Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

San Diego, CA -- Finishing up the 2014 campaign, the Academy of Art University baseball team was overcome by a rallying Point Loma Nazarene University team in the first game but ended the year on a high note by weathering another comeback attempt in the second game to earn the split. The Urban Knights scored four in the first inning in the opener but were undone by a six-run third, while a three-run second inning in the finale held up the whole way as they held on to a 3-2 win. 

Academy of Art immediately jumped out to a lead in the first inning of the first game, as Kalani Brackenridge led off the game getting hit by a pitch. After stealing second and then third, Joseph Marchini was also hit by a pitch, and Daniel Skinner walked to load the bases with one out. That brought up Chucky Cavestany, who ripped a double to left field, scoring a pair and putting the Knights up 2-0. They would add two more on a groundout from Kevin Decker and a single from Jordan Thomas that chased the starter Cole Chandler from the game after not being able to get out of the first inning.

Heading to the mound with a 4-0 lead already, starter Nate Gercken (2-9) ran into some trouble of his own. He gave up a leadoff single and hit a batter of his own, and after a passed ball an RBI single and a sacrifice fly made it a 4-2 game before he induced an inning-ending double play. Point Loma would tie the game and go ahead in the third inning, as they followed an error on Brackenridge with six singles and a fielder's choice, plating four unearned runs in the inning and putting the Knights in an 8-4 hole. They added another in the fourth on a single from Matt Jervis to make it 9-4 after four, and the Knights had work to do. 

They would get one back in the seventh inning when Marchini led off with a bunt single. Skinner struck out swinging but the ball got away from the catcher and Marchini went to second. He went the third on another wild pitch before Cavestany grounded a ball to shortstop to score the run. PLNU got two more unearned runs in the eighth off of Gercken and Nick Giotta to make it 11-5, and it looked like it would be even more interesting when the Knights loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth, but after another groundout from Cavestany scored one, Kevin Decker struck out on three pitches to end the first game with a score of 11-6. 

Marchini had a pair of hits and scored twice, while Maclane Brady started the game in left and picked up three hits in four at-bats. Seven of the nine starters had hits, and the top five in the lineup scored all five runs while also reaching base nine times. Gercken gave up 11 hits and 10 runs but only four of those runs were earned, as he ended the year with an ERA of 2.95, the lowest single-season ERA in program history. Brett Carlile (3-4) picked up the win for PLNU, while Clinton Harwick had three hits and three RBIs for the Sea Lions. 


In his final game as an Urban Knight, Aaron Garabedian (3-6) turned in a solid performance that ART U fans were used to seeing in the past two years. He scattered five hits and two walks across five innings of work but only allowed two runs, one earned. He was helped out by a three-run second inning that would prove to be the only scoring of the game for the Knights. 

After leaving a couple runners on in the first, ART U went to work against PLNU starter Garrett Levsen (4-2). With one out, Decker walked on four pitches. Jordan Thomas singled, and Cody Edmunds singled to load the bases. After a sacrifice fly from Daniel Gutierrez, the Knights executed a double steal, with Edmunds taking second and Thomas scampering home. After a wild pitch put Edmunds on third, Brackenridge singled him home, sending a 3-2 pitch back up the middle to make it 3-0.

Point Loma got a two-out rally in the third, as they worked a walk and a double before Jervis singled to left, but Gutierrez and Edmunds worked together to nail the back runner at the plate to end the inning. They would get their second run in the fifth after a leadoff double. After a pair of groundouts, there was an error on Decker at catcher and the run scored before Garabedian induced a fly ball out to keep it 3-2. 

After the Knights couldn't add any insurance runs in the sixth, head coach Brian Guinn went to the bullpen to put a lid on the Sea Lions offense, bringing in Brandon Poulson, who had struggled at times during the season but came on strong in the final few weeks. He continued that trend by striking out the side in the sixth, all swinging to preserve the lead. Heading out again for the seventh, he hit the leadoff batter and allowed a steal of second to put the tying run in scoring position, but hunkered down. After a failed bunt attempt, Poulson struck out Mike Marcoux. The next batter was Tyler Hanzawa, who also went down swinging, but the ball got away from Cavestany to put runners at the corners with two outs and the third-place hitter coming up. Clinton Harwick, who burned the Knights for three hits in the first game, fouled off a pitch with two strikes, but swung through the fifth pitch of the at-bat to give Poulson six strikeouts, all swinging, his first career save, and an Urban Knights victory.

Brackenridge and Marchini had multi-hit games in the finale, while Brackenridge's two steals tied him for the most in a single season with 26. Garabedian's win tied him for first on the career wins list with Zach Mexicano, while Poulson's six strikeouts gave him 30 in only 21.1 innings. The Knights also finish the year with their highest ever win total, finishing 2014 with a record of 12-36, and their lowest team ERA ever, knocking over half a run off of last year's total.