Game #47
ART U Urban Knights (13-33, 7-21 PacWest) vs. FPU Sunbirds (25-17, 14-10 PacWest)
Thursday, Apr. 28, 2022 at 2 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats and Video

Games #48 & 49
ART U Urban Knights (13-33, 7-21 PacWest) vs. FPU Sunbirds (25-17, 14-10 PacWest)
Friday, Apr. 29, 2022 at 1 & 4 p.m.
Alameda, Calif. – Pat Bail Field at College of Alameda
Live Stats and Video

Game #50 **SENIOR DAY**
ART U Urban Knights (13-33, 7-21 PacWest) vs. FPU Sunbirds (25-17, 14-10 PacWest)
Saturday, Apr. 30, 2022 at 1 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats and Video

THE END IS NEAR
Only four games remain on the Academy of Art baseball schedule as the Urban Knights return to the friendly confines of Laney College to close out the 2022 campaign with a four-game Pacific West Conference series against Fresno Pacific, the second time this year that the two teams will meet, which includes a ceremony to honor this year's senior class prior to the season finale. 

FIRST PITCH
The series gets underway with a single game on Thursday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m., while games two and three come in doubleheader format with first pitch times of 1 and 4 p.m. Everything culminates with Senior Day on the final day of the season, starting with a brief pregame ceremony prior to first pitch being thrown at 1 p.m. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps. 

SENIOR DAY
Prior to first pitch in the series finale on Saturday, Academy of Art will honor the careers and contributions of seven seniors: middle infielder Dominic Ruggiero, first baseman Vincent Lontz, pitcher/utility fielder Ryan Skillman, pitcher Morgan Edwards, pitcher Collin Carriger, outfielder Ty Conrad, and catcher Ryan Gamboa. All were members of the first ART U team to make it to the postseason after finishing as the top team in the PacWest NorCal pod in 2021, and been a part of numerous ART U records along the way. 

KNIGHT WATCH 
A doubleheader sweep of games two and three powered Academy of Art to a split of its recent four-game series with Holy Names, as the two teams equally split their season matchup by winning eight games each with four coming in PacWest play. Five unanswered runs helped HNU come from behind to take game one, but ART U returned the favor with five runs in the ninth inning of game two as they snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat by a 7-6 final. Things continued in favor of the Knights in game three as ART U used a large sixth inning to reach double-digit runs for just the third time this season, rolling to a 10-6 victory in seven innings. Redshirt sophomore utility Liam Rizzo provided much of the offensive production by going a combined 6-for-15 (.400) with seven RBI and two runs scored, with four of his RBI coming during the game two win. 

Through 46 games the Urban Knights are averaging 4.22 runs per contest, scoring a high of 11 runs during a series finale win over Fresno Pacific and averaging 5.71 runs per game over their past seven games. ART U has recorded double-digit hits a total of 15 times this season, first doing so in back-to-back games beginning with 13 hits in the series finale with Sonoma State in a winning effort, followed by 12 more the next time out in defeat at the hands of HNU in the series opener. Most recently, the Knights have done so twice in their past five games, and set their season-best during game one against Westmont with 15. 

After collecting a hit during each game against HNU where he was a combined 6-for-14 (.428) with two runs scored and three RBI, senior first baseman Vincent Lontz remains the only Urban Knight above the .300 mark as he is hitting .319 (51-for-160) to go along with 63 total bases, seven doubles, a triple and a homer. Next up is graduate student outfielder Travis Turney at .283 (45-for-159), posting team-highs in doubles (10) and triples (three). Also above .300 is redshirt senior middle infielder Dominic Ruggiero at .336 (40-for-119), though he does not mean the minimum threshold to qualify (two plate appearances per game with a minimum of 75 percent of games played). Topping the team in RBI is Rizzo, now sitting at a total of 27 after his big series against HNU. 

Senior right-hander Collin Carriger has been one of the most consistent pitchers on the staff for the Urban Knights, pitching deep into games and logging a 4-8 record along with one save, a 4.39 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, all of which are the best marks on ART U with at least 2.0 innings pitched. His 96.1 innings pitched are the most in the PacWest, and Carriger has totaled an impressive strikeout to walk ratio with 82 punch outs to just 33 walks, the fourth-most strikeouts in the conference. Ahead of him on that list is senior righty Cannon Secrist, carving up the second-most batters in the PacWest with a total of 94 while issuing just 23 walks. Additionally, Secrist's 86.1 innings pitched rank second in the PacWest behind Carriger, while also falling behind him in ERA at 5.00, a 1.32 WHIP, though the two have identical 4-8 records. The first ART U save of the year went to sophomore right-hander Dallen Turner, which he notched on Feb. 5 as he preserved the win against Cal State East Bay with a pair of strikeouts. 

KNIGHTS' QUEST
Academy of Art had an up-and-down season in the early going, dropping the season opener to Stanislaus State despite putting up a three-run inning in the middle third of the contest before also losing the first two series of the year against Cal State East Bay and Sonoma State, though the Knights were able to win game three in each of those two sets. While ART U was blanked in the series opener against CSUEB, the tides turned in a doubleheader as the Knights more than quadrupled their season run total with their 13-run output on the final day of the series, highlighted by a seven-run inning that ultimately led to the first win of the year for Academy of Art. Clashing with SSU in a three-game series for the first time since 2017, the Urban Knights' offense was kept in check during game one and limited to just four runs in game two, but would salvage the final game of the series with a pair of three run innings that ultimately led to a 7-1 win.

The first series split of the year would come against Holy Names in non-conference action thanks to a doubleheader sweep on the final day of the set. Propelling ART U to victory was junior outfielder Charles Morgan, who was a combined 6-for-15 (.400) with six runs scored, five RBI, two walks, a double, and three home runs while also leading the PacWest in total bases for the week (16). He is just the fifth Urban Knight in history to have a multi-homer game (last: Noah Daubin; 5/21/21), and his production would earn him recognition from the conference, as he was tabbed as the PacWest Player of the Week on Feb. 21.

Carriger notched his first win in the series-opening upset against No. 23 Concordia by tossing a complete game, striking out an ART U record 16 batters in the process. For his effort, Carriger would be named both the PacWest Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 28) and the NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week (Mar. 1). However, The Eagles would steal the series with three consecutive victories in games 2-4. Though Academy of Art would once again win the series opener the against Biola thanks to the third consecutive game of 10 or more strikeouts from Carriger, it was BU that would take the final three games and deny ART U its first series win of 2022. That would all be followed by a tough four-game series against Azusa Pacific where the Knights averaged just 1.0 run per game, though two of those runs scored on homers by graduate student catcher Ryan Gamboa and Turney.

The Academy of Art bats exploded for a total of 23 runs over four games (5.75 per game average) in a non-conference series against Fresno Pacific, scoring more in that series than their last 11 games combined. It took four extra frames to pull out the win in game one with a 8-7 victory in 13 innings, and after the Sunbirds took the middle games in doubleheader format, ART U closed the series strong with an 11-1 win, their biggest margin of victory this season. One of the primary forces at the plate was Ruggiero, as he was a combined 11-for-19 (.579) with three runs, three RBI, three doubles and two triples. He also set a new ART U record in the opening contest of the series, becoming the first Urban Knight to record two triples in a game.

However, the Knights would go just 1-7 against UH Hilo and Hawaii Pacific on their trip to the Hawaiian Islands, taking only game two of the series with the Vulcans. Homering on the trip was Morgan, as he launched his sixth homer of the year in the final game against HPU, at the time tying the previous Urban Knights record for home runs in a single campaign. After not reaching base in the opening game of the series with Hilo, Turney's streak of reaching base would come to an end at 24 games, as he had reached in every contest beginning in the series finale of the first series of the year against Cal State East Bay. That was a new ART U single-season record, surpassing the previous record of 19 that was set by Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge in 2013 and matched by current teammate Ruggiero in 2021. However, it is still shy of the ART U all-time reached base streak of 31 games set by Thomas Delgadillo across the 2019 and 2020 seasons. 

ART U defeated its highest ranked opponent that they have ever faced not only once, but twice when they took down the No. 3 ranked Sea Lions first in game one and again in game three, earning their third series split of the season. During the series Morgan slugged his seventh and eighth homers of the campaign, setting a new ART U single season record after passing the six that was first accomplished by Chris Vargas during the program's inaugural season in 2009 before Zak May did so again a decade later in 2019. Not only is it a single season record, but is tied for second most in an ART U career. In game two, seven strikeouts helped Secrist set a new Urban Knights single-season record, as his total of 82 strikeouts surpasses the total of 79 set by current ART U assistant coach Nate Gercken during the 2015 campaign. Now with a total of 142 across his three seasons, Secrist is second at ART U in career strikeouts behind only the 196 from Gercken. 

Though Academy of Art totaled 17 runs over three games against the No. 6 ranked team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), it was Westmont who would come away with the series win by sweeping all three games, the last two decided by two runs or less.

FRES-NO WAY, JOSE
Sitting third in the PacWest standings are the Sunbirds, winners in eight of their past 10 games after their six-game winning streak was snapped last series with a two-game skid against Biola, though FPU did get revenge by winning the final two games of the series. While Fresno Pacific hovers in the top half of the PacWest leaders at the dish, its the mound where the Sunbirds excel as they have allowed the second-fewest earned runs (165) in the conference, leading them to also post the second-best team ERA at 4.17 across 356.0 innings of work. Five Sunbirds are hitting above .300 led by the .369 mark from Khalid Johnson, which is currently fourth in the PacWest, as he also holds team leads in hits (51) and triples (eight; most in PacWest). Trailing behind is Jared Aguilar at .364, smacking 11 doubles and 36 RBI. From the hill, Justin Fuson has been the top starter with a 7-3 record, 3.09 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP to go with 57 strikeouts across 58.1 innings of work. Aguilar is something of a two-way player, tallying a 3-1 record from the bump to go with a 3.61 ERA, 1.55 WHIP and 55 strikeouts in 57.1 innings pitched. While Frenso Pacific leads the all-time series 37-14 over ART U, the two teams split their earlier four-game non-conference series earlier this season, with the Knights winning the final battle when they scored their season-high in runs. 

EARLY RUNS ALLOW HAWKS TO SPLIT SERIES WITH KNIGHTS
Academy of Art baseball wasn't able to keep up with the early offense from Holy Names on Sunday, as HNU scored six runs in the first two innings before ultimately taking a Pacific West Conference victory in the series finale by a 9-4 final. 

ON DECK
For all the latest ART U baseball news and information, as well as the upcoming season in review, keep it locked on www.ARTUAthletics.com.