PHOENIX – The Pacific baseball program embarks for its first road test of the 2026 campaign, facing Grand Canyon in a three-game series, beginning Friday at 5 p.m. PST from Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.

The Tigers (4-4) enter the road series with the Lopes (3-6) following a walk-off win Wednesday over Sacramento State thanks to senior Rylan Evans' heroics in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete the comeback for an 8-7 victory.

After a three-hit game against the Hornets last time out, redshirt junior Andrew Sloan raised his batting average to a team-best .313 among qualified hitters. Sloan is one of five Tigers hitting over .300 through eight games on the year.

Senior Jake Tandy has been a key cog in Pacific's lineup, slashing .294 with a team-high three doubles and seven RBIs. Tandy, along with graduate student Brendan O'Sullivan and senior Grant MacArthur have reached base safely in every game to start 2026.

O'Sullivan has been a welcoming presence in the lead-off spot for the Tigers, hitting .286 with a triple, a home run and a team-high eight runs.

Pacific's offense ranks in the middle of the pack in the West Coast Conference with their .251 team batting average and 42 runs (5.25 runs per game).

On the pitching side, Pacific is led by the duo of redshirt junior Zach Todd and redshirt junior Garret Plata. The pair of starters have combined for just two earned runs in 19.0 innings along with 32 strikeouts. Plata's 18 strikeouts and Todd's 14 punch-outs rank first and second respectively among qualified pitchers in the WCC.

Redshirt junior Carson Revay has been dynamic out of the bullpen, owning a 2-0 record with a 1.86 earned run average and 12 strikeouts in 9.2 innings of work. Revay also has the lone save for Pacific this year.

GCU returns home following its first two road contests of the season, splitting the pair at UC Irvine. The Lopes began the year hosting the MLB Desert Invitational, defeating Northeastern in the season opener, but falling to Penn State and Nebraska after that. They also dropped two of three to Oklahoma State at home, pointing to their 2-3 home record.

GCU was picked to finish third in the Mountain West preseason poll by the conference's head coaches. In each of their final seven seasons in the Western Athletic Conference, the Lopes were tabbed as the preseason favorites, but in the program's first season in a new conference, the team was selected behind reigning regular-season champion Nevada and reigning tourney champion Fresno State.

Billy Scaldeferri is a Lope to keep an eye on this weekend as he boasts a .435 batting average with a pair of home runs and a team-best ten RBIs.

The Tigers' offense could take advantage of the Lopes' pitching across the three-game set as GCU owns a 7.36 earned run average in 77.0 innings.

Pacific and GCU meet for just second series in the head-to-head history with the first meeting taking place in Phoenix, Arizona during the 2020 season. The Tigers dropped the first two of that series before winning the finale by an 8-0 margin.

The series can be viewed live on the Mountain West Network with a 5 p.m. PST first pitch Friday, a 5 p.m. PST first pitch Saturday and a noon PST first pitch Sunday.

Tigers Tickets
Tickets for upcoming events can be purchased through the PacificTigers.com tickets tab, or by calling the Box Office at 209-946-2474. Groups of 10 or more are eligible for a group discount and exclusive fan experiences.
 
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