12-game homestand opens

Wednesday, March 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Nevada

3/5/2019 9:34:00 PM | Baseball

GCU Notes 2019 Media Guide

Lopes begin home-heavy March with Nevada

By: Josh Hauser

Wednesday, March 6 \| Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	NEVADA WOLF PACK (7-3)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (5-6)

PITCHING PROBABLES

Wednesday, March 6 • 6 p.m. MST
Live Stats • GCU.tv

RHP [FR] Tyler Smith (0-1, 2.79) vs. RHP [SR] Dalton Chapman (0-0, 4.91)

Following a weekend series win at USC, the Grand Canyon baseball team returns for its longest homestand since 2013. The stretch opens on Wednesday night against Nevada at 6 p.m.

The homestand includes Wednesday's single game, series with Illinois and Xavier, a single game against Utah and the conference-opening series against California Baptist. The Lopes do not return to the road until March 27, when they travel to Reno, Nev., for a rematch with the Wolf Pack.

The game will stream live on GCU.tv.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

FRIENDLY CONFINES: GCU's 12-game homestand is the longest stretch of consecutive home games since 2013. In that season — GCU's final at the Division II level — the Lopes opened the season with 17 straight home games. Lengthy homestands are nothing new for the GCU program with founding head coach Dave Brazell known for his homestands that reached upwards of 30 games.
TOUGH GOINGS: The Lopes have played the nation's 27th toughest schedule thus far with games against Stanford, TCU, Wichita State and USC in the rearview. Of the 27 teams who have faced the toughest schedules, only 10 teams are within one game of .500 as the Lopes are. Of the three teams ahead of GCU in the WAC standings (New Mexico State, California Baptist, UTRGV), none have a strength of schedule higher than No. 162.
BATTING NUGGETS: Junior outfielder Quin Cotton has a hit in all 11 games this year ... freshman infielder Jonny Weaver hit two doubles in his first career start on Sunday and is 4 for 12 (.333) on the season ... sophomore first baseman Cuba Bess has hit four home runs, including two in the past two games ... Pikai Winchester (.349), Cotton (.348) and Kona Quiggle (.342) are hitting atop GCU's offensive leaderboard.

SCOUTING

Nevada won six of its first seven games, including an opening-day victory against No. 24 Missouri State at a neutral site. Last weekend, the Wolf Pack lost a three-game series at home to Washington State.

Nevada won the Mountain West Conference regular season title in 2018 with a 20-9 conference record. The Wolf Pack went two and out in their conference tournament and missed out on NCAA tournament participation. The Wolf Pack swept the major conference awards, as Grant Fennell won Player of the Year, T.J. Bruce won Coach of the Year and Joshua Zamora was Freshman of the Year.

In the programs' previous meeting, Nevada won 11-10 in 10 innings on the final home game of GCU's 2016 season. The Lopes led 10-3 but fell in extra innings after a late Wolf Pack comeback.

WHAT'S NEXT

The homestand rolls on with a three-game weekend series against Illinois on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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