GCU opens conference play with CSU Bakersfield

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 - SUNDAY, MARCH 12
CSU BAKERSFIELD ROADRUNNERS 11-5 (0-0 WAC) SERIES RELEASE	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES 6-13 (0-0 WAC) SERIES RELEASE

GAME ONE	GAME TWO	GAME THREE
Friday, 7 p.m. MST	Saturday, 2 p.m. MST	Sunday, 12 p.m. MST
RHP Max Carter (3-0, 3.51) vs.	RHP Mahlik Jones (1-2, 4.34) vs.	RHP Isaiah Moten (2-1, 3.48) vs.
RHP Jake Wong (2-1, 1.80)	LHP Jake Repavich (1-2, 3.96)	TBA
Stats \| W AC Digital Network	Stats \| GCU.tv	Stats \| GCU.tv

The Grand Canyon baseball team returns to Brazell Stadium after a seven-game road trip to open up Western Athletic Conference play. The Lopes will welcome in the club with the conference's best non-conference record, CSU Bakersfield, for a three-game WAC series beginning on Friday night. GCU will look to quiet two of the nation's top hitters, Ryan Grotjohn and Andrew Penner, who rank third and ninth, respectively, in the nation in batting average.

GCU will look forward to playing in the friendly confines of Brazell Stadium after playing more than twice as many road games (13) as home games (6) to date. At home this season, the Lopes are 3-3 including an impressive season-opening series victory over No. 22 Oklahoma State. Conversely, the Roadrunners have played all but four of their 16 games at home thus far.

Since returning to the conference in 2013, GCU is 6-3 in WAC-opening series and has won its last two WAC openers.

When the two teams met last season, Grand Canyon swept a three-game series from the Roadrunners in Bakersfield. GCU scored nine runs in each contest. The Lopes used a three-homer game in the opener, a four-hit game from Austin Bull in the middle game and a four-RBI, two-double performance from Zach Malis in the finale.

Grand Canyon comes into this weekend's series off of a mid-week series split in Albuquerque, N.M. against New Mexico. The Lopes -- behind a season-best 14-hit effort -- claimed Tuesday's opener 6-1, limiting the powerful Lobo offense to just one run on four hits. New Mexico's bats awakened in Wednesday's finale, however, as the Lobos scored 22 runs to force a split of the two-game series.

CSU Bakersfield has had a light schedule of late, playing just four games in the last 16 days. In a mid-week contest at home, the Roadrunners scored eight two-out runs to defeat Nebraska 8-6. Over the weekend, CSUB took a three-game series from UC Riverside on the road. Despite winning the opener and the finale, the Roadrunners were outscored in the series after losing the middle game 11-2.

All three games will air on GCU.tv with Friday's opener also airing in the WAC Digital Network.

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

Austin Bull

Zach Malis

Jake Repavich

Jake Wong

Grand Canyon University Athletics