WAC's early leaders meet for 3 in Phoenix

Friday, March 24

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Sam Houston

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3/23/2023 7:24:00 PM | Baseball

GCU Notes GCU Media Guide

6-0 Bearkats, 5-1 Lopes set for key 3-game series

By: Josh Hauser

March 24-26 \| Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	SAM HOUSTON BEARKATS (13-9, 6-0 WAC)	at	#25 GRAND CANYON LOPES (14-6, 5-1 WAC)

PITCHING PROBABLES

Friday, March 24 • 6 p.m.
Live Stats • Watch
RHP Coltin Atkinson (3-0, 1.82) vs. LHP Zach Thornton (3-0, 2.05)

Saturday, March 25 • 6 p.m.
Live Stats • Watch
LHP Steven Beard (2-2, 4.71) vs. RHP Daniel Avitia (2-1, 4.38)

Sunday, March 26 • 12 p.m.
Live Stats • Watch
LHP Gavi Coldiron (1-0, 5.06) vs. LHP Connor Markl (2-0, 3.29)

Grand Canyon plays host to a key early-season conference series, welcoming in Sam Houston for three at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark beginning on Friday. The Lopes and Bearkats — both reigning champions of their respective conference divisions in 2022 — sit atop this year's WAC standings.

All three games will be live streamed on ESPN+.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

.400 MEETS .400: GCU juniors Jacob Wilson and Homer Bush Jr. are scorching hot offensively, both hitting well over .400 so far this season. With Wilson hitting .442 and Bush hitting .436, both batters rank in the nation's top 30 for batting average. Wilson and Bush represent one of only two teammate duos across the country to both rank inside the nation's top 30 in batting average (Georgia's Charlie Condon and Connor Tate).
POLL POSITION: The Lopes made their season debut in the D1Baseball.com top-25 poll this week. GCU ended the 2022 regular season by spending three consecutive weeks in the No. 25 position in the poll.
WINNING IN THE WAC: GCU has had an unprecedented string of success in WAC play. The Lopes boast the nation's best conference winning percentage over the past five years at 116-31 (.789). GCU has not lost a conference series since May 16-17, 2019, a string of 21 straight series (19 wins, two ties). GCU has won 12 conference series consecutively.

SCOUTING

Sam Houston represents one of the nation's top mid-major programs of the past 15 years, making the NCAA tournament eight times from 2007 to 2017. The Bearkats had a successful regular season in their first year as WAC members a year ago, going 25-9 and winning the WAC's Southwest Division. Sam Houston, however, was eliminated with two straight losses to open the 2022 WAC Tournament.

The Bearkats' most notable player, Carlos Contreras, is having a slow start to his senior campaign. Along with GCU's Jacob Wilson, Contreras was the WAC Preseason Player of the Year after earning semifinalist status for the Golden Spikes Award last season. He hit .400 with 14 home runs and 89 RBIs a year ago, but is only hitting .230 with no homers and 10 RBIs this season. Contreras is coming off of back-to-back multi-hit games at UT Rio Grande Valley and Baylor. For now, graduate infielder Tyler Davis (.438) and junior outfielder Joe Redfield (.400) have taken over as Sam Houston's leading hitters.

The 13-9 Bearkats are off to a perfect start through two WAC weekends, opening with a home sweep of Seattle U before beginning a seven-game stretch of road competition with a sweep at UT Rio Grande Valley last weekend. In nonconference action, Sam Houston opened the year with a weekend series win over Rhode Island and a strong showing at the Karbach Classic with wins over Iowa and Kansas State. Sam Houston dropped a weekend series to Illinois and has struggled in midweek action with a 2-5 mark.