New Mexico visits for GCU's final home MW series

Friday, May 8

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

New Mexico

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Photo by: David Kadlubowski

5/7/2026 1:50:00 PM | Baseball

Lopes fighting for MW tourney berth in series with Lobos

By: Josh Hauser

PROBABLE PITCHERS
Friday at 7 p.m.	RHP Cristian Mogen (1-2, 6.95)	LHP Chase Frey (2-6, 4.47)
Saturday at 7 p.m.	RHP Ryan Castillo (7-3, 4.19)	RHP JT Guerrero (3-5, 6.16)
Sunday at 12 p.m.	RHP Diego Alvarez (1-4, 8.14)	RHP Garrett Ahern (1-3, 5.70)

Grand Canyon concludes the home schedule with a three-game series against New Mexico at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.

All three games will stream on Mountain West Network and be televised locally on Arizona's Family Sports.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

CONFERENCE RACE: With two series remaining, GCU is fighting in the race for the conference tournament, where the Mountain West's top six teams qualify. At 7-11 in conference play, the Lopes are in a three-way tie with UNLV and San José State for the sixth and final spot. Both teams hold head-to-head tiebreakers over GCU, meaning the Lopes will need to outpace both by at least one game over the final two conference weekends.

SENIOR SUNDAY: Following Sunday's home finale, GCU will honor 14 student-athletes and one student manager: Vince Bianchina, Cael Boever, Dominic Chacon, Cam Cunnings, Elijah Higginbottom, Kade Huff, Aidan Lee, Jacob Limas, Luke Moeller, Dillon Orr, Mito Perez, Trevor Schmidt, Jace Smith, Brock Toney and manager Ryan Hansen.

HOME COOKIN': GCU is looking to end its home schedule with positive momentum. The Lopes sit one game under .500 at GCU Ballpark in 2026 but could post a winning record on the home diamond with a successful weekend. GCU has won four of its last six at home including a series win over Air Force and a pair of Big 12 wins over BYU and Arizona.

SCOUTING NEW MEXICO

New Mexico enters the weekend in fifth place in the Mountain West at 11-9-1 in conference play and 26-20-1 overall, looking to secure a third consecutive trip to the conference tournament. The Lobos have been one of the league's stronger offensive teams, hitting .305 with a .412 on-base percentage. Their doubles total ranks ninth nationally and first in the MW, while they also rank in the top 50 nationally in batting average, hits, on-base percentage, runs, scoring and sacrifice flies.

The Lobos dropped their last two games against Air Force and have lost three straight weekend series, but remain positioned to finish in the Mountain West's top six and qualify for the conference tournament. This is the Lobos' final MW series, ending the regular season with a bye weekend. New Mexico got out of the gates hot as one of the nation's last three unbeatens at 12-0. The Lobos are looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.