GCU enters WAC Tournament play

Tuesday, May 20 - Saturday, May 24 \| Hohokam Stadium \| Mesa, Ariz.

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (30-25, 13-11 WAC)	WAC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

Grand Canyon opens play in the WAC Baseball Tournament at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa with a 4 p.m. Wednesday matchup against No. 8 seed Utah Tech at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa.

The Lopes enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed for the first time since 2019, when GCU started 3-0 and advanced to the championship round of the tournament.

Tarleton State and California Baptist were eliminated Tuesday with opening-round losses. The six remaining WAC Tournament teams will now use a double-elimination format. All games are streamed on ESPN+.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

PELC'S TEAR: All-WAC second-team outfielder Eddy Pelc is one of the WAC's hottest hitters entering the tournament, hitting .531 (26 for 49) with 10 walks (.613 obp), eight home runs (1.143 slugging) and 22 RBIs over the last 13 games. With 17 home runs, he is tied with Tyler Wilson (2024) for fourth-most in a single season in GCU's Division I era (23 is the record set by Tayler Aguilar in 2022). Pelc has reached base in 20 games consecutively. In under a month, he has raised his average from .219 on April 25 to .296.

OFFENSE RISING: The Lopes are hitting .321, slugging .514 and hold a .409 on-base percentage in their last 10 games, averaging 7.3 runs. GCU has surpassed the 60-homer mark for only the third time since 2000 (also 2021 and 2024).

BARRERAS' WHIFF RATE: Despite not officially qualifying for leaderboards due to a missed stretch of games with injury, All-WAC second-team shortstop Emilio Barreras would be the nation's third-toughest batter to strike out at once every 24.5 at bats (six times in 147 at bats). That mark ranks third in GCU's D-I season records and ninth in GCU's all-time records. The junior leads the Lopes with a .367 batting average.

SCOUTING UTAH TECH

In the program's first Division I postsesaon game, Utah Tech (24-29) advanced to the WAC Tournament's six-team, double-elimination round by defeating California Baptist in a 5-4, 11-inning play-in game Tuesday night at Hohokam Stadium.
The Trailblazers lead the nation with 55 double plays turned, including two twin killings in Tuesday night's tournament win.
In its past 10 games against WAC opponents, Utah Tech is hitting .345. For the season, the Trailblazers are batting .285.
Trailblazers sophomore second baseman Kyle McDaniel, batting .373, has an active 39-game streak for reaching base.
Utah Tech won its mid-April home series with GCU, taking two of three games. The Trailblazers ended a 13-game losing streak to the Lopes in last season's series finale at GCU Ballpark.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The winner of the WAC Tournament will claim the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and find out its regional destination during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 26, at 9 a.m. on ESPN2.

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

Tuesday, May 20 - Saturday, May 24 | Hohokam Stadium | Mesa, Ariz.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING UTAH TECH

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Emilio Barreras

Eddy Pelc

Tyler Wilson

Grand Canyon University Athletics