Texas State awaits in 1st departure from Arizona

Friday-Sunday, Feb. 28-March 2 \| Bobcat Ballpark \| San Marcos, Texas

	TEXAS STATE BOBCATS (6-2)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (5-3)

PITCHING PROBABLES

Friday, Feb. 28 • 5 p.m. (Phoenix time)
Live Stats • no streaming available
RHP Jackson Teer (0-1, 7.11) vs. RHP Isaac Lyon (0-1, 6.30)

Saturday, March 1 • 1:30 p.m. (Phoenix time)
Live Stats • Watch on ESPN+
RHP Sam Hall (0-0, 4.00) vs. RHP Garrett Ahern (2-0, 2.25)

Sunday, March 2 • 12 p.m. (Phoenix time)
Live Stats • Watch on ESPN+
RHP Austin Eaton (1-1, 4.00) vs. TBA

Grand Canyon will depart Arizona for the first time this season, concluding a home-and-home series with Texas State that began in 2023. The Lopes and Bobcats will play three games beginning on Friday night.

The final two games of the series will be streamed on ESPN+. Friday night will only include live stats.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

BARRERAS' HOT START: Junior leadoff man and shortstop Emilio Barreras is off to a scorching hot start from the plate this year. Barreras is one of 45 players across the country that is batting at least .500 through the season's first two weekends. For his offensive display, Barreras was named WAC Hitter of the Week for the first time in his career.

POWER SURGE: GCU has homered in six consecutive games, including smashing six home runs when the Lopes won a 3-1 home series against Rutgers last weeken. Graduate center fielder Eddy Pelc, who converted from pitcher to outfielder in 2023, finished the weekend with three home runs in two days after hitting five home runs in his debut Lopes season last year.

COMMANDING: It's nothing new for Lopes pitching, but GCU is already among the nation's leaders in controlling the strike zone. Through eight games, the Lopes rank third nationally by walking only 2.1 batters per nine innings. Their strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.6 to 1 ranks 18th nationally. Lopes sophomore Connor Mattison is one of 20 pitchers nationally to not walk a batter with at least eight innings pitched, and sophomore teammate Garrett Ahern has 12 strikeouts to two walks in 12 innings.

SCOUTING TEXAS STATE

Texas State is off to a nice start in 2025 as it looks to compile a season worthy of a return to the NCAA tournament, which it last reached in 2022.

In midweek action, the Bobcats defeated No. 1 Texas A&M 7-3 on Tuesday. That is on the heels of dropping two of three home games to Illinois over the weekend. Texas State opened the season by sweeping Binghamton at Bobcat Ballpark.

Texas State has committed just two errors in its first eight games for a .993 fielding percentage that ranks third nationally. Bobcats pitchers strike out 11 batters per nine innings, a mark that ranks 30th nationally.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Lopes return to GCU Ballpark for a four-game homestand with midweek action also awaiting. GCU will play Pepperdine on Tuesday before a weekend series against Texas Tech.

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

Friday-Sunday, Feb. 28-March 2 | Bobcat Ballpark | San Marcos, Texas

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PITCHING PROBABLES

3 THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING TEXAS STATE

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Garrett Ahern

Emilio Barreras

Isaac Lyon

Connor Mattison

Eddy Pelc

Grand Canyon University Athletics