Lopes close out regular season

Thursday, May 17

Bellevue, Wash.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Seattle U

5/17/2018 9:18:00 AM | Baseball

GCU looks to claim WAC regular season title in Seattle

By: Josh Hauser

Seattle, Wash. • Bannerwood Park
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Grand Canyon Lopes (30-22, 16-5 WAC) GAME NOTES		Seattle U Redhawks (32-18, 13-8 WAC) GAME NOTES

GAME 1 • Thursday, May 17 • 5 p.m. MST
Live Stats • WAC Digital Network
RHP [JR] Jake Wong (8-2, 3.09) vs. LHP [R-JR] Tarik Skubal (7-1, 3.78)

GAME 2 • Friday, May 18 • 2 p.m. MST
Live Stats • WAC Digital Network
LHP [SR] Jake Repavich (2-4, 6.79) vs. LHP [JR] Jake Prizina (7-0, 3.75)

GAME 3 • Saturday, May 19 • 9 a.m. MST
Live Stats • WAC Digital Network
LHP [R-SR] Ethan Evanko (4-1, 3.67) vs. LHP [R-JR] Nick Meservey (0-1, 3.93)

Grand Canyon wraps up the regular season with three games at Seattle U at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue, Wash. The series spans Thursday through Saturday with next week's conference tournament on the horizon.

The Lopes are eyeing another Western Athletic Conference regular season title. GCU has a one-game lead on New Mexico State and a two-game lead on Sacramento State. With one victory, GCU clinches a top-two seed and first round bye at next week's WAC Tournament. With two victories, the Lopes clinch the No. 1 seed and at least a share of the regular season title. A sweep of the weekend would give GCU the outright title for the second straight year.

New Mexico State plays at UT Rio Grande Valley this weekend, while Sacramento State hosts Utah Valley.

All three of GCU's games at Seattle U this weekend are available on the WAC Digital Network.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

COTTON'S TEAR: Quin Cotton has been on a tear of late. The sophomore is 32-for-61 (.525) in his last 15 games. He leads the WAC in numerous offensive categories including average (.389), hits (86), runs (55) and doubles (18). Cotton is 28th nationally in average and fifth in hits. For more inside Cotton's numbers, click here.
SWING-AND-MISS STUFF: The Lopes have struck out 454 batters in 2018, the highest mark among GCU's 13 Division I seasons and the highest total since striking out 483 in 1990 (70 games). GCU's strikeout-per-nine ratio is at its highest (8.8) since 1966 when GCU fanned 351 batters in 303.0 innings (10.4).
VORHOF'S HOMECOMING: GCU closer Mick Vorhof makes his return to Bannerwood Park where he played little league while living in nearby Sammamish, Wash. Vorhof has made more appearances (90) than any GCU pitcher in the program's history. For more on the return, click here.

SCOUTING

Seattle U's on-base percentage of .386 is a top-50 mark nationally. The Redhawks' pitching staff has the WAC's No. 3-ranked ERA (4.58) and No. 2-ranked opponent batting average (.261). Seattle U has lost series to New Mexico State and Sacramento State while defeating Chicago State (sweep), Utah Valley, UTRGV, CSU Bakersfield and Northern Colorado.

Last weekend, Seattle U took both games of a doubleheader at Utah Valley (4-1, 13-2) before being blown out 9-2 in the series finale.

A year ago in Phoenix, GCU recovered from a Game 1 loss to win the series against Seattle U. The Lopes allowed a five-run fifth inning but fought back to tie behind Austin Bull and Garrison Schwartz homers. The Redhawks used a late two-run homer to reclaim the lead. GCU responded in a big way, blowing out Seattle U 19-0 in Game 2. It was the biggest shutout victory for GCU since defeating Westmont 21-0 in 2004. Jack Schneider improved to 5-0 as GCU pounded out 14 hits in a series finale win. Schneider allowed two leadoff hits but only allowed one hit through the final 21 batters he faced.

LAST TIME OUT

The Lopes scored eight late runs to fly past Loyola Marymount 11-5 in the final mid-week.
GCU won its fifth consecutive Sunday rubber match, taking a critical WAC series from Sacramento State at home.

WHAT'S NEXT

GCU has clinched a spot in the WAC Tournament which will take place at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. The tournament gets underway on Wednesday, May 23.

For more GCU baseball news, notes and numbers, click here to view the series notes and click here to view the media guide.