WAC leader ends home schedule vs. Abilene Christian

Friday, May 10

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Abilene Christian

Tickets

Photo by: Rachel Sollazzo

5/9/2024 10:08:00 AM | Baseball

GCU Notes ACU Notes

GCU chases 4th consecutive conference regular-season title, set to honor 11 seniors

Friday-Sunday, May 10-12 \| Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	ABILENE CHRISTIAN WILDCATS (29-20, 15-9 WAC)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (30-18, 19-5 WAC)

PITCHING PROBABLES

Friday, May 10 • 7 p.m.
Live Stats • Watch on ESPN+
RHP Austin Glaze (4-4, 5.25) vs. LHP Grant Richardson (3-0, 2.93)

Saturday, May 11 • 7 p.m.
Live Stats • Watch on ESPN+
RHP Iain Campa (6-2, 3.48) vs. RHP Isaac Lyon (5-1, 3.24)

Sunday, May 12 • 12 p.m.
Live Stats • Watch on ESPN+
LHP Brett Lanman (6-2, 3.32) vs. RHP Connor Mattison (6-3, 5.01)

WAC leader Grand Canyon will host a second-place conference team for the second consecutive weekend with Abilene Christian visiting for the season's final series at GCU Ballpark. The Lopes have an eight-game winning streak, their longest since winning 14 in a row last season (April 29-May 24). The weekend series includes 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday games with Senior Day at noon Sunday, when 11 Lopes will be honored.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

WAC RACE: With six conference games remaining, GCU holds a four-game lead over Abilene Christian, Tarleton State and Utah Valley. The Lopes already hold the tiebreaker against Tarleton State by winning a series against the Texans in March. They have remaining series against the other second-place teams (vs. Wildcats at home this weekend and vs. the Wolverines on the road next weekend). GCU is looking to become the first team to win four consecutive WAC regular-season championships since Rice (1999-2005).

NOW THE AWESOME ARMS: The GCU offense scored plenty Tuesday to defeat Washington 6-2, but it marked the end of a historic offensive tear — four consecutive games with at least nine runs for the first time since 2015. Instead, the Lopes pitching continued a run of locking down opponents. GCU opponents have scored two or fewer runs in four consecutive games for the first time since 2013, when Holy Names and Fresno Pacific were the opponents in Division II.

ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER WILSON: After the decorated GCU career of 2023 MLB Draft No. 6 pick Jacob Wilson (promoted to Triple-A this week), Lopes senior Tyler Wilson is putting together one of the program's best offensive seasons ever. Tyler Wilson has a slash line of .372/.436/.672 for his fourth consecutive .300-plus hitting season. In the WAC, the left fielder ranks third in batting average and second in RBIs (50) with more home runs this season (12) than in his previous three seasons combined. He has two grand slams in the past three games, giving him three on the season.

SCOUTING ABILENE CHRISTIAN

Abilene Christian features the WAC's top two hitters, senior outfielder Miller Ladusau (.376) and graduate third baseman Gino D'Alessio (.375). Ladusau, a left-handed hitter, brings a 19-game hitting streak into Phoenix with .443 hitting since it began on April 6. He is the WAC on-base percentage leader (.486) while D'Alessio, a right-handed hitter, leads with the WAC with 53 RBIs after four seasons at Division II Quincy.

The Wildcats, who have lost two of their past three conference series, are making their first-ever trip to GCU. The Lopes won last season's series at Abilene Christian, which leads the all-time series 4-3 with three of the other meetings coming in the 2022 WAC tournament and one in 2014.

Abilene Christian is tied for the eighth-most shutouts (five) in the nation this season with five other teams, including GCU. That has helped put the Wildcats staff ERA at 5.13, which ranks No. 73 nationally. Its pitching staff is No. 50 for strikeouts per nine innings (9.5) and No. 51 for strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.3 to 1) with each pitcher of its weekend rotation starting 12 games this season. Graduate right-hander Austin Glaze (66) and freshman left-hander Brett Lanman (65) rank third and fourth, respectively, for strikeouts this season.

Abilene Christian ranks second in the nation for sacrifice flies (37).

WHAT'S NEXT?

GCU concludes the regular season with a week in Utah. The Lopes play at BYU on Tuesday before the final WAC series at Utah Valley beginning on Thursday. The WAC Tournament will run May 21-25 with the top two seeds receiving two rounds of byes to start May 23.

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