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: 4,000)
Nickname	Lopes
Colors	Purple, black, and white [1]
NCAA Tournament appearances
2021, 2022, 2024
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

Grand Canyon's baseball program has a unique conference membership history that includes a brief stint from 1991–1998 where the program was Division I in baseball but the rest of the university's athletic department was Division II.

Grand Canyon conference membership timeline ^[2]

Seasons	Classification	Conference
1953–1960	none
1961–1967	NAIA	Independent (associate member)
1968–1990	NAIA	Independent (full member)
1991–1994	NCAA Division I	Independent
1995–1998	NCAA Division I	Western Athletic Conference
1999–2004	NCAA Division II	California Collegiate Athletic Association
2005–2009	NCAA Division II	Independent
2010–2013	NCAA Division II	Pacific West Conference
2014–2025	NCAA Division I	Western Athletic Conference
2026–	NCAA Division I	West Coast Conference

NAIA era

Grand Canyon's first athletic affiliation came in 1961 as an associate member of the NAIA. They became full members of the NAIA for the 1968 season, opening postseason participation opportunities. ^[2]

Baseball's Division I jump

The school opted to move out of the NAIA in the late 1980s, primarily due to the cost burden of traveling to postseason competition and increasingly stringent NAIA rules. ^[2] Most of the school's athletic programs landed at the Division II level, however, baseball opted to go Division I as an independent. The baseball program played its first four D-I years as an independent.

In June 1994, GCU accepted a baseball-only invite to the Western Athletic Conference in the form of a year-to-year affiliate membership agreement. ^[3] The Lopes began play in the conference in 1995 and spent four seasons in the conference. GCU's membership was not renewed following the 1998 season and the program was forced to move to D-II. ^[4] Already knowing it would not be a D-I program the following season, the 1998 team won the program's first D-I regular-season conference title by going 16-14 in WAC play to win the North Division. ^{[5] [6]}

Division II membership

When the WAC ended its affiliate membership arrangement, GCU opted to move to D-II rather than remaining a D-I team as an independent. The Lopes spent one year transitioning in 1999, officially classified as a D-I program but largely playing D-II schools. GCU officially joined the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 2000.

GCU announced an intent to return to NAIA in May 2003. ^[7] This hit a snag in April 2004, after the school's dire financial situation led the institution to turn to a for-profit model. NAIA bylaws did not allow such institutions, and GCU was forced to remain in the NCAA despite already withdrawing from the CCAA. ^[8] The program was forced to be a D-II independent while the university searched for financial stability and a conference home.

GCU's athletic department moved to the Pacific West Conference beginning in the 2006-07 academic year, however the conference did not sponsor baseball as an official sport until 2010. ^{[9] [10]}

Return to D-I

With exploding enrollment and financial stability, GCU announced an all-sport jump to D-I athletics in November 2012. ^[11] The baseball team would return to the WAC beginning in the 2014 season.

On May 10, 2024, GCU announced most of its sports would transition to the West Coast Conference in time for the 2026 baseball season. ^[12]

Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark

Main article: Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark

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. ^[13]

Head coaches

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. ^[14]

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

Records taken from the 2020 GCU baseball media guide. ^[15]

Statistics overview

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 [16]
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
2024	Gregg Wallis	34-23	23-7	1st	NCAA Tournament
Total:		499–442–3
National champion        Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Awards and honors (Division I only)

• Over their 11 discontinuous seasons in the Western Athletic Conference, 18 different Lopes have been named to the all-conference first-team.

All-Americans

Year	Position	Name	Selector
2023	SS	Jacob Wilson	CB

Freshman All-Americans

Pierson Ohl playing for the Wichita Wind Surge

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

Year	Position	Name
2017	OF	Garrison Schwartz
2018	OF	Quin Cotton
2024	OF	Tyler Wilson

Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year

Year	Position	Name
2021	SP	Pierson Ohl
2022	SP	Daniel Avitia

Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year

Year	Position	Name
2023	SS	Jacob Wilson

Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year

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

Year	Position	Name
2015	OF	Garrison Schwartz
2019	SP	Pierson Ohl
2022	SP	Daniel Avitia

Taken from the 2020 GCU baseball media guide. ^[15] Updated March 2, 2020.

Lopes in professional baseball

Draft history

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. ^[17]

On July 9, 2023, Jacob Wilson became the highest drafted player in program history when he went sixth overall to the Oakland Athletics. ^[18]

Major Leaguers

= 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. ^[15] Updated May 22, 2024.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I baseball programs

References

1. "Grand Canyon University Athletic Brand Standards". September 20, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
2. "NCAA conference timeline". Arizona Republic. 1989-07-09. p. 39. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
3. "Baseball WAC 1994". Arizona Republic. 1994-06-21. p. 35. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
4. "Baseball transition to D2". Arizona Republic. 1998-04-15. p. 20. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
5. "1998 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) - Standings - The Baseball Cube". TheBaseballCube.com. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
6. "Canyon defeats Air Force, clinches divisional crown". Grand Canyon University Athletics. 1998-05-03. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
7. "GCU returns to NAIA". Arizona Republic. 2003-05-02. p. 114. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
8. "GCU stays in NCAA". Arizona Republic. 2004-04-09. p. 150. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
9. "Pac West membership". Arizona Republic. 2006-03-31. p. 275. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
10. "PacWest History: Rebuilding Mode". thepacwest.com. 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
11. Marotta, Vince (2012-11-27). "Grand Canyon accepts invitation to Division I WAC". Arizona Sports. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
12. "West Coast Conference Adds Grand Canyon University and Seattle University as Members". wccsports.com. 2024-05-10. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
13. "Baseball vs Nevada on 2/18/22 - Box Score". GCULopes.com. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
14. "Baseball Head Coaching Records (Year-by-Year)". Grand Canyon University Athletics. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
15. "GCU Baseball Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved March 2, 2020.
16. "WAC Announces Cancellation of All Sports for Remainder of Academic Year" . Retrieved March 19, 2020.
17. "Baseball Lopes in the Pros". Grand Canyon University Athletics. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
18. "A's select Jacob Wilson, son of All-Star Jack, at No. 6". MLB.com. Retrieved 2024-05-23.