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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Lopes tabbed preseason favorites
2/7/2018 10:10:00 AM | Baseball
GCU lands three on All-WAC Preseason team
DENVER - Coming off of a 2017 WAC Regular Season Championship and the best conference winning percentage in the WAC since 2003, the Lopes enter 2018 as the favorites to win the conference again. Additionally, Ian Evans, Austin Bull, and Jake Wong all landed spots on the All-WAC Preseason Team. The preseason polls were voted on by the conference's nine head coaches who could not vote for their own team or players.
Entering the conference as a relative unknown last season, Evans was impressive in his junior campaign for the Lopes. He was one of a conference-best five All-WAC first team members at season's end last year, being recognized as the top first baseman in the conference. Evans finished WAC play batting .374, a top-10 mark in the conference. He slugged .593 with 30 RBIs and eight doubles in conference play alone. He was named WAC Hitter of the Week after an impressive series at New Mexico State in late April which included a four-hit, two-homer game in GCU's sweep.
Bull has proven to be one of the top leadoff batters in the conference, and was recognized as such with his Preseason All-WAC selection. To begin WAC play last season, Bull had a phenomenal showing that led to his first career WAC Hitter of the Week honor. In a home series against CSU Bakersfield, Bull started off conference play by reaching base in his first seven plate appearances. The series was just a small glimpse of Bull's success as the GCU leadoff man all season long. Bull finished WAC play with a .471 on-base percentage, good for fourth in the conference. He came across to score more runs than anyone else in the conference (33).
On the mound, Wong earned the nod as a starting pitcher. The right-hander began receiving national recognition a year ago, especially when he spun 6.0 innings of one-hit baseball to open up the season against No. 22 Oklahoma State. At the mid-way point of the year, Wong boasted one of the top 20 ERAs in the nation, sitting at 1.38 after an April 7 performance at Sacramento State. Pitching more innings than he ever had been asked to before, Wong ran out of gas down the stretch, but still finished the season with a respectable 5-3 record with a 4.00 ERA. His profile was raised even further by a remarkable summer in the Cape Cod League.
The Lopes are in the final stages of offseason preparation with the season opener just around the corner. The program will host its annual Alumni Game on Saturday before hosting No. 7 TCU in the debut of GCU Ballpark on Friday, Feb. 16.
In other media
As first pitch nears, national college baseball media released their conference previews throughout the week. Grand Canyon was picked to win the conference by all three of the major publications in D1Baseball.com, Baseball America, and Perfect Game. A few notes from the preview content:
Entering the conference as a relative unknown last season, Evans was impressive in his junior campaign for the Lopes. He was one of a conference-best five All-WAC first team members at season's end last year, being recognized as the top first baseman in the conference. Evans finished WAC play batting .374, a top-10 mark in the conference. He slugged .593 with 30 RBIs and eight doubles in conference play alone. He was named WAC Hitter of the Week after an impressive series at New Mexico State in late April which included a four-hit, two-homer game in GCU's sweep.
Bull has proven to be one of the top leadoff batters in the conference, and was recognized as such with his Preseason All-WAC selection. To begin WAC play last season, Bull had a phenomenal showing that led to his first career WAC Hitter of the Week honor. In a home series against CSU Bakersfield, Bull started off conference play by reaching base in his first seven plate appearances. The series was just a small glimpse of Bull's success as the GCU leadoff man all season long. Bull finished WAC play with a .471 on-base percentage, good for fourth in the conference. He came across to score more runs than anyone else in the conference (33).
On the mound, Wong earned the nod as a starting pitcher. The right-hander began receiving national recognition a year ago, especially when he spun 6.0 innings of one-hit baseball to open up the season against No. 22 Oklahoma State. At the mid-way point of the year, Wong boasted one of the top 20 ERAs in the nation, sitting at 1.38 after an April 7 performance at Sacramento State. Pitching more innings than he ever had been asked to before, Wong ran out of gas down the stretch, but still finished the season with a respectable 5-3 record with a 4.00 ERA. His profile was raised even further by a remarkable summer in the Cape Cod League.
The Lopes are in the final stages of offseason preparation with the season opener just around the corner. The program will host its annual Alumni Game on Saturday before hosting No. 7 TCU in the debut of GCU Ballpark on Friday, Feb. 16.
In other media
As first pitch nears, national college baseball media released their conference previews throughout the week. Grand Canyon was picked to win the conference by all three of the major publications in D1Baseball.com, Baseball America, and Perfect Game. A few notes from the preview content:
- D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game both have Wong as their pick for WAC Pitcher of the Year.
- D1Baseball.com features Wong as the WAC's No. 2 2018 Draft prospect, with Evans, Zach Malis, and Preston Pavlica also appearing in the Top 20.
- D1Baseball.com also featured Quin Cotton, Cuba Bess and David Avitia as high draft prospects down the road.
- Baseball America has Evans listed as the WAC's No. 9 draft prospect for 2018.
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2018 Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll |
|||
| Rank | Team (First-place votes) | Points | |
| 1 |  |
Grand Canyon (5) | 61 |
| 2 |  |
New Mexico State (2) | 54 |
| 3 |  |
Sacramento State (1) | 51 |
| 4 |  |
Seattle U | 46 |
| 5 |  |
CSU Bakersfield | 32 |
| 6 |  |
Utah Valley | 30 |
| 7 |  |
UT Rio Grande Valley | 23 |
| 8 |  |
Northern Colorado | 19 |
| 9 |  |
Chicago State | 8 |
 2018 Baseball Preseason All-WAC Team |
|
| Position | Player, School |
| Catcher | Mason Fishback, Jr., New Mexico State |
| First Base | Ian Evans, Sr., Grand Canyon |
| First Base | Vinny Esposito, Sr., Sacramento State |
| Second Base | Austin Bull, Jr., Grand Canyon |
| Third Base | Andrew Penner, Sr., CSU Bakersfield |
| Shortstop | Joey Ortiz, So., New Mexico State |
| Outfield | Tristen Carranza, Jr., New Mexico State |
| Outfield | Ian Dawkins, Sr., Sacramento State |
| Outfield | James Outman, Jr., Sacramento State |
| Outfield | Jack Pauley, Jr., Northern Colorado |
| Starting Pitcher | Kyle Bradish, Jr., New Mexico State |
| Starting Pitcher | Jake Wong, Jr., Grand Canyon |
| Starting Pitcher | Tarik Skubal, Jr., Seattle U |
| Relief Pitcher | Naithen Dewsnap, Sr., CSU Bakersfield |
 2018 Baseball Conference Awards |
|
| Award | Player, School |
| Player of the Year | Mason Fishback, Sr., New Mexico State |
| Pitcher of the Year | Kyle Bradish, Jr., New Mexico State |
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Players Mentioned
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