Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Meg Williams)

Oakland, CA -- The Urban Knights baseball team was itching to get back on the field for Opening Day, but their road to success in 2012 definitely started out with an uphill climb against last year's PacWest champion Dixie State. The Knights showed off some of their new arms, and also displayed their offensive ability in the twinbill, but fell to the visiting Red Storm 10-6 and 9-3 at Laney College on Thursday.

Game one featured timely offense by both teams, with the Urban Knights and the Red Storm putting up big innings to put their respective teams ahead. The starters for each team showed a little bit of the Opening Day jitters, but had their dominant moments to show how pitching-rich the PacWest can be.

The first game had a veritable highlight reel in the first inning, as the Red Storm got a one-out bunt single from second-baseman Colton Yack. Yack advanced to second on a wild pitch, and two batters later, Preseason All-PacWest Player of the Year Tyson Littlewood homered on a 1-2 pitch to left field to put Dixie up 2-0. Knights starter Zach Mexicano got the next batter to fly out to center, and the home team came out with an answer.

Johnathan Robbins, who ranks third on the all-time walks list for Academy of Art, took a free pass to start the inning. The next batter, Niko Leite, hit a long drive to right field that was just out of the reach of the Dixie State right-fielder, and he ended up at third base with an RBI triple.

That's when Dixie starter Mike Dedrick got a little wild. ART U second baseman Zach Babitt was subsequently drilled between the numbers, and on a wild pitch, both Babitt and Leite advanced, tying up the score at 2-2. After a single by Preseason All-PacWest third baseman Kenny Rollins, Jr., Dedrick issued a balk, which brought in Babitt and moved Rollins to third after he stole second. The Knights continued the rally when Jared DePatto singled to center, scoring Rollins, and the home team had a 4-2 lead after one.

Dixie State added a run in the third inning and one in both the sixth and seventh innings to go up 5-4. The threat could have been worse, but in the sixth, freshman Myles Babitt came in with two runners on and got Garrett Nash to fly into a double play to end the inning. In the bottom of the seventh, however, the Knights struck back, and all with two outs. Robbins singled and promptly stole second, and came home on the ensuing single by Leite, advancing to second on the throw.

Leite then stole third off of new Dixie pitcher Jason Holmes, and then Zach Babitt doubled to right field to recapture the lead for the Knights 6-5. The Knights could have had more, but Jordan Blanchard, the third pitcher of the inning for the Red Storm, got some help from his third-baseman Kata Yuto on a scorcher from ART U catcher James Singzon to end the inning.

The eighth inning proved problematic for the Urban Knights, as Dixie State followed up with a two-out rally of their own. Hutchings quickly got the first two batters to fly out, but then ran into some trouble, giving up a single and a walk. New addition Ryan Donahoe came in for the Knights, but had a wild pitch, an intentional walk, an error, and a hit batter to set the table for a three-run double by Joe Andrade to give the Red Storm a 10-6 lead that they didn't relinquish.

Hutchings (0-1) picked up the tough-luck loss while Leite and DePatto both had multi-hit games for the Knights. Robbins was on base twice and scored both times, and Leite led the way with two RBIs. Mexicano had a solid start in his first game of 2012, going 5.1 innings and striking out three.

In Game Two the Red Storm again got out to a good start against redshirt freshman Nate Gercken. Gercken plunked Nash with the second pitch of the inning, and later it was Andrade again with the big double to give Dixie the early 3-0 advantage.

But the Urban Knights again answered the bell, as Robbins tripled to lead off the home half of the inning, scoring on an infield single by Leite. Bryce Anderson, the pitcher for the Red Storm, balked on a pick off throw and then issued back-to-back walks to Babitt and Rollins to load the bases. Anderson then got himself into more hot water, throwing the ball down the left-field line on a pick-off attempt to allow two more runs to score and tie up at 3-3.

The Red Storm got two more on the board in the third and then two more in the fourth, as Anderson started to settle down against the ART U offense. Dixie scored seven runs total against Gercken (0-1), but the 6-6 Pinole Valley did get his first two strikeouts as an Urban Knight. The Knights put together a good scoring chance in the bottom of the sixth, with Rollins leading off against the new pitcher Justin Jarvis. Jarvis issued the third balk of the day for the Red Storm, and then Stefen Henderson singled to make it a two-on, two-out situation. But Jarvis got Wade Broadstreet to pop out to shortstop to end the threat.

Brandon Kistler was solid in his first appearance in 2012, working three innings and only allowing one earned run. Leite continued to hit for the Knights, going 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI, the only multi-hit performance of the second game. Academy of Art did continue their tradition of running constantly on their opponents, stealing eight bases over the course of the day.