1 0 • GCU TODAY
P
layers on Grand Canyon University’s baseball team
recite their goal like a mantra that has been ingrained
in their psyches.
Never mind batting averages or earned runs. Disregard
the last game’s box score. Ignore the pro scouts who
sometimes congregate in the seats behind home plate.
The team’s immediate goal is simple: win the Western Athletic
Conference, shock some established teams in the process and build the
framework for a program that can contend for the College World Series
when it becomes eligible in 2018.
When he took over before the 2012 season, former big-leaguer Andy
Stankiewicz brought a rebuilding mentality to the baseball program but took
the team to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in just his second
year as coach. Now, in its second year of the four-year transition process to
Division I, GCU has already established itself as one of the top teams in the
WAC and a team that can compete with anyone at the D-I level.
Since its inaugural season in the WAC last year, the baseball team
has played upset artist against top D-I opponents and placed players in
nationally recognized summer leagues. Meanwhile, Brazell Stadium has
developed a GCU Arena-like energy for home games, making it more
enjoyable for students and more aggravating for opponents.
Stankiewicz said the hooting, hollering and heckling from students
who have trekked to Brazell from their residence halls or classrooms
helps the team maintain its laser focus on winning the WAC.
“That’s kind of been the dream since we got here and why we loved
the idea of having the stadium right on campus. The louder they are, the
better,” said Stankiewicz, a longtime infielder who ended his seven-year
MLB career with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998.
GCU players talk about how, 20 years from now, whether they work
in baseball or not, they will reflect on being part of the teams that
reshaped the program.
Aside from the dream to play for throngs of enthusiastic fans, the
Lopes also consider the CWS in Omaha, Neb., an attainable long-
term goal. Stankiewicz played for Pepperdine from 1983 to 1986 and
appeared in the CWS regionals twice, though his club was eliminated by
Stanford and Arizona.
He later coached in Omaha as an assistant at Arizona State, but those
teams also fell short in national-title bids. Still, those experiences shaped
him as a competitor and coach.
“It’s something I’d love for the guys to experience someday,”
Stankiewicz said.
“It’s a dream of mine to take Grand Canyon to the College World
Series, and it should be a dream for every player and coach here.”
The WAC era
Moving up to D-I meant taking on stiffer competition, mainly in
nonconference games.
This season, the Lopes swept a three-game series at Cal Poly, which
made the CWS regionals in the past two seasons. At Brazell, GCU shut
out UNLV and split a two-game series with Kansas before losing six of
Expanding
Its Horizon
B Y M I C H A E L F E R R A R E S I
Baseball team looks
to bright future filled
with WAC titles,
national prominence
Breathtaking sunsets have become part of the
scene at Brazell Stadium, the Lopes’ home turf,
which provides a vibrant fan experience on the
Phoenix campus.
photos by darryl webb
