PHOENIX – It all comes down to this.

California Baptist University and Grand Canyon will play for the 2021 Western Athletic Conference Regular Season Baseball Championship this weekend in Arizona. Both teams go in with identical 27-5 conference records and have left the rest of the league at least seven games behind them.

A series win will give one team the title outright, while a series split would mean the Lancers and Lopes are co-champions, as there is no tiebreaker to determine regular-season champions in the WAC. 

This is all very reminiscent of CBU's final weekend to the 2019 WAC season when the conference title was on the line in its series at NM State. The Lancers won that series with a 9-4 win on the final day of the regular season to clinch a share of the conference championship with NMSU and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

CBU comes into this week on a 10-game road winning streak and has won 16 of its last 18 games to give the Lancers a 35-13 overall record.

Grand Canyon is on a similar run of strength, as it has won eight-straight games and nine straight at home at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark. The Lopes at 18-10 at home overall this year, including an 11-3 mark in WAC play.

WHERE THE TRANSITION RANKS
CBU went 35-20 and won a share of the WAC title in its first Division I season in 2019 and had the 2020 campaign cut short after 15 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancers' 35 wins ranked third out of 49 teams who have made the move to D-I since 1998.

This year, CBU's 35 wins account for the second most by a program in its second full D-I season over that time span. Florida Gulf Coast's 36 wins in 2009 are the most by a second-year Division I team.

The Lancers have gone 69-33 in their first two full D-I seasons (2019 and 2021), which are the third most wins by a program in its first two full D-I seasons. Dallas Baptist's 76-39 and Florida Gulf Coast's 74-33 records are the only two with more wins through their first two full Division I campaigns.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING
After having their senior seasons cut short in 2020, John Glenn and Matt Amrhein returned for another run with the Lancers and are looking to set as much history as possible before their careers come to a close.
 
Amrhein became CBU's all-time career leader in appearances when he made his 82^nd in Sunday's start in New Mexico. He ranks seventh in Lancer history with eight career saves, 12^th with 18 victories and 13^th with a 3.07 earned-run average. In the NCAA era, he ranks first in appearances, third in saves and wins, seventh in strikeouts (152), eighth in innings pitched (161.1) and ERA and ninth in batting average against (.234).
 
Glenn is one RBI away from becoming the Lancers' all-time leader in RBI. He had eight RBI last weekend in New Mexico to match CBU's career leader in RBI Aaron Seuss (2005-07) with 186. He is not far off two other all-time records, as he ranks second in program history with 833 at-bats (35 off the lead) and 406 total bases (20 off the lead).

The first baseman also ranks fifth in hits (270), seventh in doubles (46), ninth in home runs (29) and 16^th in walks (58) all time. In the NCAA era, Glenn is the career leader in hits, RBI, doubles, total bases, at-bats, games played (220) and games started (210). He ranks second in runs (141), fourth in home runs, sixth in stolen bases (18), seventh in batting average (.324) and eighth in walks.
 
SPOHN'S HOT STREAK HEATS UP
Harrison Spohn earned his second WAC Hitter of the Week award on Monday. It's his second of the season, CBU's fourth Hitter of the Week distinction and its sixth weekly week award on the year. Spohn was a major factor in CBU's sweep at NM State over the weekend in Las Cruces. He hit .611 (11-for-18), slugged 1.056 with four extra-base hits, including two home runs. He scored seven times and had six runs batted in and two stolen bases.

Spohn had multiple hits in all four games, including three three-hit games. His best performance was a 3-for-4 outing that included two home runs, three RBI, three runs scored and a double in a seven-inning 11-6 win on Saturday.

It gives Spohn a nine-game hitting streak going into this week, but he's been on a major tear even before that. Over CBU's last 17 games, Spohn has 32 hits for a .451 batting average (32-for-71), .690 slugging percentage and .467 on-base percentage to go along with 11 doubles, 17 RBI, 16 runs scored and six stolen bases.

It has brought his season totals to a .304 batting average (55-for-181) with 29 RBI, 28 runs scored, 17 doubles, nine stolen bases and three homers.

SERIES INFORMATION
Opponent: Grand Canyon
Dates/Times: Thursday, May 20 (6 p.m.); Friday, May 21 (2 p.m.); Saturday, May 22 (1 p.m.)
Location: Phoenix (Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark)
Tickets: Game 1 | Games 2-3 | Game 4
CBU Radio: Sidearm – Game 1 | Games 2-3 | Game 4
Live Stats: StatBroadcast – Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4
Video: WAC Digital Network – Game 1 | Games 2-3 | Game 4

LOPES AT A GLANCE
Grand Canyon entered the Collegiate Baseball Top-30 rankings in NCAA Division I, as it debuted at No. 29 this week. GCU has won seven consecutive four-game series in the WAC and are 20-3 since April. The Lopes are one of only 13 teams nationally to rank in the top 50 in batting average (35^th, .292) and ERA (42^nd, 4.00).

The Lopes have six regular players with at least 90 at-bats who are hitting .320 or above this season. Elijah Buries and Tayler Aguilar lead the offense with .366 and .359 batting averages, while Jonny Weaver (.337), Brock Burton (.332), Channy Ortiz (.323) and Tyler Wilson (.320) add to GCU's offensive depth. Buries, Aguilar, Burton, Ortiz and Weaver all slug above .480, as well.  

Starting pitching has perhaps been Grand Canyon's greatest strength. Pierson Ohl is the ace with an 8-1 record, 2.69 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and .204 BAA on the year. He's thrown six complete games and 88 strikeouts to just 10 walks in 13 appearances and 12 starts over 80.1 innings.

Carter Young has been just as vexing for opposing offenses. He's 7-0 with a 1.79 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and .242 BAA, with 51 strikeouts in in 60.1 innings over 12 appearances and 11 starts.

Zach Barnes has made 12 starts this year and has a 4.92 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 64 innings, while Dawson McCarville is the only other Lope to start at least six games. He has a 4-2 record, 3.10 ERA and 1.20 WHIP.

Frankie Scalzo is GCU's closer, with nine saves on the season. He has a 2.63 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and .209 BAA in a team-high 20 appearances. Coen Wynne has made 17 appearances out of the bullpen, as well, and has maintained a 3.03 ERA, 1.11 WHIP. Nick Hull is another dangerous reliever with a 1.71 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and .174 BAA over 14 appearances and 26.1 innings.