Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Chico, CA -- After starting off the season with a string of impressive offensive performances, the Academy of Art University baseball team was rendered ineffective by the Chico State pitching staff, falling in a pair of close shutouts in Saturday's doubleheader. Nate Gercken pitched a gem but took a tough-luck loss in on an unearned run in a 1-0 contest in the opener, while the Knights outhit the Wildcats but just couldn't get the runs across in a 3-0 loss in the late game. 

Gercken (1-2) had come into today's opener continuing to impress, and kept that streak going against a good Wildcats team. The 6'6 right-hander started off throwing four shutout innings, using some luck to get around a couple miscues by the Knights. In the fourth inning a pair of errors from Dante Redhead gave the Wildcats runners on first and second with one out, but Gercken got Kenny Corona to ground into a double play that had Eric Angerer out on runners interference to end the threat.

Meanwhile, the Knights got single hits in each of the first five innings but were unable to get anyone across. Daniel Skinner had a ground-rule double that one-hopped over the 375 sign in right-center, and Cody Edmunds used a sacrifice bunt and a steal to get to third in the fifth inning, but that was as close as the Knights would get.

Chico State did get on the board against Gercken on another error, this time by Gercken himself in the fifth. After a groundout, Cody Slader reached on a throwing error and went all the way to third base. Ryne Clark singled him in, and that was the first and only run of the game.

On the other side of the ball, Wildcats pitcher Marcos Lara (4-0) settled in for the rest of the way, shutting the Knights down and retiring the final 14 batters to secure the shutout. Gercken went 6.1 innings with zero earned runs, but that one run was the difference in the game. Paul Durbak and Maclane Brady also tossed scoreless innings in relief. 


Nick Boyett (1-1) looked to rebound from a rough outing last week and did so against one of the best teams in the West Region. Boyett, who couldn't get out of the first inning against Central Washington, dispatched the Wildcats in order in the first and worked around a single in the second, not allowing a run until third, when Blake Walker tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly to put Chico up 1-0.

At the plate, ART U continued to get guys on base but couldn't scratch one across. The Urban Knights got three hits in the third inning, getting three straight singles from Kevin Decker, Daniel Robertson, and Jordan Thomas, but Decker was thrown out at home trying to score to keep the Knights off the scoreboard.

Chico State added a pair in the fourth inning, with one being charged to Boyett's record and the other to Yoshi Uemura, who gave up a single and hit a batter. Brandon Poulson came in, and after three wild pitches, the big righty settled in for the remainder, striking out a pair to keep the Wildcats lead at 3-0 heading to the fifth.

Cody Edmunds got the start at third in the second game and capitalized, getting two hits, the second to lead off the fifth inning. After a sac bunt, Edmunds got the third on a ground ball, but Robertson struck out and the Knights had another runner stranded on third. In the sixth, Academy of Art got another single from Marchini, who extended his hitting streak to seven games, but was erased on a double play. ART U went down in order in the seventh, and Chico escaped with a narrow 3-0 victory behind another complete game shutout, this time by Brad Lohse (2-0).

The Knights out-hit the Wildcats (6 to 3), with Edmunds having the only multi-hit day. Poulson had four strikeouts in 2.2 scoreless innings to keep his ERA at a flawless 0.00 in 5.2 innings. Lohse struck out four for Chico State, while Cody Slader had the game's only RBI.

ART U will have one more chance to take one from the Wildcats on Sunday at 11:00 AM.