GCU welcomes Pacific for 3-game series

Friday, February 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Pacific

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Photo by: Bryce Fairchild

2/26/2026 6:49:00 PM | Baseball

Lopes enter series off Wednesday win at UC Irvine

By: Josh Hauser

PITCHING PROBABLES

Game 1
RHP Zach Todd (1-0, 0.90) vs. RHP Garrett Ahern (1-1, 6.00)

Game 2
LHP Garret Plata (0-0, 1.00 ERA) vs. RHP JT Guerrero (0-0, 5.68)

Game 3
RHP Regan Carter (0-2, 15.63 ERA) vs. RHP Nicholas Robb (0-1, 11.25)

Grand Canyon returns to Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark for a three-game series against Pacific beginning on Friday. The Lopes and Tigers match up for the first time since 2020, when GCU won two of three games against Pacific at GCU Ballpark.

All three games of the series will stream on Mountain West Network, while the series finale will also be televised on Arizona's Family Sports.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

GET ON: While the Lopes are hitting .235 as a team to open 2026 against a challenging schedule, GCU is succeeding at the little things offensively. The Lopes rank in the nation's top 55 for walks drawn (49), hit by pitches (16) and sacrifice flies (5).

BILLY BALL: Junior utilityman Billy Scaldeferri enters the Pacific series with GCU's leading batting average (.435) and has hits in all seven of his appearances. He is coming off his best offensive day of the season in Wednesday's win at UC Irvine, collecting a pair of doubles, three RBIs, a walk and a sacrifice fly.

SWING-AND-MISS STUFF: GCU checks in at No. 39 nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (11.1). Lopes pitching strung together three consecutive games of 15 or more strikeouts on Feb. 15 vs. Nebraska and the first two games of the series with Oklahoma State. GCU struck out double-figure batters in both games of the UC Irvine midweek series.

SCOUTING PACIFIC

Pacific enters the weekend with a 4-4 record, all eight games coming at home. The Tigers split a four-game opening series with Utah Valley before taking two of three from Utah Tech and beating Sacramento State 8-7 on Wednesday. Offensively, the Tigers are hitting .251 while averaging 5.3 runs per game. On the mound, Pacific owns a 4.80 ERA with 91 strikeouts in 75 innings.

Pacific competes in the WCC and is looking for its first NCAA Tournament trip. The Tigers are in their second season under head coach Reed Peters, who previously built a junior college powerhouse at San Joaquin Delta before taking over in Stockton. In 2025, Pacific finished 20-36 overall and 8-16 in WCC play but reached the 20-win mark for the first time since 2019 and secured four conference series victories in Peters' debut season.