Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Oakland, CA -- After battling all series long to get that final push, the Academy of Art University baseball team definitely earned their series split with the squad from University of Hawaii at Hilo. After Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge was a triple away from the cycle in a tough 5-4 loss in the first game, the Urban Knights clutched up in the finale, getting a walk off single from Maclane Brady to earn a 4-3 win and split the series 2-2.

Like yesterday's series opener, the Urban Knights got on the board first in their half of the first inning. Brackenridge singled up the middle for his first hit of the day, and Cody Edmunds followed by reaching on an error by the second-baseman. After a sacrifice bunt by Joseph Marchini, Chucky Cavestany grounded out to short, driving in a run, and Daniel Skinner drove a ball up the middle for another RBI, his 11th of the year, and it was 2-0 Knights after the first inning.

They would add another in the second on a single by Daniel Gutierrez and a double from Brackenridge, his team-leading seventh of the year, to go up 3-0. But errors, which would end up plaguing both teams, got to starter Nate Gercken (1-6) and the Knights in the third. The inning started with an error by Jordan Thomas at third, with Gercken himself throwing the ball away on a sacrifice bunt attempt. B.J. Freitas followed with a double to right center, scoring two unearned runs, and he scored on a single to right, tying the game up at 3-3.

Hilo would add two more unearned runs in the fifth inning, when a throw by the first-baseman Skinner got away and allowed a run to score. A sacrifice fly from Jonathan James made it 5-3, and all five of the runs given up by Gercken were unearned.

ART U would have their chances down the stretch. In the very next inning, Brackenridge got the third leg of the cycle with his second career home run, a screamer that hit about halfway up the protective netting at Laney College, that made it 5-4. They almost tied the game when Marchini singled, stole second, and went to third on an error, but a groundout ended the rally. Academy of Art had more runners on later on, loading the bases in the seventh (double play), getting a two-out single in the eighth, and having the tying run on second in the ninth, but were unable to get the tying run home.


Into the second game, the Urban Knights sent one of their stellar freshmen, Josh Lopez, to the hill to counter Hilo's crafty left-hander Seamus Yoneshige. Both pitchers got through the first inning allowing a hit but erasing the baserunner, as ART U's right fielder Daniel Robertson hosed Edison Sakata tagging up from second to third base and Yoneshige picked off Marchini after a single for the Knights.

Lopez worked out of trouble in the second, working out of a bases loaded, two out situation by inducing a ground ball to second base. But the Knights broke through, as they also loaded the bases with two outs before Robertson contributed on offense this time, hitting a bases-clearing double over the left-fielder to give ART U a 3-0 lead. It stayed that way until there were two outs in the top of the fourth, and even though Lopez got thre first two outs on only four pitches, the Vulcans started making contact and hitting it hard. Keenan Nishioka, Harrison Guiol, and Ryan Fukunaga hit three straight doubles, and Sakata singled in the tying run to make it 3-3.

The score remained tied as Yoneshige set the Knights down in order in the fourth and allowing singles in the fifth and the sixth. Lopez retired the Vulcans 1-2-3 in the fifth and retired the first two batters in the sixth inning before surrendering a single to Guiol. Head coach Brian Guinn went to the bullpen, bringing in Brandon Poulson, who walked a batter, and then Aaron Garabedian, who came out in relief for the third time this year.

Garabedian (2-4), who had struggled in the rotation lately, looked comfortable in the role on Saturday, getting out of the inning unscathed. He would cruise through the top of the seventh as well, and when the game went to extra innings, he struck out the final two batters in the eighth frame to put the Knights in good position for some late-inning heroics.

And heroics there were, as Daniel Skinner went to the opposite field with power as he has many times this year, doubling with one out to left-center off of closer Michael Slifer (0-2). Freshman Daniel Gutierrez pinch ran for him, and with two strikes on him, first-baseman Maclane Brady ripped a single to left field. Gutierrez, who didn't have a big lead off of second, streaked around third and was able to slide in safely underneath a high throw from the relay man, and the Knights had their second walk off win in as many home series, taking a 4-3 victory to split the weekend.

Brackenridge had the big 4-for-5 mark in the first game, scoring twice and driving in two, while Kevin Decker had a pair of hits in the opener. In the closing game, Marchini was 2-for-4 while Brady also went 2-for-4 with the game-winning hit and a double. Garabedian went 2.1 scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts in relief. The Knights will be back in action on Tuesday and Wednesday, playing a pair of doubleheaders against another Hawaiian representative in Hawaii Pacific University.