The toughest 1-5 team there is? That's where Lopes' Head Coach Rich Warnol's vote would go.
 
The Grand Canyon University Club Baseball team staved off numerous San Diego State University rallies over the span of 26 innings to come away with its third consecutive three-game sweep of the National Club Baseball Association Southern Pacific South Conference season, defeating the Aztecs, 11-10 (in 10 innings) and 16-13 during Saturday's doubleheader; then pulling away late Sunday for a 10-5 victory at Colter Baseball Field on the GCU campus. The sweep kept the Lopes a perfect 9-0 in conference play (with six games left to play) and on top of the standings, while dropping the scrappy Aztecs to 1-5 in SoPac South play. 
 
Game 1 (Saturday):  GCU 11, San Diego State 10 (F/10)
 
Despite only eight hits, the Aztecs kept things interesting throughout the morning game, since even though the Lopes never trailed, a trio of four-run GCU leads disappeared. The Lopes converted a total of six singles and two walks into four runs over the first three innings to take a 4-0 lead, then matched the Aztecs' two-run fourth inning in the bottom half to keep a 6-2 edge. Then it was SDSU's turn to use what they were given, pairing just two hits with four hit batsmen and an error to score four runs in the 6^th and tie it. The Lopes again matched them in the bottom half of the inning – thanks to back-to-back doubles from Kyo Osato and Rhys Davis - to go along with a single, a walk and a hit batter. The 10-6 lead again vanished quickly as the Aztecs chased Lopes' starter Wyatt Laub in the 7^th, using three singles, three walks and two more GCU errors to tie it at 10-10 and send it to extra innings (after 7). The pitching calmed down to keep the stalemate intact until the 10^th when – after stranding SDSU's potential game-winning run at 2^nd base in the top half – Lopes' 1^st baseman Sam Ott led off the bottom of the 10^th with a walk, stole second, and then came home on Braeden Coloma's one-out single to left-center field to win it. GCU's Luis Escamilla fanned five Aztecs' hitters in three innings of one-hit relief work to get the win, while Ott, Santiago Zuniga and Bryce Arana paced the Lopes' 14-hit attack with three hits each. Osato also knocked in four runs.
 
Game 2 (Saturday):  GCU 16, San Diego State 13
 
In the nightcap, the Lopes built even larger leads, owning five-run cushions twice, and still found no comfort in that. A 7-2 Lopes' edge was wiped out in the 4^th inning by a 5-run Aztecs' barrage – highlighted by a 3-run blast off the bat of Leon Archeta-Garcia. After Zuniga's two-run single gave the Lopes the lead back in the bottom half of the frame, the Aztecs took their only lead of the day with a four-run 5^th for an 11-9 edge. Finally, the Lopes' pitching responded, keeping SDSU's offense at bay while the Lopes peppered Aztecs' pitching with four in the bottom of the 5^th (highlighted by an Ott solo homer) and three more runs in the 6^th (including a 2-run double from Koa Manintin) to take the lead for good. SDSU scored two in the 7^th, but never brought the potential tying run to the plate. Manintin led the Lopes' offensive charge with a 3-for-5 outing, knocking in three and scoring twice; while Zuniga reached base all five times he came to the plate, going 2-for-2 with three walks, three stolen bases, two runs scored and two RBI.
 
Game 3 (Sunday):  GCU 10, San Diego State 5
 
It may have been the most lopsided final score of the series, but it was the Lopes' most difficult win, since they trailed throughout the first six innings, and didn't actually lead until the eighth.
 
The Aztecs scored in three of the first four innings to take a 5-2 lead before the Lopes bounced back with a run in the 5^th and a pair of unearned runs in the 6^th to knot it up at 5-5. That helped Ott, the Lopes' starting pitcher, get stingy as he retired the final 10 Aztec hitters to face him before leaving after eight innings still tied. The Lopes gave him the win by exploding in the bottom half of the eighth, sending 10 men to the plate, hitting four singles and taking advantage of two SDSU errors to score five runs. That was more than enough for Escamilla to finish off what Ott started, retiring the side in order in the 9^th inning to ice the win. Ott struck out eight SDSU hitters while allowing four earned runs in eight complete innings to get the W, and helped his own cause by going 3-for-5 at the plate and scoring three times.
 
The Lopes also solidified their #10 national ranking a week later by posting three straight wins at the non-conference NCBA Swing Into Spring Tournament in Henderson, Nevada, taming 14^th-ranked UCLA and 18^th-ranked Boise State University along the way.

The Lopes' conference schedule is now down to two three-game series, beginning next weekend (April 15-16) in San Diego, California, against 2^nd-place UC-San Diego. The Lopes will finish off the regular season schedule in high fashion, playing their only series of the season at the home of the Lopes' NCAA Baseball squad - Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark - on Saturday and Sunday, April 29 and 30 against the University of Arizona. Saturday will feature only one nine-inning game that weekend, while the two seven-inning doubleheader games will be played on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 10AM both days, and admission is FREE.