GCU begins 7-game California road swing

Feb. 25-27 \| Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark \| Irvine, Calif.

	UC IRVINE ANTEATERS (2-2)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (2-2)

PITCHING PROBABLES

Friday, Feb. 25 • 7 p.m. (Phoenix time)
Live Stats • Watch
RHP Michael Frias (1-0, 6.00) vs. RHP Nick Hull (0-0, 1.80)

Saturday, Feb. 26 • 7 p.m. (Phoenix time)
Live Stats • Watch
LHP Nick Pinto (0-1, 5.40) vs. RHP Carter Young (0-1, 6.75)

Sunday, Feb. 27 • 2 p.m. (Phoenix time)
Live Stats • Watch
RHP Danny Suarez (0-0, 4.50) vs. RHP Hunter Omlid (0-0, 5.79)

Grand Canyon leaves the state of Arizona for the first time this season in a road trip that starts at returning NCAA tournament team UC Irvine, detours south for a mid-week matchup at UC San Diego and finishes with a conference-opening series at California Baptist.

First up, it's a three-game set against the Anteaters. A pair of 2-2 teams that both participated in last year's NCAA tournament match up for the first time since 2014.

All three games will be streamed on ESPN+.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

TOURNEY TINT: Not only did GCU qualify for the NCAA tournament a year ago, the Lopes' 2022 schedule to date has consisted entirely of fellow NCAA tournament teams. That trend continues into the weekend with an Anteaters team that won three games in the Stanford Regional. Including UC Irvine, GCU's opponents combined to go 8-7 in the postseason.
PILING ON: GCU's offense was slow to warm up for the new season, scoring five runs in its first two games. The Lopes, however, have heated up the bats impressively in their last two games, scoring 15 and 19 runs, respectively, in wins over Nevada and No. 11 Arizona. The Lopes are coming off of their first stretch of back-to-back games with 15 or more runs since February 2010.
ROAD WARRIORS: Contrary to a typical GCU schedule, the Lopes will spend a lot of time on the road in the first weeks of this season. GCU is in the midst of an eight-game span away from Phoenix. The Lopes are spending 10 consecutive days in California. GCU is playing an eight-game stretch of regular-season road games for the first time since 2016, when the Lopes ventured to Seattle U, North Dakota, Kansas and Kansas State.

SCOUTING

UC Irvine posted an impressive 43-18 mark a year ago with a 32-8 record in the competitive Big West Conference. As the regular-season champion, the Anteaters qualified for the league's automatic bid and were sent to the Stanford Regional. UC Irvine was on the brink of advancing after wins over Nevada and North Dakota State. The Anteaters avenged a loss to Stanford by defeating the Cardinal to force a decisive regional championship game. A seven-run first inning propelled the Cardinal to the super regionals.

The 2021 season marked a return to the postseason for the successful program. It ended a rare seven-year drought for UC Irvine, a program which has been to the NCAA tournament nine times since the turn of the century.

UC Irvine opened this season with a trip to Lafayette, Louisiana, where the Anteaters dropped two of three against the Ragin' Cajuns. UC Irvine opened its home schedule with a mid-week win over San Diego State, a Lopes' opponent later this season.

The Anteaters featured a .300 batting average last season, a top-25 mark nationally.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The road trip wears on with a mid-week matchup at UC San Diego on Tuesday night. The Tritons are in their second season of a four-year transition from Division II to Division I.

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

Feb. 25-27 | Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark | Irvine, Calif.

vs.

PITCHING PROBABLES

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nick Hull

Hunter Omlid

Carter Young

Grand Canyon University Athletics