Continuing our deep dive of each Mountain West baseball team now that the season is over, the newcomer in GCU is up next. When Grand Canyon joined the Mountain West for the 2026 season, there was optimism that the Lopes could immediately become a factor in the conference race. With a talented roster, proven coaching staff, and recent postseason pedigree, GCU entered the year expecting to compete for a conference tournament berth. Instead, the season became a frustrating exercise in inconsistency
that left the Lopes near the bottom of the standings when the dust settled.
The non-conference schedule was a loaded one, and the Lopes found some small success through conference play but just couldn’t stick. The season also included a head coaching change, with the program parting ways with Gregg Wallis and Nathan Bannister serving as the interim.
Record: GCU finished with a 21-30 record overall and an 11-13 conference record.
Highlights: The first highlight we’ll showcase is GCU’s series win over Fresno State in early April. After playing a series against Washington State and SDSU, the Lopes went into a matchup against Fresno State with a 1-5 conference record. At the time, Fresno State was winless through conference play, but the stigma around a failed season for the Dogs didn’t exist yet. GCU won that series 2-1 and it was the first true sign of life for the Lopes in a new conference.
While it’s not completely conference-related, GCU also had two weeks of winning, which included a series over Air Force and taking wins over BYU and Arizona. GCU also ended the season with an All-Mountain West First Team and Second Team player. 1B/OF Trevor Schmidt took the first team honors after hitting .373/.427/.737 with 11 homers. Pitcher Chase Frey made second team honors with a 4.79 ERA, 69 strikeouts and held opponents to a .229 batting average.
Lowlight: Losing the series to San Jose State 2-1 from May 1-3. Coming off that two-week hot streak, GCU traveled to San Jose to take on the Spartans, looking to continue building momentum in the conference standings. San Jose State was toward the bottom of the rankings, but the Spartans took the series 2-1. Looking ahead, GCU won its final two conferences series’ over New Mexico and Nevada, so a different outcome over SJSU could’ve put the Lopes in a different conversation.
Key stat: While the team ERA of 6.23 wasn’t pretty, it was the second-best in the conference. The Lopes pitching staff was also the best in avoiding free passes, only giving up 197 walks, which was the fewest in the Mountain West.
Season grade: C-
The expectations can’t be too high for a team joining a new conference, but there was plenty of preseason hype that GCU would be atop the Mountain West. Between a lackluster conference performance paired with a coaching change midway through the season, the Lopes’ season falls below average.
