Baseball opens 2017 season with No. 22 Oklahoma State

FRIDAY, FEB. 17 - SUNDAY, FEB. 19
OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS 0-0 (0-0 BIG 12) SERIES RELEASE	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES 0-0 (0-0 WAC) SERIES RELEASE

GAME ONE	GAME TWO	GAME THREE
Friday, 7 p.m.	Saturday, 7 p.m.	Sunday, 1 p.m.
RHP Tyler Buffett (0-0, 0.00) vs.	RHP Jensen Elliott (0-0, 0.00) vs.	LHP Carson Teel (0-0, 0.00) vs.
RHP Jake Wong (0-0, 0.00)	RHP Degan Harte (0-0, 0.00)	LHP Jake Repavich (0-0, 0.00)
Stats \| GCU.tv	Stats CW6, ESPN 3, GCU.tv	Stats \| GCU.tv

The Grand Canyon baseball program opens its 67th season of baseball and 12th at the NCAA Division I level when it plays host to No. 22 Oklahoma State this weekend. Head coach Andy Stankiewicz begins his sixth season at the helm. The Lopes continue a stretch of playing their season opener at home, having done so in 19 of the last 20 seasons.

GCU finished the 2016 campaign with a 25-28-1 overall record and a 13-14 conference record. The Lopes were the youngest team in the WAC in terms of games started and at bats by underclassmen. At times, the Lopes would feature freshmen or sophomores in eight of the nine spots on the lineup card. Grand Canyon looks to return to the top of the WAC standings with the majority of its offense, defense and pitching returning to the field for 2017. For a complete season preview, click here.

In the opposing dugout, the Oklahoma State Cowboys are coming off of a trip to Omaha a year ago. However, the Cowboys have some big shoes to fill if they plan on punching a return trip to the College World Series this year, losing their top three hitters, both middle infielders, their catcher and their ace on the mound. The nation's coaches have confidence that Oklahoma State will be right back in the national conversation, picking them 22nd in the USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll.

For the first time ever, all home baseball games will be streamed live online for free via GCU.tv. All three games in this series will be broadcasted on the platform. Additionally, Saturday's game will be televised on CW6 in the Phoenix metro area, as well as globally on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app. Saturday's broadcast team includes Barry Buetel (play-by-play), Mike Rooney (analysis) and Kate Longworth (reporter). Fletcher Like will handle the play-by-play duties for Friday's and Sunday's games, being joined by Alex Larson for the opener and Taylor Bond for the series finale.

For more news and notes, click here for the 2017 GCU Baseball Media Guide and click here for the series release.

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Players Mentioned

Degan Harte

Jake Repavich

Jake Wong

Grand Canyon University Athletics