FIRST PITCH
• It's a five-game week on tap for the OUAZ baseball team, including the opening series of Golden State Athletic Conference play of the season. The week begins on Tuesday against No. 25 Benedictine Mesa on Royals Field 6 at 5 p.m.

• Hope International will then visit Surprise for the first GSAC series of the season on Friday and Saturday. The teams will play a nine-inning/seven-inning doubleheader each day. Friday's games will both be played at Royals 6 starting at 3 p.m. On Saturday, the teams will play game one at Valley Vista High School at 11 a.m. before moving to Royals 6 for game two at 3 p.m.

• OUAZ begins the week at 1-5 on the season and 1-4 at home. They have yet to play a game on Royals 6 this season, their normal home field when not in Surprise Stadium. 

• Benedictine Mesa will visit on Tuesday at 8-3 on the season after dropping two of three at Vanguard last weekend. The Redhawks are 10-2 all-time against the Spirit with a 6-2 record when playing at OUAZ.

• Hope International will bring a 6-3 record into the conference opener. The Royals are 0-1 on the road this season and they were picked to finish fourth in the GSAC this season. OUAZ is 0-5 all-time against the Royals and the teams have never played in Surprise.

HOW TO FOLLOW
• All of the games this week will be available live on the OUAZ Digital Network at OUAZSpirit.com/digital. They will also be available on the NAIA Network OTT app on Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku devices. Live stats will also be available for each game. Links for all live coverage are available at OUAZSpirit.com/live.

AT THE PLATE
• OUAZ begins the week batting .274 as a team with a .760 OPS. Their 9.83 hits per game rank third in the GSAC and they are second in the conference in averaging 0.50 triples per game.

• The Spirit have been successful in 18 of 21 stolen base attempts this season and their 3.00 stolen bases per game is second in the GSAC and 10th in the NAIA.

• Elijah Celaya used a 4 of 7 series against Park Gilbert to raise his season average to .462 which is good for second in the GSAC. Celaya leads the Spirit with three multi-hit games and he currently has a 1.280 OPS.

• Ben Lewis is batting .353 with a .971 OPS entering the week. He has a pair of multi-hit games and leads the team with seven runs scored. 

• Hunter Lessard has a team-high seven hits and carries a .304 batting average. He enters the week with a five-game hitting streak and with two multi-hit games. Lessard has driven in five runs and scored four runs.

• Adrian Salazar leads the club with seven RBI and he has a pair of multi-RBI games.

ON THE MOUND
• OUAZ will start the week with a team ERA at 6.92 while maintaining a 1.79 WHIP. Opponents are batting .305 off the Spirit pitchers with OUAZ averaging 6.75 strikeouts and 6.06 walks per nine innings.

• Gage Johnson (0-0) has posted a 1.86 ERA and 0.86 WHIP in his two starts. In 9.2 innings of work, Johnson is 31st in the NAIA by allowing 3.72 hits per nine innings and he holds the opposition to a .154 batting average.

• Taylor Campos (1-0) holds a 2.84 ERA and 1.07 WHIP through two starts. Campos is coming off one of best starts in program history in allowing one run on four hits with seven strikeouts in a school-record eight innings last Friday.

• Myles White will enter the week having thrown four straight scoreless inning in relief to lower his ERA to 4.15. he is allowing opponents to hit .250 while recording 6.28 strikeouts per nine innings.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
• Benedictine Mesa is 12th in the NAIA by averaging 11.09 hits per game and they rank 42nd in scoring 7.36 runs per game. The Redhawks maintain a 5.83 ERA and they record 8.18 strikeouts per nine innings.

• Travis Hunt is batting .419 with a 1.436 OPS on the strength of three doubles, one triple, and three home runs. Michael Avilucea is batting .364 with three home runs and 14 RBI.

• Tyler Jacobsen is 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA in three starts this season. He ranks 26th in the NAIA at 0.59 walks per nine innings. Tyler Hilton leads the team with 15.2 innings pitched with a 6.32 ERA.  

• Hope International is hitting .287 as a team while posting a .800 OPS in scoring 6.22 runs per game. The Royals 3.27 ERA is 28th in the NAIA and they are 25th with a .216 opponents batting average.

• Robert Mattei leads the GSAC with his .464 batting average and he has posted five multi-hit games and seven RBI. Kent Burckel is batting .444 and enters the week on a four-game hitting streak in which he has gone 6 for 9 at the plate.

• Jason Dressel (2-0) leads the team with 12 innings pitched in three relief outings. He holds a 2.25 ERA and .179 opponents batting average. Hector Garcia (2-0) is yet to allow a run in 6.2 innings and maintains a .095 opponents average while posting 18.89 strikeouts per nine innings.

LOOKING AHEAD
• The Spirit will close out their 14-game home stand with six games next week, starting with a two-game series against Okanagan on February 18-19.

• OUAZ will then host a GSAC series against No. 14 William Jessup on February 21-22.