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 18
Phoenix, Ariz.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
vs
Utah Valley
Photo by: Skyler Coblentz
Conference play resumes with visit from Utah Valley
3/17/2022 10:00:00 PM | Baseball
Lopes had 7-game gap in WAC play after beginning conference at CBU
Friday-Sunday, March 18-20 | Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark | Phoenix, Ariz. |
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UTAH VALLEY
WOLVERINES (6-10, 2-4 WAC)
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vs. |
GRAND CANYON
LOPES (10-8, 3-0 WAC)
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PITCHING PROBABLES |
| Friday, March 18 • 6 p.m. Live Stats  • Watch RHP Alex Karns (0-0, 4.50)  vs.  RHP Nick Hull (0-1, 3.68) |
| Saturday, March 19 • 6 p.m. Live Stats  • Watch RHP Coop Rust (1-1, 2.57)  vs.  RHP Daniel Avitia (1-2, 2.00) |
| Sunday, March 20 • 12 p.m. Live Stats  • Watch RHP Mason Gray (0-1, 6.06)  vs.  LHP Connor Markl (3-1, 3.86) |
Grand Canyon returns to conference play with a visit from Utah Valley. The Lopes and Wolverines will play a three-game set at GCU Ballpark with the series getting underway on Friday at 6 p.m.
All three games of the series will be streamed on ESPN+.
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THREE THINGS TO KNOW
- MILESTONE VICTORY:Â GCU is coming off a momentous win at No. 5 Oregon State on Wednesday. In a 13-7 victory, the Lopes recorded their first-ever victory over a top-five opponent. GCU doubled eight times and did not strike out in a game full of offense. The Lopes narrowly lost the first game of the two-game series with Oregon State walking off with a 9-8 win.
 - WILSON WORKING: Sophomore shortstop Jacob Wilson enters the weekend on a team-best nine-game hit streak. He had a midweek series to remember in Corvallis, going 7 for 9 (.778) with four doubles, five RBIs, four runs and a home run. The Thousand Oaks, California, native had his first career four-hit game in the opener and put his name all over Wednesday's victory with three more hits.
 - CONFERENCE LANDSCAPE: GCU was the only team that sat out last weekend from conference play. The Lopes are atop the West Division with their 3-0 record with a March 4-6 sweep at California Baptist. Dixie State (4-2) and Seattle U (2-1) are the only other teams in the division with winning records and are the only two division opponents that GCU will face only once this season. This weekend will be California Baptist's turn to have a conference bye. The upcoming series with Utah Valley will be the first of five consecutive weekends of WAC play before the Lopes have their second bye weekend in late April.
SCOUTING
Utah Valley is under first-year head coach Eddie Smith, who was named the program's third head coach last June. Smith was most recently the hitting coach at LSU for two seasons and, prior to that, spent two years as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Tulane.
The Wolverines got off to a 2-8 start, but Utah Valley has won four of its last six contests. Utah Valley dropped two of three games in each of its first two conference series, winning only the finale at Dixie State and winning the middle game against California Baptist. Utah Valley swept a two-game midweek series against UNLV prior to the CBU series.
Utah Valley ranks 12th out of 13 WAC teams in on-base percentage but likes to run with the second-most stolen bases in the league (22). The Wolverines have a 7.56 staff ERA that ranks last in the WAC.
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WHAT'S NEXT?
The Lopes make the crosstown trek to Phoenix Municipal Stadium for a Tuesday night matchup at Arizona State.Â
For more GCU baseball news, notes and numbers, click here to view game notes and click here to view the media guide.
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Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
INF
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