GCU hosts Arizona, Cal State Fullerton in midweek games

Tuesday, April 1 & Wednesday, April 2 \| Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	ARIZONA WILDCATS (20-7, 6-3 Big 12)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (17-10, 5-1 WAC)
	CAL STATE FULLERTON TITANS (13-14, 6-6 Big West)

PITCHING PROBABLES

Tuesday, April 1 vs. Arizona • 6 p.m.
Live Stats • Watch on ESPN+
LHP Mason Russell (0-0, 14.54) vs. RHP Gunnar Penzkover (0-0, 4.15)

Wednesday, April 2 vs. Cal State Fullerton • 6 p.m.
Live Stats • Watch on ESPN+
TBA vs. TBA

Grand Canyon concludes a brief five-game homestand with a pair of midweek games against Arizona and Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, respectively.

Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

HOME SWEET HOME: GCU has enjoyed the friendly confines of Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark this season. The Lopes have seven consecutive home wins, their longest streak since a 10-game winning streak in 2021. GCU's 11-2 start to the season at home is its best 13-game start at home since 2010. The Lopes defeated Nebraska, Rutgers (three of four), Pepperdine, Texas Tech (sweep) and Seattle U (sweep).

LOPES V. WILDCATS: GCU has defeated Arizona in three straight meetings. The Lopes and Wildcats have enjoyed a yearly three-game set of midweek games with the programs rotating which school hosts two of the three. GCU and Arizona played a fourth bonus meeting in 2024, when the Lopes defeated Arizona in its own regional last year. The teams will meet twice in Phoenix and once in Tucson this season.

ERA PLUMMETING: GCU features a 2.82 ERA in its last eight games, lowering its season ERA to 4.36 which ranks No. 46 nationally. A huge part of the rapidly lowering ERA is junior right-hander Isaac Lyon, who tossed an eight-inning complete game shutout on Friday and was named WAC Pitcher of the Week.

SCOUTING ARIZONA

Prior to this weekend, Arizona compiled a stretch of 19 wins in 21 games to earn a top-25 ranking in the D1Baseball.com poll. The Wildcats, however, dropped a home series to Baylor over the weekend and fell out of the top 25. It was the Wildcats' first losing weekend since opening the season 0-3 at a difficult neutral-site tournament.

Unlike past Arizona teams that have been offensively minded, this iteration of the Wildcats is built on pitching and defense. The Wildcats are 131st nationally in scoring, but their team ERA ranks 32nd and fielding percentage 31st.

SCOUTING CAL STATE FULLERTON

A similarly historic program enters GCU Ballpark on Wednesday, as Cal State Fullerton matches Arizona's 18 all-time College World Series appearances. The Lopes and Titans have played nine times previously but never outside of Fullerton. The Titans have qualified for only one of the last five NCAA tournaments after a 27-year streak ended in 2019.

In head coach Jason Dietrich's fourth season, the Titans have nearly matched last season's win total which was an uncharacteristically poor 16-38. At 13-14 this season, Cal State Fullerton could enter Wednesday's matchup against the Lopes with a .500 record should it win a Tuesday night matchup at Arizona State.

Cal State Fullerton is already four weekends into Big West play, dropping series against Cal Poly and UC San Diego but responding to win against UC Riverside and Cal State Bakersfield. The Titans rank in the nation's top 20 in doubles and triples per game.

WHAT'S NEXT?

GCU resumes conference action with a three-game set at California Baptist beginning on Friday at 6 p.m.

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