Box Score

Oakland, CA -- In the final game of their series against Central Washington University, the Academy of Art University baseball team got a strong performance from freshman Alex Kuisel in his first collegiate start, but a couple unearned runs proved to be the difference as the Wildcats won the series by sending the Urban Knights to a 5-2 loss. As they have in a few of their close losses this year, the Knights came back late and were threatening in the bottom of the ninth before Stuart Fewel finished off a complete game for Central Washington.

Kuisel (0-1) took the mound for the second time as an Urban Knight, but in his first start, and set down the Wildcats in order in the first two innings. In the bottom of the second, his offense gave him the lead after Daniel Skinner led off the inning with a double. Jordan Thomas then laid down a bunt, and with the pitcher falling down and the third-baseman back, put pressure on the defense, beating out the hit and forcing a bad throw by the third-baseman that allowed Skinner to score and the Knights were up 1-0.

The ART U freshman struck out Joe Castro to start the third, but a passed ball on Chucky Cavestany put him on base at first. Castro went to second on a balk, and after a pair of groundouts, the game was tied at 1-1. Both teams went down without a run in the fourth, but CWU got on the board in the fifth after a single an error, and a fielder's choice, and another error led to a pair of unearned runs for Kuisel, who was now down 3-1.

Central Washington added runs in the sixth and the seventh off of Kuisel, the first two runs to his record, while on the other side of the field the Knights were being shut down by Stuart Fewel, who allowed a couple singles but that was all. Dylan Rodrigues pitched a scoreless eighth for the Knights, who turned it around in their half to try and make a dent in Fewel's day. Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge singled through the left side, going to second on a groundout. Ryan Ramirez beat out an infield single, and Dante Redhead flied out deep to left, scoring Brackenridge to make it 5-2. Skinner followed with a two-out single, but Jordan Thomas struck out swinging to end the threat.

Maclane Brady gave up a leadoff single to Jesse White in the top of the ninth, but a nifty play by Skinner at first and then two flyouts ended the innning, and the Knights had one more chance. Cavestany started off with a 2-2 single into left field, and would advance to second on a wild pitch, but a flyout and a pair of groundouts finished off the complete game for Fewel, and the Urban Knights fell to 4-4 overall.

Brackenridge, Skinner, and Cavestany all had multi-hit games, while Kuisel ended with a strong line of 7.0 innings pitched and only two earned runs allowed. Kasey Bielec was the only Wildcat with two hits, while Jaykob Sells had a pair of RBIs. The Urban Knights will travel to Chico State for a four-game series next weekend.