BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Bellevue University baseball coach Duane Monlux announced today the signing of Chaz Lopez (Auburn, Wash./Colorado-Mesa/Clark College/Pacific Lutheran) to a National Letter of Intent to continue his baseball and academic careers at Bellevue beginning in the fall.
Lopez comes to BU after most recently attending Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colo. where he spent time as an outfielder and third baseman for the Mavericks. Prior to Colorado Mesa, Lopez began his career as a pitcher at Division III Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland, Wash.) before splitting time between the outfield and pitcher's mound at Clark College (Vancouver, Wash.) in 2018.
As an outfielder at Clark and Colorado Mesa, Lopez hit a combined .300/.363/.482 with an OPS of .845 while totaling 21 extra-base hits, 30 RBI, 34 runs scored, and eight stolen bases. During his time on the bump at Pacific Lutheran and Clark, he pitched to a 6-4 record and posted a 4.64 ERA across 62 innings of work. He struck out 55 batters and limited opponents to a .238 average.
Coach Monlux on Lopez:
"Chaz is a senior two-way player that we are really pumped about. He was a very good two-way guy when he was at Clark College in Washington. He was very solid on the mound and hit for both average and power. We think he can come in and be a key part of our time this coming spring."
Lopez joins earlier signees Andrew Ishii (Salem, Ore./Chemeketa CC), Josh Vaughan (Boise, Idaho/College of the Siskiyous), Charlie Patterson (Eugene, Ore./Lane CC), Josh Jespersen (Fremont, Calif./Canada College), McGrane Pledger (Walnut Creek, Calif./Laney College), Ty Jordan (Roswell, N.M./Otero JC), Payton Higgins (Enoch, Utah/Treasure Valley CC), and Zach Diehl (Eugene, Ore./Tacoma CC) in the Bruins' 2019 recruiting class.
Bellevue concluded the 2019 season with a 48-16 overall record and 23-1 mark in NSAA play. The Bruins closed the year by winning 41 of their final 44 games en route to earning the program's 14th Avista NAIA World Series Appearance. BU claimed both the NSAA Regular-Season and Tournament titles before going on to win the NAIA Opening Round – Shreveport Bracket.
Previous College Stats:
Hitting
| Season | GP | AVG | OBP | SLG | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | Runs | SB |
| 2018 (Clark) | 43 | .308 | .372 | .494 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 25 | 33 | 8-12 |
| 2019 (Colorado Mesa) | 8 | .214 | .267 | .357 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0-0 |
| Career | 51 | .300 | .363 | .482 | 16 | 0 | 5 | 30 | 34 | 8-12 |
Pitching
| Season | APP | GS | W-L | ERA | SV | IP | SO | BB |
| 2017 (Pac. Lutheran) | 11 | 3 | 0-3 | 5.94 | 0 | 16.2 | 13 | 17 |
| 2018 (Clark) | 9 | 9 | 6-1 | 4.16 | 0 | 45.1 | 42 | 20 |
| Career | 20 | 12 | 6-4 | 4.64 | 0 | 62.0 | 55 | 37 |