GCU set to host Gonzaga, Ohio State

Feb. 23-25 \| Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (2-2)	vs.	OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (2-2)
			GONZAGA BULLDOGS (0-4)

PITCHING PROBABLES

Thursday, Feb. 23 • 6 p.m. • vs. Ohio State
ESPN+ | Live Stats
LHP Zach Thornton (1-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Isaiah Coupet (1-0, 0.00)

Friday, Feb. 24 • 7 p.m. • vs. Gonzaga
ESPN+ | Live Stats
RHP Daniel Avitia (1-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Owen Wild (0-1, 8.31)

Saturday, Feb. 25 • 2 p.m. • vs. Gonzaga
ESPN+ | Live Stats
RHP Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Bradley Mullan (0-1, 5.40)

Saturday, Feb. 25 • 7 p.m. • vs. Ohio State
ESPN+ | Live Stats
LHP Connor Markl (0-0, 5.79) vs. RHP Josh Timmerman (0-0, 10.80)

After a busy opening weekend that spanned four opponents, three venues and two nationally televised games, Grand Canyon stays in Phoenix for a four-game weekend against Ohio State and Gonzaga. Each team will play the other two teams twice spanning Thursday through Sunday at GCU Ballpark.

All four games the Lopes participate in will be on ESPN+, while all games including two Gonzaga vs. Ohio State games will have live stats at GCUstats.com.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

STARTING PITCHING: GCU will start two different pitchers in its four games than it did last week. The Lopes used three of this weekend's starters (Markl, Avitia, Cooper-Vassalakis) in Saturday's defeat of No. 2 Tennessee. The four GCU pitchers set to start this weekend featured a combined ERA of 1.84 over opening weekend including newly named WAC Pitcher of the Week Zach Thornton.
NATION'S RESPECT: The Lopes moved up to No. 29 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association this week after only receiving votes in the poll prior to the season starting. GCU was also ranked No. 36 in Collegiate Baseball's preseason poll but did not appear on the publication's polling after Week 1 when the number of named teams was narrowed from 50 to 30.
REUNION: First-year Lopes head coach Gregg Wallis is reuniting with familiar faces as GCU hosts Ohio State. After the conclusion of the 2022 season, Wallis accepted a position as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator on new Buckeyes' head coach Bill Mosiello's staff. Wallis and Mosiello worked together at Tennessee in 2012 and 2013. Wallis spent two weeks on the Ohio State staff before returning to Phoenix to accept GCU's head coaching position.

SCOUTING

Ohio State is under the direction of Mosiello who spent the better part of the previous decade at TCU under Jim Schlossnagle.

The Buckeyes began their new era in Florida with a four-game split against UConn, a 2022 Super Regional team. The Buckeys limited the Huskies to .209 hitting over the four-game set, but surrendered six home runs and committed seven errors.

Ohio State is coming off of a 20-30 season where it went 8-14 in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes' pitching staff averaged 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings to rank 28th nationally last season. Greg Beals was dimissed following the season after 12 seasons.

Gonzaga comes to Phoenix looking for its first win of 2023, although the Bulldogs challenged themselves over opening weekend with a four-game set at No. 24 Texas Tech.

Like the Lopes, Gonzaga has made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs went 37-19 and 20-9 in WCC play and were a No. 2 seed in the Blacksburg Regional.

Mark Machtolf is in his 20th season leading the program.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Lopes will play their first true road game of the season and first midweek of the season when they travel north to Las Vegas for a Wednesday afternoon game against the Rebels. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. (Phoenix time).

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

Feb. 23-25 | Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark | Phoenix, Ariz.

vs.

PITCHING PROBABLES

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

WHAT'S NEXT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Daniel Avitia

Brodie Cooper-Vassalakis

Connor Markl

Zach Thornton

Grand Canyon University Athletics