PHOENIX โ Grand Canyon was enjoying the past few weeks on its baseball field until the hottest Pac-12 team showed up Tuesday.
When the sun finally fell behind the left-field wall, Arizona had scored 10 runs on seven hits and three errors in three innings on its way to a 16-1 non-conference rout of GCU at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark before 2,819 fans.
Only GCU's home opener against TCU, the first game in the renovated stadium, had a larger home crowd in program history with 3,749.
UA (20-11) ended GCU's eight-game home winning streak, sparked by sophomore third baseman Nick Quintana's first-inning, three-run homer.
It was Quintana's sixth home run in nine games. He homered again in the eighth, a solo blast over the left-field wall. He also doubled, as the Wildcats (20-11), who just took a series from No. 4 Oregon State, won for the 10th time in 12 games.
This wasn't the way GCU coach Andy Stankiewicz wanted his next game to go after he picked up his 200th career win with the Antelopes last week to close a three-game sweep of Utah Valley.
"This is a big moment for us," Stankiewicz said. "If we want to get a chance to be formidable around the country, we need to be more competitive. That's the part that stings.
"We didn't really show up tonight."
GCU used nine pitchers against UA. Nick Hull and Mike Lundin combined to throw 81 pitches in the first three innings.
Stankiewicz looked around the stadium in amazement to see a near full house, but by the third inning, the game had gotten away from his Antelopes.
"I told the guys, 'Fans and students are here to watch us play,' but we just didn't show up," he said. "That part bothers me, because I love the stadium, we love the fan support we get. We need to give them a show. We can't not be in the game after the first three innings."
Meanwhile, UA right-hander Juan Aguilera was impressive in only his third start. He allowed three hits through the first four innings, before giving up hits to Tyler Wyatt and Griffin Barnes to start the fifth. He gave up his first run with one out in the fifth on Austin Bull's single. He struck out four and walked none in five innings of work.
Freshman right-hander Jonathan Guardado gave up just two hits in three innings of relief for the Wildcats. And former Glendale Deer Valley pitcher Ryan Gowens finished it with a one-two-three ninth.
