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 8
Phoenix, Ariz.
6:30 p.m.
Grand Canyon
vs
Illinois
Lopes welcome Illini
3/7/2019 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
GCU, Illinois meet for 2nd straight year
March 8-10 | Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark | Phoenix, Ariz. |
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ILLINOIS
FIGHTING ILLINI (7-3)
|
at |
GRAND CANYON LOPES (6-6) |
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PITCHING PROBABLES |
| Friday, March 8 • 6:30 p.m. MST Live Stats • GCU.tv LHP [SR] Andy Fisher (1-1, 4.50) vs. RHP [JR] Kade Mechals (3-0, 0.49) |
| Saturday, March 9 • 2 p.m. MST Live Stats • GCU.tv RHP [JR] Ty Weber (0-0, 0.79) vs. RHP [FR] Pierson Ohl (1-1, 7.43) |
| Sunday, March 10 • 12 p.m. MST Live Stats • GCU.tv RHP [JR] Cyrillo Watson (1-0, 3.12) vs. RHP [SO] Frankie Scalzo (0-3, 9.42) |
The Grand Canyon baseball team continues its 12-game homestand with a visit from Illinois. The Lopes and Illini meet for the second consecutive season after never competing on the baseball diamond previously.
GCU looks to build off the success of last season, when it took two of three games from then-No. 25 Illinois in Champaign, Ill.
All three games will stream live on GCU.tv.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
- FRIENDLY CONFINES: GCU's 12-game homestand is the program's longest stretch of consecutive home games since 2013. In that season — GCU's final one 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 29th-toughest schedule thus far with games against Stanford, TCU, Wichita State and USC. Of the 29 teams who faced the toughest schedules, only GCU and nine other teams are at .500 or better.
- POWER FIVE COMPETITION: GCU has an impressive 9-6 mark in its weekend games against teams from Power Five conferences the past two seasons. The Lopes have won series against USC, Illinois and Penn State while taking one of three from TCU the past two seasons.
SCOUTING
Illinois is making a rare trip to the Grand Canyon State, playing in Arizona for the first time since 2001 and playing in the Phoenix metro area for the first time since 1958. The Illini opened the season with six consecutive victories and appeared in the D1Baseball.com Top 25 before slipping out after a 1-3 weekend. The Big Ten's head coaches picked Illinois to finish third this season. Illinois was named one of the "Last Four Out" in their search for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament in 2018.
In Champaign last year, the Lopes took two games of a three-game series from then-No. 25 Illini. GCU used a Jake Wong two-hit, one-run gem and five late runs to take the opener 5-1. Illinois broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run eighth inning to even the series with a 3-2 win. Zach Malis had three RBIs, including a key eighth-inning, two-run single to help GCU secure the series with a 5-3 win over the lllini.
WHAT'S NEXT
The homestand rolls on with a four-game series against Xavier beginning on Wednesday.For more GCU baseball news, notes and numbers, click here to view game notes and click here to view the media guide.
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
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