Completed Event: Baseball at Stanford on May 9, 2025 , Win , 4, to, 3
Baseball
at Stanford
W 4-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, March 23
Phoenix, Ariz.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
vs
Chicago State
Photo by: Takashi Sato
Title defense begins with Chicago State
3/23/2018 9:54:00 AM | Baseball
GCU opens conference play Friday
Phoenix, Ariz.  • Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark |
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| Chicago State Cougars (4-13, 0-0Â WAC)
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Grand Canyon Lopes (7-13, 0-0Â WAC) GAME NOTES |
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| GAME 1  • Friday, March 23 • 6 p.m. MST GCU.tv • Live Stats • WAC Digital Network RHP [FR] Dylan Cumming (1-2, 5.40)  vs.  RHP [JR] Jake Wong (2-1, 2.02) |
| GAME 2  • Saturday, March 24 • 2 p.m. MST GCU.tv • Live Stats • WAC Digital Network RHP [JR] Edward Kang (1-1, 6.52)  vs.  LHP [SR] Jake Repavich (0-2, 7.50) |
| GAME 3  • Sunday, March 25 • 12 p.m. MST GCU.tv • Live Stats • WAC Digital Network LHP [SR] Zach Thomas (1-3, 3.23)  vs.  LHP [R-SR] Ethan Evanko (0-0, 5.73) |
Grand Canyon opens up a 24-game Western Athletic Conference schedule by hosting Chicago State for a three-game weekend series at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.
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THREE THINGS TO KNOW
- OPENING CONFERENCE: Grand Canyon opens WAC play where it has won nine consecutive series dating back to the 2016 season. GCU has won its WAC opener in three straight seasons and WAC home opener in four straight seasons. The Lopes took two of three games from Chicago State on the road last season.
 - EVANKO GETS THE NOD: Ethan Evanko is set to get his first start since March 12, 2016 which will mark 743 days between starts. The redshirt senior made the first start of his career at Fresno State on Feb. 18, 2014, over four years ago. Evanko is slated as GCU's Sunday starter.
 - SWIPING BAGS: The Lopes stole six bases in the two-game mid-week split with Kansas this week. GCU has been much more aggressive on the basepaths over the last couple of weeks, successfully stealing 14 times in the past seven games. Speedsters Zach Malis and Preston Pavlica have combined to successfully steal 10 of 11 bases on the season.
SCOUTING
The Cougars got off to a solid start in 2018, taking two of three games from LIU Brooklyn in a neutral-site season-opening series. Chicago State also split a four-game tournament with wins against St. Bonaventure and Mount St. Mary's. Since, however, Chicago State has lost 12 games consecutively. Chicago State has the 13th-worst batting average (.215) of 297 Division I teams. The Cougars have been held to one or no runs in their last six games. Chicago State Baseball is searching for its first winning season in nearly 50 years.Chicago State managed just one hit in a 16-1 loss to Bradley on Wednesday in seven innings. It was the Cougars first mid-week game of the season. Last weekend, Chicago State visited Orlando for a three-game series. The Cougars were swept by the Knights, falling by a combined score of 38-1 in the three games.
Zach Thomas, a senior, is a two-way threat for Chicago State. He ranks third in the team in batting average (.283) while featuring the team's best ERA (3.23). Thomas is set to pitch on Sunday. Matt Paciello (.345) and Tyler Lowe (.309) are the two Cougars hitting over the .300 mark this season.
GCU won two of three games on its furthest road trip of the 2017 season. Chicago State claimed the opener after scoring six runs in the third inning, largely due to a grand slam in the inning. The six runs represented the only scoring for Chicago State in its 6-4 win. Garrison Schwartz doubled three times as GCU cruised to a seven-inning win, 12-2, to even up the series. The Lopes narrowly claimed a series victory by edging out Chicago State 4-3 in the series finale. Â
LAST TIME OUT
- GCU split a two-game mid-week series with Kansas.
- The Lopes cruised by Kansas with 12 runs on 13 hits, its biggest margin of victory of the season at 12-2 on Tuesday.
- GCU fell 6-5 on Wednesday, its fifth one-run loss.
WHAT'S NEXT
- WAC play takes to the road for the first time as GCU travels for a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series at Northern Colorado.
For more GCU baseball news, notes and numbers, click here to view the series notes and click here to view the media guide.
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Players Mentioned
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