Opening weekend holds 3 foes

PITCHING PROBABLES

GAME 1 • Friday, Feb. 15 • 6 p.m. • vs. Wichita State
Live Stats • FOX Sports Arizona, Midwest, Atlantic • GCU.tv
RHP [JR] Kade Mechals (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP [SR] Clayton McGinness (0-0, 0.00)

GAME 2 • Saturday, Feb. 16 • 11 a.m. • vs. Ball State
Live Stats • GCU.tv
RHP [FR] Pierson Ohl (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP [SO] Kyle Nicolas (0-0, 0.00)

GAME 3 • Saturday, Feb. 16 • 4 p.m. (Tempe Diablo Stadium) • vs. Wichita State
Live Stats
RHP [SO] Frankie Scalzo (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP [JR] Preston Snavely (0-0, 0.00)

GAME 4 • Monday, Feb. 18 • 1 p.m. • vs. Stanford
Live Stats • GCU.tv
RHP [SO] Nick Hull (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP [FR] Alex Williams (0-0, 0.00)

* subject to change

A new season is set to begin for the Grand Canyon baseball team, which co-hosts an opening weekend tournament with the Los Angeles Angels at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark and Tempe Diablo Stadium. The Lopes will play three games in their park with a Saturday afternoon game mixed in at the spring training home of the Angels.

The Lopes open with Wichita State on Friday, a game that will air on FOX Sports Arizona, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX College Sports Atlantic, as well as GCU.tv. The other two home games also will air on GCU.tv.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

A WHOLE NEW YEAR: GCU opens its 67th season in program history and 14th at the Division I level. The Lopes boast an experienced core of position players with 70 percent of at bats and hits returning from a year ago. GCU will introduce a new but talented pitching staff for 2019. For a full season preview, click here.
ALL-AMERICAN STATUS: Junior outfielder Quin Cotton was named a Preseason All-American by Perfect Game, the first such recognition in GCU's D-I history. Cotton ranked 14th nationally with his .390 batting average last year.
BALLPARK BEGINNINGS: GCU will debut Phase II of Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark after a successful inaugural season in 2018. Phase II finished the lower level, which introduces new field-level seating, bringing capacity to 4,000 fans. GCU Ballpark is now the fourth-largest on-campus facility west of Texas. It was named the Best Ballpark Improvement Over $1 Million by Ballpark Digest in the offseason.

SCOUTING

Wichita State is coming off its first 30-win season since 2014 but is picked to finish seventh in the American Athletic Conference this year. The Shockers will play 12 of their first 15 games on the road, looking to improve upon an 11-11 road mark last season. Infielder Luke Ritter is the team's offensive leader, returning after hitting .341 in 2018. The last time these two teams met, Wichita State swept GCU in a cold February series in Wichita in 2017.

Ball State is also coming off a 30-win season, going 32-26 in 2018. The Cardinals are tabbed as second-place finishers in the Mid-American Conference. The pitching staff is the strength of Ball State, coming off a year in which it posted the nation's sixth-best strikeout mark at 9.9 strikeouts every nine innings. This is the first meeting between the Cardinals and the Lopes.

Stanford is the first Pac-12 opponent on a GCU schedule that features seven games against Pac-12 teams. Coming off a Pac-12 title, Stanford is ranked No. 12/9 (D1Baseball.com/Coaches) in the preseason top-25 polls. The Cardinal hosted the Stanford Regional in head coach Dave Esquer's first season since taking the reigns from Mark Marquess. Led by returning all-conference picks Andrew Daschbach and Tim Tawa, Stanford and GCU are set to meet for the first time ever.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Lopes head to Fort Worth, Texas, for a three-game series against TCU.

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

PITCHING PROBABLES

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

WHAT'S NEXT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Quin Cotton

Nick Hull

Kade Mechals

Pierson Ohl

Frankie Scalzo

Grand Canyon University Athletics