HILO, Hawaii — 2015 came to an end Thursday for the Academy of Art University baseball team, and despite being swept in a Pacific West Conference doubleheader by the University of Hawaii at Hilo, 3-0 and 5-3 at Francis Wong Stadium, the season was still one of the more successful in program history.
 
Behind a new coaching staff and seven newcomers that supported a roster of seven outgoing seniors, the Urban Knights (8-38, 5-27 PacWest) finished the year tied for the second-most wins in program history (8) and won at least five PacWest Conference games for the fifth year in a row.
 
Several strong finishes highlighted the final day of the season. Junior center fielder Joseph Marchini capped his season with a four-game hitting streak, going 4-for-7 with a walk and an RBI. Junior second baseman Cody Edmunds also had hits in both games, going 3-for-9. Sophomore starting pitcher Alex Kuisel (0-5) set a season best and tied his career long outing with eight strong innings in game one.
 
GAME ONE
 
Kuisel dominated for most of the opener in throwing the second complete game of his career. He threw seven scoreless frames and only allowed four hits outside of the third inning, where Hawaii-Hilo (11-36, 7-25 PacWest) got all three of its runs and half of its eight hits in the game.
 
A one-out RBI single by Michael Jenkerson started UHH's scoring in the third. A mishandled groundball with two outs allowed the inning to continue and scored the Vulcans' second run from second base. Samuel Kim would double home the third run, scoring Jordan Murai and making it 3-0.
 
Kuisel shut the Vulcans down from there, retiring 13 of the next 18 batters he faced and only allowing one runner past second. The Urban Knights could not capitalize despite getting the leadoff runner on in the eighth inning and two leadoff runners on to start the ninth. In both cases the next three batters went down in order to end the threat.
 
The top of the order did its job in game one for ART U, collecting five hits and a walk. But the four-through-nine hitters went a combined 1-for-21 and stranded eight runners of their own.
 
GAME TWO
 
Back and forth the two teams went in the nightcap with two ties and a lead change all within the first three innings. ART U struck first with a run in the opening frame off an RBI single from Marchini. It would hold that lead until the bottom of the second when Hawaii-Hilo scored two runs to take a one-run advantage, thanks in part to two errors by the Urban Knights in the inning.
 
Academy of Art came right back and tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the third on a two-out RBI single by junior third baseman Brett Adami, scoring senior first baseman Daniel Skinner from second. Skinner would finish 2-for-2 with a double and two runs scored as nine different Urban Knights had hits in the nightcap.
 
A two-out run in the third inning – the Vulcans' sixth two-out run of the series – gave UHH a 3-2 lead that it would not relinquish. Two insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth were the key to victory for Hawaii-Hilo. Another error by ART U, one of four in the game, allowed two runs to score on a single and gave the Vulcans a 5-2 lead.
 
Senior catcher Chucky Cavestany gave the Urban Knights another two-out run in the top of the fifth, singling home Skinner to make it 5-3. But the score would stay that way despite a last-chance ART U rally in the top of the seventh. The first two batters reached and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for the Urban Knights with one out. But a 5-2-3 double play would end the threat, the inning, the game and the season for Academy of Art.