Powered by a masterful pitching performance from Gordon Wend and timely hitting from the back end of the batting order, the Grand Canyon University Club Baseball team made the most of its first game at the National Club Baseball Association Division 1 World Series, knocking off 2^nd-seeded Iowa State University, 5-2, Friday afternoon in Alton, Illinois. The victory advances the 7^th-seeded Lopes to a second-round showdown with the defending national champions, 6^th-seeded Penn State University, Sunday afternoon.
 
Seven runs in a game wouldn't normally suggest a pitchers' duel, but that's what Friday's game became. Wend and Cyclones' starting pitcher Zachary Nelson were on point nearly the entire game – as evidenced by both going the nine-inning distance without walking a single hitter. Nelson also didn't allow the Lopes to put a runner in scoring position in six of the nine innings, and limited GCU's two best hitters, Santiago Zuniga and Kyo Ohsato, to one hit each. However,. after Ohsato's lone hit – an RBI double in the 3^rd inning to bring home Jonah Zembik – put the Lopes on the scoreboard, Nelson's undoing was the 4^th inning. In danger of wasting an Arturo Lopez, Jr. single, the Lopes got three straight two-out singles in the 4^th from Brady Steenson, Rhys Davis and Zembik, as well as a Zuniga double to plate four runs and stake the Lopes to a 5-1 lead.
 

GCU's offense managed just two hits the rest of the way, but Wend didn't need them. Unless the Cyclones led off the inning with a hit, such as Liam McGee's 2^nd-inning solo homer and a single to start the 4^th inning that came around to score on a double play, Wend was an unsolvable riddle. Wend (4-1) struck out a season-high 12 Cyclones' hitters - throwing just 31 of his 114 pitches out of the strike zone - and scattered six ISU hits in going the nine-inning distance. Meanwhile, the Lopes' 10-hit attack was powered by the lower third of the batting order as the Steenson/Davis/Zembik trio went a combined 6-for-12, knocking in two runs and scoring four runs themselves.
 













The Lopes (20-12 overall, 12-3 SoPac South) earned the benefit of an extra day's rest with the win and moved within one victory of the semifinal round. The Lopes will try to snap the 11-game winning streak of the Nittany Lions (19-5 overall, 11-1 North Atlantic West) Sunday afternoon at 12:45PM Arizona time. Penn State – in search of its second straight national title (and 4^th overall) - earned their berth in the 2^nd-round matchup courtesy of a 5-1 opening-round upset of the 3^rd-seeded University of Michigan Friday. The double-elimination tournament winds its way towards crowning a champion next Thursday, May 30.