018 darlings. At least temporarily.
After scoring 21 runs in their first 2 tournament games, the Grand Canyon University Club Baseball team found themselves on the wrong end of a historic pitching performance as defending national champion East Carolina University staved off elimination with a 3-1 win over the Lopes Tuesday afternoon in the NCBA World Series Semifinals at Ting Stadium in Holly Springs, North Carolina. It's the first loss of the double-elimination tournament for the 4th-seeded Lopes, and sends the two teams to an elimination semifinal game against each other Wednesday. The winner of that game heads to Thursday's championship game, while the loser is eliminated from the tournament.
The Lopes spent the majority of their first two tournament matchups experiencing nothing but good omens. Tuesday afternoon, while they were never out of the game, the bad omens were all around.
The crowd at the game, which had been somewhat neutral in GCU's first two games against out-of-state teams? Overwhelmingly partisan for East Carolina, a team that traveled just over an hour to get to Ting Stadium from their home in Greenville, North Carolina.
East Carolina's Tyler Sholar, the hero of last year's championship run by scoring the game-winner in extra innings of the championship game, but who came into today's game hitless in his first 9 at-bats? Singled on the first pitch he saw in the top of the 1st inning.
GCU leadoff hitter Taylor Brooks, who had started off Game 1 with a homer and Game 2 with a double to give the Lopes the lead each time? Never reached base Tuesday in four at-bats.
Those were omens, though, that came and went throughout the game. The biggest omen stood 60 feet and six inches away from the Lopes' hitters every time they came to the plate, and never wavered. His name? Logan Walden.
The 5th-year senior grew up two hours away from Ting Stadium in Belmont, North Carolina, and came into the tournament expecting to set the tone for the Pirates' quest for their second straight national title as their Game 1 starter. However, his debut last Friday afternoon against 7th-seeded Penn State University was brief as he lasted just 2/3 of an inning before allowing 5 earned runs in an 8-7 ECU loss that sent the champs to the losers' bracket.
Tuesday, Walden didn't just produce the pitching performance his team expected out of him four days earlier. He produced an even greater one that tournament officials will talk about for years to come.
It wasn't a no-hitter. In fact, that threat ended in the 2nd inning when GCU's Justin Horton lined a single to right field with 2 out. But if there was an out retired by the Pirates in the game, it rarely came via a ball in play. Walden struck out the last 2 hitters to face him in the first, then struck out the side in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings. The string of 12 straight outs recorded via strikeout finally ended in the 5th when the Lopes' David Macias hit a groundout to shortstop. It also scored the Lopes' lone run of the day, one they had to work for by using a walk, Pirates' fielding error, and what they've become famous for in this tournament-a double steal-to get runners in scoring position before Macias produced the run batted in.
By that time, Walden already had 12 strikeouts, but the head coaches in both dugouts had to be looking at another Walden stat: his pitch count. He'd already thrown 93 pitches in five innings, so conventional wisdom dictated that he'd likely be tiring quickly, which bode well for a Lopes' offense that had struck fear in the hearts of the other teams in the tournament so far. Nevertheless, the 6th inning was more of the same. Walden struck out the side, and walked off the mound with 118 pitches under his belt.
What was worse for the Lopes was that Walden's performance overshadowed a pretty masterful pitching effort by their own starter, Austin Grijalva. Like his counterpart, the senior from Nogales didn't allow an earned run through the first five innings. Only an overthrow on a double-play ball that would've ended the inning in the 3rd allowed the Pirates to get on the board, and Grijalva had allowed just a single hit while striking out five ECU batters. Grijalva also took a liner in the backside off the bat of ECU's Coleman Barnacascel to lead off the 5th inning, and not only recovered to make the out at first, but stayed in the game.
Finally in the 7th inning, one starting pitcher showed signs of tiring, but it wasn't the pitcher you'd expect. Grijalva gave up another unearned run to the Pirates in the 6th on an error, two wild pitches and a passed ball to give ECU a 2-1 lead, then in the 7th, gave up the 3rd run on a walk, single, hit batter and a sacrifice fly before heading to the showers. Meanwhile, in the bottom of the frame, Macias became the last of the nine Lopes' hitters to suffer a strikeout at the hands of Walden, and Walden added another victim beyond that for 17 Ks and a staggering 138 pitches.
He had to be done now, didn't he?
Nope. Walden faced the top of the Lopes' batting order in the bottom of the 8th, striking out two of them, and sending them down in order. 19 strikeouts. A mind-blowing 154 pitches. And likely an ice bucket back in the locker room crying out to be used for Walden's right shoulder.
Yet with all of the fanfare, the sleeping giant that was the Lopes' offense only needed a quick rally to get even, since they only trailed, 3-1, heading to the 9th inning. Lopes' reliever Josh Gainer made sure the Lopes stayed within range by retiring the Pirates' hitters in order in the top of the frame. Now all eyes turned to the ECU dugout to see who would take the hill in the bottom of the 9th. "Rubber arm" and all, Walden didn't hesitate, and took his spot on the hill for warmup throws.
The Lopes weren't about to go quietly. Reid Magnaghi led off the inning falling behind with a 1-2 count, then took two pitches out of the zone and fouled off the next two before working a walk out of the at-bat. Walden got ahead of Lopes' shortstop Michael Doty in similar fashion, but the senior worked the count to full before becoming the 20th victim on a called 3rd strike. Horton, the owner of the lone GCU hit, stepped up and fouled two of the first three pitches he saw out of play, then came up empty on his next swing. That meant that all that stood between Walden and an incredible complete-game win was GCU's Kadin Breeze, who'd been a defensive replacement in the top of the 9th, and stepped to the plate for his first at-bat of the tournament. Like his predecessors in the inning, Breeze stayed patient, taking the first two pitches out of the strike zone. He then swung at the next pitch and missed, but that allowed Magnaghi to steal 2nd base to add to the pressure around Walden. Finally, the gas tank hit empty as Walden's next two pitches weren't close, and Pirates' Head Coach Ben Fox headed to the mound with a hook. The relief of seeing Walden finally being replaced came too late for GCU, though. Michael Gosney came in to pitch, and promptly added to the suspense by plunking the Lopes' Anthony Alamillo to put the tying run on base, but got Macias to fly out to left field on the first pitch to end the game.
Walden's closing line? 8 2/3 innings, an unearned run on one hit, 6 walks, 21 strikeouts, and 177 pitches thrown in upping his season record to 8-1. He drew a rousing ovation from both sides of the Ting Stadium crowd, and admiration from both teams.
"We just kind of have to tip our hats to a very good pitching performance," said Lopes' Head Coach Rich Warnol. "He was just keeping the ball away, and had a fast ball that we just didn't have an answer for. I'm just proud of our guys that they kept fighting, since as good as the guy was, we still had a chance to tie or win it at the end."
On any other day, Grijalva's line of 6 2/3 innings, 3 hits, 3 runs (only one earned), four walks and five strikeouts could've set the Lopes up for a berth in the championship game of their first-ever NCBA World Series. On this day, it would force Lopes' fans to wait for that celebration, since the 4th-seeded Lopes and 2nd-seeded Pirates will now play each other again tomorrow to see who that championship game berth will go to.
Time for first pitch tomorrow is still to be determined, since it will be another 11:45 am (Arizona time) start if there is another Wednesday elimination semifinal game between Penn State and top-seeded Oregon, or will start at 4 pm if PSU eliminates the top-seeded Ducks with a win in their semifinal matchup tonight. While there's no live video coverage of the tournament, the NCBA will provide live stats and a live radio broadcast of each game on its website.
