Grand Canyon Antelopes baseball
Grand Canyon Antelopes | |
---|---|
2024 Grand Canyon Antelopes baseball team | |
Founded | 1953 |
Overall record | 499–542–2 |
University | Grand Canyon University |
Head coach | Gregg Wallis (2nd season) |
Conference | Western Athletic Conference |
Location | Phoenix, Arizona |
Home stadium | Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark (Capacity: 5,500) |
Nickname | Lopes |
Colors | Purple, black, and white[1] |
NCAA Tournament appearances | |
2021, 2022 | |
Conference tournament champions | |
2021 | |
Regular season conference champions | |
2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024 | |
Conference division champions | |
1998, 2022 |
The Grand Canyon Antelopes baseball team represents Grand Canyon University, which is located in Phoenix, Arizona. The Antelopes, also known as the Lopes, are an NCAA Division I college baseball program competing in the Western Athletic Conference. They were in Division I from 1991 to 1998, the final four seasons with the Western Athletic Conference, and returned in 2014 with the WAC.
The Grand Canyon Antelopes play all home games on campus at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark. Over their 16 discontinuous seasons in the Western Athletic Conference, GCU has won six regular-season titles including five of the last six completed seasons.
Since the program's inception in 1953, 15 Lopes have gone on to play in Major League Baseball, highlighted by 1993 AL Rookie of the Year and 2002 World Series champion Tim Salmon.
Conference membership history (Division I only)[edit]
- 1991–1994: Independent
- 1995–1998: Western Athletic Conference
- 2014–2025: Western Athletic Conference
- Coming 2026: West Coast Conference
Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark[edit]
Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark is a baseball stadium on the Grand Canyon campus in Phoenix, Arizona that seats 4,000 people. It was opened on February 16, 2018 with a 2–1 loss to TCU. A record attendance of 5,261 was set on February 18, 2022, an opening day loss to Nevada.[2]
Head coaches[edit]
In a program that has existed since 1953, Grand Canyon has had extreme continuity in its head coaching position. David Brazell founded the program and coached it for its first 28 years. Gil Stafford coached for 20 years including the program's first run at the Division I level. Alumnus and former Major leaguer Dave Stapleton coached the team for 10 years. Andy Stankiewicz took over for the 2012 season and led the program through its first nine seasons back at the Division I level beginning in 2014. His longtime assistant, Gregg Wallis, took over for Stankiewicz in the 2023 season.[3]
Season | Coach | Years | Record | Pct. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1991–1998 | Gil Stafford | 8 | 188–324–1 | .367 |
2014–2022 | Andy Stankiewicz | 9 | 274–197–1 | .582 |
2023–present | Gregg Wallis | 1 | 37-21 | .638 |
Totals | 3 coaches | 18 seasons | 499–542–2 | .479 |
Year-by-year NCAA Division I results[edit]
Records taken from the 2020 GCU baseball media guide.[4]
Season | Coach | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent (1991–1994) | |||||||||
1991 | Gil Stafford | 25–39 | |||||||
1992 | Gil Stafford | 25–37 | |||||||
1993 | Gil Stafford | 24–32 | |||||||
1994 | Gil Stafford | 29–33–1 | |||||||
Western Athletic Conference (1995–1998) | |||||||||
1995 | Gil Stafford | 21–41 | 15–15 | 5th | |||||
1996 | Gil Stafford | 23–32 | 10–19 | 10th | |||||
1997 | Gil Stafford | 13–43 | 5–25 | 12th | |||||
1998 | Gil Stafford | 28–27 | 16–14 | 5th | WAC Tournament | ||||
Western Athletic Conference (2014–present) | |||||||||
2014 | Andy Stankiewicz | 30–23 | 19–8 | 2nd | ineligible | ||||
2015 | Andy Stankiewicz | 32–22 | 19–7 | 1st | ineligible | ||||
2016 | Andy Stankiewicz | 25–28–1 | 13–14 | 5th | ineligible | ||||
2017 | Andy Stankiewicz | 29–25 | 20–4 | 1st | ineligible | ||||
2018 | Andy Stankiewicz | 33–24 | 19–5 | 1st | WAC tournament | ||||
2019 | Andy Stankiewicz | 36–24 | 18–9 | T-4th | WAC tournament | ||||
2020 | Andy Stankiewicz | 9–9 | Season cancelled on March 18 due to Coronavirus pandemic[5] | ||||||
2021 | Andy Stankiewicz | 39–21-1 | 29-7 | T-1st | NCAA tournament | ||||
2022 | Andy Stankiewicz | 41-21 | 25-5 | 1st | NCAA tournament | ||||
2023 | Gregg Wallis | 37-21 | 22-7 | 1st | WAC tournament | ||||
Total: | 499–442–3 | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
|
Awards and honors (Division I only)[edit]
- Over their 11 discontinuous seasons in the Western Athletic Conference, 18 different Lopes have been named to the all-conference first-team.
All-Americans[edit]
Year | Position | Name | Selector |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | SS | Jacob Wilson | CB |
Freshman All-Americans[edit]
Year | Position | Name | Selector |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | SP | Pierson Ohl | CB |
2021 | 1B | Elijah Buries | CB |
2021 | 1B | Elijah Buries | PG |
2021 | 3B | Jacob Wilson | CB |
2021 | SP | Carter Young | CB |
2021 | SP | Carter Young | D1 |
2021 | SP | Carter Young | NCBWA |
2022 | SP | Daniel Avitia | CB |
2022 | SP | Daniel Avitia | PG |
Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year[edit]
Year | Position | Name |
---|---|---|
2017 | OF | Garrison Schwartz |
2018 | OF | Quin Cotton |
2024 | OF | Tyler Wilson |
Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year[edit]
Year | Position | Name |
---|---|---|
2021 | SP | Pierson Ohl |
2022 | SP | Daniel Avitia |
Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year[edit]
Year | Position | Name |
---|---|---|
2023 | SS | Jacob Wilson |
Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year[edit]
Year | Name |
---|---|
2017 | Andy Stankiewicz |
2018 | Andy Stankiewicz |
2021 | Andy Stankiewicz |
2022 | Andy Stankiewicz |
2023 | Gregg Wallis |
2024 | Gregg Wallis |
Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year[edit]
Year | Position | Name |
---|---|---|
2015 | OF | Garrison Schwartz |
2019 | SP | Pierson Ohl |
2022 | SP | Daniel Avitia |
Taken from the 2020 GCU baseball media guide.[4] Updated March 2, 2020.
Lopes in professional baseball[edit]
Draft history[edit]
As of 2023, Grand Canyon has had 106 of its players selected in the MLB draft. Thirty-one of those selections have occurred since 2015 when the program returned to Division I.[6]
On July 9, 2023, Jacob Wilson became the highest drafted player in program history when he went sixth overall to the Oakland Athletics.[7]
Major Leaguers[edit]
= All-Star | = Baseball Hall of Famer |
Athlete | Years in MLB | MLB Teams |
---|---|---|
Frank Snook | 1973 | San Diego Padres |
Tom Tellmann | 1979–80, 1983–85 | San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics |
Dave Stapleton | 1987–88 | Milwaukee Brewers |
Brad Moore | 1988, 1990 | Philadelphia Phillies |
Randy McCament | 1989–90 | San Francisco Giants |
Kevin Wickander | 1989–90, 1992–93, 1995–96 | Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers |
John Patterson | 1992–95 | San Francisco Giants |
Chad Curtis | 1992–01 | California Angels, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers |
Tim Salmon | 1992–04, 2006 | California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels |
Brett Merriman | 1993–94 | Minnesota Twins |
Paul Swingle | 1993 | California Angels |
Steve Phoenix | 1994–95 | Oakland Athletics |
Cody Ransom | 2001–04, 2007–13 | San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs |
Brian Broderick | 2011 | Washington Nationals |
Jake Wong | 2023 | Cincinnati Reds |
Taken from the 2024 GCU baseball media guide.[4] Updated May 22, 2024.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Grand Canyon University Athletic Brand Standards". September 20, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ "Baseball vs Nevada on 2/18/22 - Box Score". GCULopes.com. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
- ^ "Baseball Head Coaching Records (Year-by-Year)". Grand Canyon University Athletics. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ a b c "GCU Baseball Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved March 2, 2020.
- ^ "WAC Announces Cancellation of All Sports for Remainder of Academic Year". Retrieved March 19, 2020.
- ^ "Baseball Lopes in the Pros". Grand Canyon University Athletics. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ "A's select Jacob Wilson, son of All-Star Jack, at No. 6". MLB.com. Retrieved 2024-05-23.