GAME #34 & #35
Academy of Art (6-27, 4-16 PacWest) at Fresno Pacific (20-14, 8-12 PacWest)
Friday, April 10, 2015 – 4 p.m. & 7p.m. PDT
Fresno, Calif. – FPU Diamond
LIVE STATS
 
GAME #36 & #37
Academy of Art (6-27, 4-16 PacWest) at Fresno Pacific (20-14, 8-12 PacWest)
Saturday, April 11, 2015 – Noon & 3 p.m. PDT
Fresno, Calif. – FPU Diamond
LIVE STATS

GAME #38
Academy of Art (6-27, 4-16 PacWest) at San Francisco State (13-17, 12-12 CCAA)
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 – 3 p.m. PDT
San Francisco – Maloney Field
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS

SAN FRANCISCO — A number of hot streaks will be on the line this week for the Academy of Art University baseball team when it travels to the Central Valley for a four-game Pacific West Conference series at Fresno Pacific. Those streaks will look to roll over into next week when the Urban Knights go across town on Tuesday to take on San Francisco State in a non-conference contest.
Junior center fielder Joseph Marchini has raised his batting average 38 points with eight multi-hit games in his last 11. Junior shortstop Tyler Strawn has RBIs in seven of his last nine games, tripling his season total entering that stretch. And senior starting pitcher Nate Gercken has gone at least seven innings in eight of his 10 starts while allowing no more than two earned runs in six of those games, including a complete-game shutout Friday against Holy Names.
 
The series at Fresno Pacific (20-14, 8-12 PacWest) begins at 4 p.m. Friday with a twi-night doubleheader, then concludes Saturday with another twin bill starting at noon. The series is the first of three straight PacWest road series to end the season for the Urban Knights (6-27, 4-14 PacWest). Tuesday's non-conference game at San Francisco State (13-17, 12-12 CCAA) is scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
 
ART U snapped an 11-game losing streak on Friday behind Gercken and a 2-0 shutout victory, but HNU swept the series-ending doubleheader to take the series 3-1. The Urban Knights have lost three series in a row after splitting a four-game set with California Baptist on March 12-14.
 
ABOUT FRESNO PACIFIC
The Sunbirds (20-14, 8-12 PacWest) were the latest victim of PacWest leader Dixie State, who swept a four-game series from FPU last week. The Sunbirds are 9-7 at home this season. They carry a 12-8 record against shared opponents with ART U, while the Knights are 4-17 against those same teams.
 
Preston Scott leads FPU with a .357 batting average, four home runs, nine doubles and 30 RBIs. Michael Tittle is the Sunbirds' only other hitter above .300 at .304. Wilson Ashford is Fresno Pacific's top starter with a 1.75 ERA, a 5-2 record and a better-than 3-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio (45:14).

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO STATE
The Gators (13-17, 12-12 CCAA) split a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series last weekend against Cal State Monterey Bay. They have split or lost their last three series dating to March 6-8 when they swept Cal State East Bay. They are 7-8 at home this season, having won three in a row at Maloney Field and five of their last six.

San Francisco State has four players batting over .300 while hitting .282 as a team, led by Mark Lindsay at .364. The Gators have yet to hit a home run this season, though the pitching staff has surrendered 13. SFSU's starting rotation is a combined 8-15 this season. Walks have been a problem for the Gators' staff with only six more strikeouts (129) than walks (123).
 
GERCKEN STILL RANKIN'
Thanks to his sixth complete game of the season Friday, Gercken jumped to No. 3 in the country in complete games, just two behind co-leaders Juan Berger of Paine University and Darius Boykins of Claflin University with eight. He is 19th in the country in hits per nine innings pitched at 5.45. His 0.90 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) ranks 27th in the nation while his 59 strikeouts are 35th. His 1.90 ERA is 53rd best in the land.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Urban Knights will face San Francisco State in a non-conference game on Tuesday before taking their scheduled bye week from conference play next weekend.