Lopes look to rebound in Riverside

Wednesday, March 26

Riverside, Calif.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

UC Riverside

Photo by: Jack Gilday

3/26/2025 9:00:00 AM | Softball

4-game, 4-day road swing tests GCU, ends in WAC series at CBU

By: Braden Dohrmann


GRAND CANYON LOPES (23-6, 3-2 WAC)	vs.	UC RIVERSIDE HIGHLANDERS (14-17, 5-4 Big West)
		CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS (15-17, 3-3 WAC)

Grand Canyon spends the week in California with a Wednesday afternoon matchup at UC Riverside and the Lopes' second road conference series of the season at California Baptist. GCU plays a doubleheader Friday with the Lancers and a standalone series finale on Saturday night.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

The Lopes are looking to rebound from the program's first conference series loss in two years, as well as GCU's first home series loss since 2022.
Sophomore second baseman Savannah Kirk is one of four qualifying players in the country with a perfect stolen-base percentage. She has the most steals of those four (25).
GCU ranks 10th in the country in ERA (2.02) and 17th in the nation in batting average (.346).

SCOUTING UC RIVERSIDE

UC Riverside is coming off a three-game losing streak after being swept by UC San Diego last weekend. Before that sweep, they had won five straight in the Big West, including a sweep of CSU Bakersfield.
The Highlanders are hitting .258 with a 4.23 ERA.
Grand Canyon is 0-1 all-time against UC Riverside, losing to the Highlanders in 2018.

SCOUTING CALIFORNIA BAPTIST

GCU is 17-11 all-time against CBU, winning the last five contests vs. the Lancers, including a 9-2 win in the 2024 WAC Tournament championship.
The Lancers are hitting .280 with a team ERA of 3.94.
Kate Penberthy leads California Baptist in batting average (.357) while Lili Arana leads the Lancers in the circle (2.87 ERA).

LAST TIME OUT

GCU vs Tarleton State

The Lopes took one of three games in their home series with Tarleton State. The Lopes lost back-to-back games for the first time all season when they lost the series opener after a midweek, extra-innings loss to No. 10 Arizona.