Lopes head to New Mexico State for 2nd road trip


Grand Canyon Lopes (14-16, 3-0 WAC)	at.	New Mexico State Aggies (16-15, 1-2 WAC)
		Friday, April 2 (2 p.m./ 5 p.m.); Saturday, April 3 (noon)
Game Notes		Live Video Live Stats

GCU travels to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to take on the Aggies in just their second road trip of the season. New Mexico State is playing at its home stadium for the first time this season. The Lopes come into the three-game series with a 3-0 record in WAC play and 14-16 overall mark while the Aggies are at 1-2 in the WAC and 16-15 overall.

Video will be streamed on gculopes.com

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

NO. 1 AND 2 IN THE WAC: In the WAC, junior outfielder Gianna Nicoletti ranks first in batting average (.430) and stolen bases (19). Senior pitcher Ryan Denhart ranks second in ERA (3.04). The Lopes rank first in the WAC in three categories: runs (146), hits (228) and stolen bases (38).
SECOND ROAD TRIP: GCU travels for just the second time this season. In their previous Feb. 20-21 trip to San Diego, the Lopes went 3-1 against San Diego and UC San Diego. New Mexico State is playing in its home stadium for the first time since beating New Mexico on March 11, 2020.
FOUR EVERYDAY STARTERS: Only four Lopes have started in all 30 games this season: Nicoletti, Savannah Tourville, Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage and Kristin Fifield.

SCOUTING

NEW MEXICO STATE dropped two of three at Seattle U in its WAC-opening series. The Redhawks won 6-4 and 4-1 before NMSU bounced back to win 6-5. The Aggies came to the GCU Invitational, where they went 4-1 against Idaho State and Southern Utah. Three of their wins in Phoenix came on the five-inning run rule. NMSU leads the WAC in a few offensive categories: home runs (24), slugging percentage (.445) and doubles (41). Right-handed pitcher and designated player Matalasi Faapito is one of three Aggies to start all 31 games. Faapito leads the team in hitting (.422), slugging (.856), on-base percentage (.495), home runs (10) and doubles (nine). In the circle, she has logged the most innings with 82 and has a record of 4-7 with a 5.17 ERA. Center fielder Hailey Tanori is second in batting average at .382. She has scored the most runs with 24 and has a team-best 12 stolen bases. First baseman Kayla Bowen is tied for the most RBIs for the Aggies with 24 and is second in slugging percentage at .691. She has six home runs and eight doubles this season. On the rubber, Felicia De La Torre has earned the most wins for the Aggies with an 8-7 record. She has thrown 68 1/3 innings, making 13 starts in 18 appearances. Opponents are hitting .244 against her.

LAST TIME OUT

GCU hosted Utah Valley in its first conference series of the season and took all three games from the Wolverines.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Lopes travel to Tempe to take on Arizona State at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage

Ryan Denhart

Kristin Fifield

Gianna Nicoletti

Savannah Tourville

Grand Canyon University Athletics