Lopes host Cal Poly in early-season showdown

Friday, March 11 - 7 p.m.
	Jorge Perez 0-2, 7.80 ERA	Kyle Smith 1-1, 3.04 ERA
KXXT 1010 AM / (Listen online) www.gcustats.com
Saturday, March 12 - 7 p.m.
	Ethan Evanko 1-1, 5.84 ERA	Cam Schneider 1-0, 5.63 ERA
KXXT 1010 AM / (Listen online) www.gcustats.com
Sunday, March 13 - 12 p.m.
	Jake Repavich 2-0, 1.35 ERA	Erich Eulmen 2-0, 2.70 ERA
KXXT 1010 AM / (Listen online) www.gcustats.com

PHOENIX -- Winners of three straight, the Grand Canyon baseball team returns to Brazell Stadium for a three-game weekend series with Cal Poly. The Lopes are amid a long stretch of home games, starting the season with 16 of their first 17 games in Phoenix. The Mustangs, on the other hand, are in the beginning stretch of a 10-game road trip. Friday and Saturday's games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. first pitch with the series finale set for noon on Sunday. All three games in the series will be aired on KXXT 1010 AM with Michael Potter.

LAST TIME OUT
The Lopes had their first mid-week game of the season when they traveled to Santa Clara to take on San Francisco on Tuesday, Cal Poly's opponent last weekend. GCU tallied four runs in the first two innings and hung on for a one-run victory over the Dons. Behind 4.0 innings from Tyler Wyatt, Cameron Brendel picked up the win in relief and Mick Vorhof logged his third save. Thomas Lerouge picked up a pair of hits including a triple and scored twice.

Last weekend, GCU claimed two of three games from the University of Nebraska-Omaha at Brazell Stadium. 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. Garrison Schwartz and Preston Pavlica led the Lopes in the finale 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
GCU leads the all-time series 3-0 with all three games taking place in San Luis Obispo last season. Following the three wins last year, Grand Canyon improved to 7-0.

PITCHING PREVIEW
The Lopes will go with the same rotation as last weekend with Jorge Perez, Ethan Evanko and Jake Repavich getting the starts. Evanko and Repavich are both coming off of victories last weekend with both left-handers throwing 6.0 innings. Repavich (1.35) and Evanko (5.84) are the team leaders among pitchers with qualifying ERAs.

Cal Poly will start LHP Kyle Smith (1-1, 3.04 ERA), RHP Cam Schneider (1-0, 5.63 ERA) and RHP Erich Uelmen (2-0, 2.70 ERA). Smith is coming off of an impressive outing of 8.0 innings, three hits and one run. Schneider's ERA spiked to 5.40 after allowing three runs in 5.0 innings vs. San Francisco last weekend. Uelmen started the Mustang's Tuesday matchup at Pepperdine, allowing three earned runs on three hits in just 0.1 innings.

SCOUTING CAL POLY
Cal Poly is off to a hot start in 2016. Two of the Mustangs' more impressive wins have come against UCLA and Michigan, teams both ranking in the top 25. Cal Poly is coming off of a 12-4 setback at the hands of Pepperdine this week. The Mustangs swept Pacific and San Francisco.

The Mustang's .289 average ranks second in the Big West Conference while their staff's 4.00 ERA is sixth.

First baseman Brett Barbier leads the team with a .426 average (20-for-47) while outfielder John Schuknecht has 18 RBIs.

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Players Mentioned

Cameron Brendel

Ethan Evanko

Tom Lerouge

Preston Pavlica

Jorge Perez

Jake Repavich

Garrison Schwartz

Mick Vorhof

Tyler Wyatt

Grand Canyon University Athletics