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Oakland, CA -- Behind the two arms that carried them to one of their best seasons last year, the Academy of Art University baseball team pitched their way past American Sports University and captured the first two wins of the season. It was a chilly night in Oakland but the Urban Knight bats and arms stayed hot as they swept the Eagles in the twinbill, 6-2 behind Aaron Garabedian and 13-0 in support of Nate Gercken.


"It was great to get a couple of wins under our belt and start off the year with some momentum," said head coach Brian Guinn. "We got our pitchers throwing strikes, we had a lot of guys get their first hits of the year, and I think all of our guys played hard out there today."

In the opener, it was the Eagles who got the first hit of the game in the opening frame, but the Urban Knights got on the board and drew first blood. Dante Redhead led off the bottom of the second with a single, and newcomer Daniel Skinner followed with a rap through the right side. Catcher Chucky Cavestany laid down a great bunt and beat it out to load the bases, after a fielder's choice erased Redhead at home, junior Jordan Thomas hit a ball to center that was deep enough to score Skinner from third, and ART U took a 1-0 lead.

They lengthened it in the third, when last year's leading hitter Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge singled to right field. He promptly stole second and went to third on a groundout. Ryan Ramirez walked, and then Redhead came up big with an RBI single through the right side. Then with two outs, Cavestany singled into right, driving in Ramirez to make it 3-0.

ART U added more, as Thomas would double and then score on a Brackenridge groundout in the fourth, and the Urban Knights rallied again in the fifth. Redhead hit a triple that rattled around in the right-field corner to lead off the inning, scoring on a groundout from Skinner. Brackenridge had a swinging bunt to the pitcher with the bases loaded that scored a run, and the Knights were then up 6-0.

On the mound, Garabedian was cruising until the sixth inning. A pair of singles sandwiched around a great defensive play by Brackenridge scored the first run for the Eagles, prompting Guinn to go to the bullpen and bring in sophomore Drew Keeler. Keeler allowed two walks and a hit batsman that scored the second run of the game, but recovered to finish the inning. Another newcomer Maclane Brady came in for the seventh inning and made quick work of the American Sports University batters, throwing only 12 pitches and notching a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to secure the win.

Redhead and Cavestany each had three hits for the Knights, while Brackenridge and Skinner also had multi-hit games. Garabedian (1-0) picked up the win after 5.1 innings of work, notching four strikeouts, while Ramiro Perez (0-1) took the loss. Francisco Cuebas had a pair of hits for the Eagles.


Junior Nate Gercken took the hill in the nightcap and picked up right where he left off last season. The 6-6 right-hander breezed through the Eagles lineup in the first and the second innings, striking out three over that span. The Knights broke it open early in the second inning against Dante Vigiletti. Sophomore Greg Ivory got his first hit, knocking in a run, followed by a single by Thomas that drove in two more. Brackenridge had a sac fly, Joseph Marchini drove in another run when he beat out a bad throw, Ryan Ramirez singled, and when the dust settled the Knights were up 6-0 after two.

After the layoff, Gercken went right back to work, mowing down the Eagles on seven pitches in the third and picking up his fifth strikeout. In the bottom of the inning, the Knights started off with four straight singles. Brackenridge added another sacrifice fly, and Marchini and Ramirez each followed with singles before Redhead drove in another run on a fielder's choice, and ART U had a commanding 10-0 lead.

In the American Sports fourth, the Eagles got their first baserunner on come backer that Gercken threw just wide of first, but he recovered to get a flyout and a groundout to end the threat. Academy of Art picked up one more in the bottom of the inning, when Jordan Thomas walked and was replaced by Cody Edmunds on the basepaths. Daniel Robertson was hit by a pitch, and following a Brackenridge single that loaded the bases, Marchini had a sac fly that made it an 11-0 ballgame.

Gercken set the Eagles down in order in the fifth, and the Knights would add two more in their half, getting RBIs from Decker and Robertson. In the sixth, Gercken ran into the most trouble he'd get into on the day, with an error and a single eventually creating a second and third situation for ASU, but he caught Justin Sullivan looking at a pitch to strand the runners, pick up his record-tying ninth strikeout, and finish six shutout innings.

Freshmen Dylan Rodrigues and Josh Lopez pitched a scoreless seventh for the Knights, who rapped out 13 hits against the Eagles' pitching. Ramirez (2-5), Ivory (2-3), Thomas (2-2), and Daniel Gutierrez (2-2) had multi-hit games in the night game, while Thomas had a game-high three RBIs. Kevin Decker had three runs scored despite only picking up one hit.

The two teams will play again in the series finale on Sunday at 5:00 PM.