Lopes take first road trip of season

Friday, March 8

Long Beach, Calif.

4:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

San Diego State

Photo by: Jayden Todd

3/7/2024 3:04:00 PM | Softball

GCU travels to Louisville Slugger Invitational co-hosted by Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton

By: Adrianna Candelaria

Louisville Slugger Invitational \| March 8-10, 2024 \| Anderson Family Field - Fullerton, Calif. \| LBSU Softball Complex - Long Beach, Calif.

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (16-4)	vs.	SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS (9-11)
			PRINCETON TIGERS (5-4)
			LONG BEACH STATE DIRTBAGS (4-17)
			YALE BULLDOGS (1-8)
			NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (5-18)

The Grand Canyon softball team takes its first road trip of the season to face San Diego State, Princeton, Long Beach State, Yale, and North Dakota at the Louisville Slugger Invitational.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

The Lopes travel for the first time this season.
Graduate designated player Ramsay Lopez earned WAC Player of the Week with Lopez swinging for a .571 batting average, 13 RBIs, eight hits, two home runs, a grand slam, a 1.214 slugging percentage and a .611 on-base percentage with three walks.
As a team, the Lopes are batting .335 with a 1.98 ERA in the circle.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE

San Diego State is currently hitting .239 with a 2.75 ERA in the circle.
The Lopes hold a 2-1 historic record against the Aztecs, and seek redemption after most recently falling to SDSU 6-0 in the NCAA Regional tournament at UCLA last season.

SCOUTING PRINCETON

The Tigers enter with a .257 team batting average and a 4.83 ERA.
GCU is 4-0 against Princeton, with two wins at home (2018, twice) and two neutral site wins (2014, twice).

SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE

The Dirtbags enter with a .211 batting average and a team ERA of 7.44.
GCU has not faced LBSU since 2017, when the Lopes lost 2-5 in a neutral setting.

SCOUTING YALE

The Bulldogs are currently hitting .230 with a 4.83 ERA in the circle.
The Lopes carry a 1-0 historic record against Yale with a 6-3 win at home in 2019.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA

North Dakota enters with a team ERA of 4.35 and a team batting average of .198.
GCU is 1-1 against the Fighting Hawks, with a win at home (2019) and a loss in a neutral site (2015).

LAST TIME OUT

Purple Classic

The Lopes went 5-0, run ruling three opponents in six innings or less.
GCU notched an eight-run inning in three games (Toledo twice, Montana) over the weekend.
Lopez hit a grand slam and totaled five RBIs on Sunday against Toledo.