For the first two rounds of the National Club Baseball Association Division 2 World Series, the Grand Canyon University Club Baseball Division 2 team kept waiting for a test that never came.
 
For its semifinal game, the test was just that: waiting.
 
The wait – from consistent heavy rain and thunderstorms that blanketed the city of Alton, Illinois Monday, delaying the first pitch for nearly eleven hours – proved worth it as the top-seeded Lopes defeated 3^rd-seeded Grand Valley State University (Michigan), 6-3, to advance to Tuesday's championship game. Because of the delays, the Lopes' championship opponent wasn't determined until Tuesday morning when 5^th-seeded State University of New York-Brockport completed a two-game sweep of No. 2 University of South Carolina with a 2-1 win. It will be the second time in the last four days that the Lopes and Golden Eagles will face off against each other – this time in a "winner-take-all" title matchup at 5PM (Arizona time) today.
 
The Lopes were plenty rested when they woke up Monday for their semifinal matchup because they'd taken care of business in the first two rounds, dispatching 8^th-seeded Colorado State University-Pueblo, 13-0 in Friday's opener before sending Brockport to the elimination bracket with a 9-2 victory Saturday evening. That gave GCU the day off Sunday while the other teams whittled down the field. The Lopes didn't need extra time but got it, anyway, when torrential rain stopped Monday morning's first matchup between Brockport and USC in the middle of the 1^st inning. The weather was so severe that the teams weren't given a new projected start time for several hours. The SUNY-USC game finally resumed around sunset, and the Lopes and Lakers commenced their game a little before 9PM Arizona time following SUNY's 15-7 win.
 
Long delays usually tax the pitchers more than the hitters, but on this night, both starting pitchers – GCU's Brock Diano and GVSU's Luke Richards – were in control, pitching two-hit shutouts for the first three innings. When Richards finally flinched in the 4^th inning, GCU was ready. Three straight singles began the inning, then a bases-loaded walk, an RBI fielder's choice and then a two-out GVSU throwing error staked the Lopes to a 4-0 lead. Two more unearned Lopes' runs crossed the plate in the 6^th (without a hit), which the Lopes needed when Diano finally ran out of gas in the 7^th, and was chased by a Jacob Martin triple that brought the Lakers back within three. Grand Valley made Lopes' reliever Owen Schubert work for it, but the sophomore earned the save by retiring the only two hitters he faced, never allowing the tying run to step to the plate. Landon Hagenow's 3-for-3 night at the plate (scoring a run and knocking another one in) helped ensure that Diano's 6 1/3 innings of four-hit, eight-strikeout ball earned him his first-ever nationals win.
 
The only team standing between the Lopes (28-1 overall, 12-0 Pacific Region South) and their second national championship in four years is revenge-minded Brockport, who rebounded from the 9-2 loss Friday to GCU with three straight victories, including a 2-1 nailbiter this morning to oust 2^nd-seeded South Carolina. The 5^th-seeded Golden Eagles (20-5 overall, 10-2 New England Region West) have made the most of their first trip to nationals since 2015 and are seeking their first-ever national title. Fans can follow the game via stream or live stats here.