Upcoming Event: Baseball at Hawai'i on March 25, 2027
Baseball
at Hawai'i
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Tuesday, April 7
Phoenix, Ariz.
6 p.m.
Grand Canyon
vs
Arizona State
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
GCU hosts ASU, opens 10-game homestand
4/6/2026 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
Lopes, 20th-ranked Sun Devils continue 3-game season series that went extras on March 17
| PROBABLE PITCHERS | ||
| Tuesday at 6 p.m. |  LHP Easton Barrett (1-0, 5.19) |
 LHP Cody Kiemele (0-2, 5.40) |
Grand Canyon and No. 20 Arizona State meet Tuesday night for the second of a three-game season series. The Lopes and Sun Devils are scheduled to play three times in a season for the first time since 1997. In the last five seasons, GCU and Arizona State have played twice per season with the teams splitting the series in four of the last five years. GCU also will host the third meeting on May 12 at GCU Ballpark.
Tuesday's 6 p.m. game at GCU Ballpark will be televised on 3TV and Arizona's Family Sports and stream on the Mountain West Network.
3 THINGS TO KNOW
- SERIES WINNER: GCU enters Tuesday's matchup coming off its first Mountain West series win. The Lopes took the final two games of a three-game set at Fresno State last weekend, highlighted by a Game 2 pitching masterpiece from junior left-hander Chase Frey, who tossed a complete-game, two-hit shutout.
- STATE 48: The Lopes are playing Arizona and Arizona State three times each this season. GCU split its first two at Arizona, which visits Phoenix for the season finale on April 28. The Lopes dropped the series opener to Arizona State 4-3 in a 10-inning road affair on March 17. GCU will host ASU one more time on May 12.
- CAN'T K MITO: GCU graduate catcher Mito Perez is dynamic behind the plate, but his best asset nationally has been his ability to put the ball in play with the bat. Perez is the 16th-toughest batter to strike out in the nation, doing so just six times in 97 at bats this season. That rate of one strikeout per 15.3 at bats leads the Mountain West.
SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE
Since GCU's extra-inning loss at Arizona State on March 17, the Sun Devils have gone 8-3 to run their season record to 23-9 and 7-5 in Big 12 play. They won a series at Kansas State and survived a one-run midweek game at UNLV before splitting their next four games — a win against New Mexico State and a 1-2 home series against No. 17 West Virginia. Arizona State followed that by beating San Diego State in a midweek matchup before taking two of three at Arizona over the weekend.
The numbers still point to a team built around offense. Arizona State ranks in the national top 50 in batting average (fifth, .330), slugging percentage (ninth, .568), scoring (18th), on-base percentage (23rd) and fielding percentage (43rd). The pitching staff's clearest top-end category is strikeouts per nine innings, where the Sun Devils sit 12th nationally at 11.1.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Lopes continue a 10-game homestand, hosting UNLV for 6 p.m. games Friday and Saturday and a noon Sunday finale at GCU Ballpark.For more GCU baseball news, notes and numbers, click here to view game notes.
Players Mentioned
Thursday, June 11
Friday, June 05
Monday, June 01
Saturday, May 16