Box Score Oakland, CA -- Continuing their trend of winning games with a flair for the dramatic, the Academy of Art University baseball team walked off for their second time in three days with an extra-inning win over St. Katherine College. The Urban Knights jumped out to a big lead on Monday afternoon, but mistakes proved costly as the Firebirds came back to tie, sending it all the way to the 11th before
Daniel Robertson stroked the game-winning hit.
The Urban Knights drew first blood against a pitcher and a team that they had never seen before. Kalani Brackenridge walked to lead off the game, stealing second and going to third on a throwing error.
Joseph Marchini then grounded out to bring him in for the first run of the game. But the Knights weren't finished, as
Chucky Cavestany doubled to left-center and scored on an RBI single by
Daniel Skinner, who drove in his team-leading 17th RBI of the season that put his team up 2-0.
ART U would score another pair of runs in the second off of starter Alec Gardea, as
Jordan Thomas led off the inning with a single. He went to second on a pitch that flew to the backstop, and after
Daniel Gutierrez struck out swinging, Brackenridge tripled to right field, scoring the run. Marchini then followed with a sacrifice fly, and the Knights had a 4-0 lead.
Meanwhile,
Aaron Garabedian started the game off by retiring the first 10 Firebirds to come to bat. Efrain Medina drew a walk in the fourth for the first baserunner, but that was all through four innings. In that same frame, the Knights added two more runs, once again starting out with Thomas singling to left. He went to second on a throwing error, and to third on a fly ball to center. With two outs, Marchini singled through the left side for an RBI, and after he and Gutierrez executed a double steal, Cavestany singled through the left side to make it a 6-0 ballgame.
The fifth is where things went a little haywire for the Knights. An error started off the inning, and after Garabedian struck out the next batter, Artie Tressler walked. After Jamie Vega got the first hit of the game, a single through the left side to load the bases with one out, Demetrios Philippou singled in the first run of the game. Patrick de la Garza then lifted a fly ball to right field, but it was botched by
Maclane Brady, allowing another run to score before Medina cleared the bases with a double to make it 6-5, with all five runs coming unearned to Garabedian's record.
The Urban Knights wasted literally no time getting one of those runs back, as
Ryan Ramirez blasted a home run to left-center field to make it 7-5, but St. Katherine added a run of their own on a triple to center that chased Garabedian and a double by Tressler off the top of the wall in left-center off of
Drew Keeler that made it 7-6. The Firebirds would tie the game in the seventh when Tony Alvarez doubled, going to third base on a balk by Keeler. After falling behind to the next batter, head coach Brian Guinn went to the bullpen mid-at bat, and
Josh Lopez gave up an RBI single to tie the game at 7-7 before settling in.
That's the way the game stayed until the end. The Knights had a chance in the eighth when Thomas led off with a triple, but three grounders to a drawn in infield made it impossible to score. They had a pair of infield hits in the ninth, but
Cody Edmunds struck out swinging to end that threat. Both teams went down in order in the 10th, and Lopez set the Firebirds down in the 11th, sending the game to the bottom of the inning.
It looked like the game was heading to a twelfth inning, as Marchini and Cavestany made two quick outs against Trevor Collins, who had come in to relieve Gardea back in the sixth inning. But Skinner was hit by a pitch, and Ramirez walked, bringing up
Daniel Robertson, who had come in as a defensive replacement back in the eighth. After falling behind 0-2, Robertson got a low pitch on the outer half of the plate and took it the other way, shooting the gap between the center fielder and the right fielder. Skinner scored all the way from second, and the Knights ran out to dog pile their latest hero in short left field.
Lopez (2-3) ended up earning the win in relief, while Thomas (3-4, 2R, BB) and Ramirez (3-5, HR, BB) each had three-hit games for the Urban Knights. Marchini had three RBIs, while Cavestany and Robertson each had two hits, Robertson's both coming off the bench. Kelcey Wirick had two hits for St. Katherine, while Efrain Medina had three RBIs.
After splitting the busy weekend, the Knights will be back home to host Fresno Pacific for a four-game series on April 18-19, with doubleheaders on both days. The 19th will mark the final home game of 2014, and the Urban Knights will honor their seniors at that game in a Senior Day ceremony.
