GCU heads to San Francisco for first road game

Tuesday, March 8 - 8 p.m. MT
	RHP Tyler Wyatt 0-1, 9.39 ERA	RHP Joey Steele 0-0, 10.12 ERA
www.usfstats.com

PHOENIX -- Hot off the best offensive performance of the season, the Grand Canyon baseball team will hit the road for the first time in 2016 with a one-game swing to play the University of San Francisco. The game, which was originally scheduled to be played on USF's campus, will now be played at Santa Clara University's Stephen Schott Stadium due to ongoing rennovations at San Francisco's facilities. First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. MT.

LAST TIME OUT
After dropping the series opener to Omaha, the Lopes used back-to-back victories including a 12-4 win in the finale to claim a three-game series against University of Nebraska-Omaha at Brazell Stadium. The Lopes have won four of their last five games.

GCU was unable to get much going offensively in the opener off of Omaha's ace, Tyler Fox. The Lopes cut the deficit to two runs late, but the Mavericks scored three in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

The Lopes bounced back in Game 2 behind a late grand slam from Paul Panaccione. GCU starter Ethan Evanko allowed three early runs but settled down to pitch three scoreless frames to end his day. Grand Canyon scored five runs in the eighth, including four on Panaccione's grand slam.

In the rubber match, the Lopes set season-highs of 12 runs and 14 hits to cruise to a win over Omaha. Garrison Schwartz and Preston Pavlica led the Lopes offensively with four and three-hit days, respectively. Pavlica was named the WAC Hitter of the Week for his performance in his first two career starts.

SERIES HISTORY
The Lopes and Dons will meet for the first time.

PITCHING PREVIEW
Tyler Wyatt will get his third start against the Dons after starting the final game in the Lopes' first two four-game weekends. Wyatt is coming off of a four-inning start vs. Saint Mary's, limiting the Gaels to five hits and two runs.

The Dons will start RHP Joey Steele, a 6-2 freshman. Steele has pitched in three games for San Francisco, going a maximum of 1.1 innings. He has given up three earned runs in 2.2 innings of work on the 2016 season.

SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco has limped out to a 2-11 start following last year's 23-31 record. The Dons lost their first seven games of the season before beating Hawai'i and UC Davis. Despite the 11 losses, USF has had its fair share of close calls, losing four of its games by a single run. The Dons nearly pulled off an upset victory at No. 12 California, but lost to the Golden Bears 5-4. In a three-game series at Cal Poly, GCU's opponent this weekend, the Mustangs lost two of the three games by a single run. The Dons came into 2016 picked to finish eighth in the West Coast Conference and had no All-WCC picks.

CF Matt Sinatro (.400), LF/DH Blake Valley (.357), 2B Aaron Ping (.333) and OF Harrison Bruce (.306) lead San Francisco's offensive charge including a team-high 11 RBIs from Valley. The Dons have struggled as a pitching staff with a 6.44 ERA. USF has given up 154 hits in 110.1 innings.

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Players Mentioned

Austin Bull

Ethan Evanko

Krysthian Leal

Paul Panaccione

Preston Pavlica

Jorge Perez

Jake Repavich

Garrison Schwartz

Tyler Wyatt

Grand Canyon University Athletics