Game #16
ART U Urban Knights (7-7, 0-0 PacWest) vs. Holy Names Hawks (10-5, 0-0 PacWest)
Friday, March 10, 2023 at 6 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats and Video

Game #17 & 18
ART U Urban Knights (7-7, 0-0 PacWest) vs. Holy Names Hawks (10-5, 0-0 PacWest)
Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 1 & 4 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats and Video

Game #19
ART U Urban Knights (7-7, 0-0 PacWest) vs. Holy Names Hawks (10-5, 0-0 PacWest)
Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 1 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats and Video

ON THE RECORD
This weekend marks the first Pacific West Conference contests of the season for Academy of Art baseball, and the Urban Knights begin against a familiar foe as the winners of the past four straight will host Bay Area rival Holy Names for a four-game set beginning on Friday. 

FIRST PITCH
Action gets underway at 6 p.m. in the series opener on Friday night, Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m., while the series finale commences at 1 p.m. on Sunday. 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.

KNIGHTS' QUEST
Academy of Art has been victorious in each of their past four games, starting with another solo contest against Holy Names on Tuesday that this time the Knights got the better of by a 5-2 final, leveling the season series as the two prepare to open conference play against each other. Rolling into the weekend, rain forced some flexibility into what was originally scheduled as a four-game series, but even still there were three games completed with ART U taking all three in comeback fashion. A four-run sixth inning helped a 5-3 win in the opener, ART U battled through a Menlo six-run first in the middle game to win 12-9, and then closed the series with a four-run inning late combined with a brilliant relief appearance from junior right-hander Koh Maeda leading to a 5-4 victory. 

Just a day later, Maeda was tabbed as the PacWest Pitcher of the Week on March 6, as he held the Menlo bats to just three scattered hits over seven scoreless innings while picking up his second victory of the year in the series finale. His entrance provided a steady presence for the Knights as after a single in the fourth, his second hit allowed, he then retired the next 12 batters in a row until a double in the eighth inning that was left stranded on base. This is the first weekly award for Maeda both this season and in his career, though it is the second weekly award by an Urban Knight this season as he joins senior outfielder Hayato Niki who was named the PacWest Player of the Week on Feb. 20. It is the third consecutive year that ART U has had multiple PacWest weekly awards and at least one PacWest Pitcher of the Week. 

Originally scheduled for four games, Academy of Art only finished two which started on Feb. 21 against Holy Names where the Hawks scored nine times in the bottom of the first before watching ART U come within two runs thanks to crooked numbers in both the third and fourth. Unfortunately the comeback for ART U would fall short, with the HNU bats getting hot late to down the Knights 19-7. Academy of Art was able to finish the series opener with Simpson on Feb. 25, where the Red Hawks used solid pitching combined with early run support to take down ART U by a final of 7-1. Inclement weather would appear for once again, halting the second game of the series in progress with the third currently postponed. 

The next week of the 2023 campaign saw Academy of Art post a 3-2 mark in their five contests, opening up with exciting solo victories over Fresno Pacific and Central Washington (both non-conference) before taking one of three against Cal State East Bay over the weekend. Trailing 2-0 after the top of the first, a three-run blast from redshirt junior catcher Liam Rizzo in the bottom of the frame ignited a hot day for the bats as ART U totaled 10 runs on 11 hits (five for extra bases) in a 10-4 victory over the Sunbirds. It felt like déjà vu the following time out against the Wildcats as the second three-run big fly in as many days by Rizzo once again sparked the Academy of Art bats, spurring them to a trio of three-run innings (on a season-high 13 hits) in their final three turns at the dish to battle back for a 9-8 win over CWU.

Moving into just their second series of the season against the Pioneers, CSUEB took the series opener despite action being knotted at 2-2 after two innings, as Cal State East Bay totaled multiple runs in each of the first five innings of a 13-8 win. Meanwhile ART U leveled the series in the second half of the day by totaling 13 runs, scoring in each of the last five innings (including a four-spot in the third) of the shortened second game to defeat CSUEB 13-5 (seven innings), giving junior pitcher Koh Maeda win in an ART U uniform. The rubber match was an intense contest that had an equally dramatic finish, but despite ART U leading twice in the later innings including in the top of the extra 10th frame, the Pioneers rallied to score two in the bottom of the inning and walk off winners 7-6 (10 innings) for the series win.

It was an 0-3 start to the 2023 season for Academy of Art despite scoring a total of 16 runs (twice scoring six runs in a game), as the Urban Knights began the year with a four-spot in the home half of the first in the season opener against Stanislaus State, but the Warriors fought back and captured the lead in the top of the eighth before holding on for a 7-6 win. Rain made an unwelcome appearance during what was scheduled to be a three-game series against Sonoma State, forcing a doubleheader to be played over two days with the Seawolves coming out victorious in both despite a near ART U comeback in the shortened second game that featured homers from graduate student outfielder Landon Levine and sophomore third baseman Emil Jellinek. 

KNIGHT WATCH
Though it has since ended, graduate student outfielder Landon Levine had extended his team-long hitting streak to 10 games while his reached bases safely streak made it to 12 games, and he does still lead the team in batting average currently hitting .327 (18-for-55). His streak of nine consecutive games with an RBI to begin the season has helped him drive in 18 on the year, making hin the current team leader, while that total is already approaching the ART U single-season top 10. 

Just shy of Levine's 18 hits is senior outfielder Hayato Niki, as he is batting .314 (16-for-51) and has scored two more runs than Levine (13 to 11). Meanwhile, redshirt junior catcher Liam Rizzo and graduate student outfielder Travis Turney are the only other Knights to reach double-digit runs driven in, Rizzo with 14 while Turney has 11. Six of Rizzo's RBI came on a pair of homers in consecutive games, which has him tied for the team lead along with sophomore third baseman Emil Jellinek. Meanwhile, Turney is just clearing the .300 mark by hitting .304 (11-for-36), but has also been productive with nine RBI, eight runs scored, and three doubles. Leading the team in runs scored thus far is freshman shortstop Gabe Henderson, crossing 15 times this season while hitting .239 (11-for-46) five doubles, two triples and 12 walks. 

From the hill, the duo of junior righty Devan Quesada, junior righty Koh Maeda have both collected two wins, with Quesada doing so first after the series opener with Menlo before Maeda followed suit. Thus far Quesada has logged a 3.28 ERA (nine earned runs in 24.2 innings pitched) with a 0.89 WHIP (team lead among those who qualify), punching out a team-leading 24 hitters while walking just six. For Maeda, he isn't too far behind with a 4.05 ERA (nine earned runs in 20.0 innings pitched) with a 1.25 WHIP, striking out 11 with only five free passes. However, the best ERA on the team belongs to junior right-hander Fernando Dueñas, posting just a 2.55 ERA (five earned runs in 17.2 innings pitched) to go with a 1.13 WHIP and 18 punch outs. Only one Urban Knight has yet to allow an unearned run as junior lefty Robert Perez has yet to be charged a run in 4.2 innings pitched. 

OH HAWK NO
Since the loss to the Urban Knights, Holy Names won their next non-conference series against Fresno Pacific, losing the opener but now winning each of the past three games. Overall HNU has hit just above the .280 mark on the season, and there's a quartet of Hawks clearing the .300 line with Neko Capsaliaris tops among them at an eye-popping .455 (25-for-55) on the campaign. In addition to that average, Capsaliaris has an OPS of 1.095 and is one of the most productive bats by scoring 13 times while driving 11 others in, and smacking six doubles in the process. Also eclipsing the .300 mark is Esai Santos (.353, 18-for-51) and Jesus Hernandez (.375, 21-for-56). On the mound, Nicholas Martinez has spun his way to a 3-0 record to go with a 5.68 ERA and 1.32 WHIP, with the last two marks falling just shy of Eddie Curley who is 3-1 with a 3.80 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. The season series right now is even between ART U and HNU with each team having won a game, but Academy of Art has still leads the all-time series 35-27. 

ART U SWEEPS MENLO WITH 5-4 COMEBACK WIN IN SERIES FINALE
Two big innings, one for each team, contained all of the offense while pitching was in control for the rest of the way in the series finale between Academy of Art baseball and NAIA opponent Menlo. Striking last was ART U, as a five-spot in the home half of the fourth ended up being just enough to finish off the three-game sweep of the Oaks, with ART U closing out a 5-4 win on Sunday. 

ON THIS DAY
On March 10, 2021, Academy of Art baseball pitcher Matthew Sanchez was named the NCBWA DII West Region Pitcher of the Week thanks to his strong starting performance on the mound in the season-opening 12-0 shutout win ... On March 11, 2014, ART U earned a walk-off victory in the bottom of the ninth over Dixie State 7-6, with Daniel Skinner going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, driven in, and a double, while Maclane Brady launched a homer ... On March 12, 2010, the Urban Knights captured the program's first ever victory 5-4 in game two of a doubleheader against Grand Canyon, with Alex Rosenthal the winning pitcher of record to go with a save from Drew Sullivan-Hames and four different Urban Knights posting two-hit games. 

On Feb. 25, 2011, Academy of Art baseball put forth an impressive team effort to defeat Dixie State in the second half of a doubleheader, the #9 team the West Region, with Johnathan Robbins setting a then-school record with four stolen bases in to earn a split of the day. On Feb. 26, 2022, ART U received a brilliant pitching performance from senior right-hander Collin Carriger in the opening contest of a four-game set with nationally-ranked No. 23 Concordia, as he struck out an ART U record 16 batters before the Knights were able to walk off as winners on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth by a 3-2 final.

LOOKING AHEAD
PacWest play rolls on for ART U as the Urban Knights hit the road to battle Fresno Pacific in a four-game series beginning on Thursday, March 16 with first pitch at 5 p.m.