SAN FRANCISCO – It was an Academy of Art baseball season that featured career achievements, multiple Pacific West Conference recognitions, the program's second no-hitter, and a celebration of its senior class as the Urban Knights worked hard every day in 2023.

Despite scoring a total of 16 runs (twice scoring six runs in a game), Academy of Art started the year by dropping the season opener against Stanislaus State and a pair to Sonoma State after rain shortened the series from three games down to two. The first wins of 2023 followed as the Urban Knights secured exciting solo victories over Fresno Pacific and Central Washington (both non-conference) thanks to home runs in consecutive games from redshirt junior catcher Liam Rizzo and a scorching bat from eventual PacWest Player of the Week senior outfielder Hayato Niki, though they were then limited to taking just the middle contest (a 13-5 victory that saw seven Knights drive in one or more runs) of three against Cal State East Bay. Continuing the stretch was Holy Names and Simpson, as the Hawks took the first matchup of the season with continued offense while Simpson won both the first and second of what became a weather-shortened two-game series. 

Following that period, Academy of Art was victorious in each of their next four games starting with another solo contest against Holy Names, that this time the Knights got the better of by a 5-2 final to level the season series prior to the duo opening conference play against each other. Rain forced some flexibility into what was originally scheduled as a four-part series with Menlo, 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 an Oaks 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, who scattered just three hits over seven scoreless innings en route to being tabbed as PacWest Pitcher of the Week, leading to a 5-4 victory. 

While Holy Names won each of the first two games in the first PacWest series of the season for both teams, Academy of Art was able to rally and win the final two games, which included a walk-off win in game three from a ball put in play by freshman first baseman Michael Wiborn while another strong start from Maeda was finished strong with junior righty reliever Fernando Dueñas earning the save to propel ART U to the series split with the Hawks. Graduate student outfielder Landon Levine also shined in the four contests, becoming the sixth Urban Knight ever to homer twice in the first game while scoring seven runs and delivering four outfield assists in the series.

"Landon is a contender for All-Region Gold Glove consideration with his perfect fielding percentage and region-leading 11 assists from the outfield," said Head Coach Dan McDermott.

The Urban Knights split the first two games of their PacWest series-opening doubleheader with Fresno Pacific, dropping game one before coming back and exploding for nine runs on eight hits with homers from sophomore infielder Emil Jellinek and redshirt sophomore utility Patrick Morgan highlighting the day offensively while junior right-handed starter Devan Quesada was nearly perfect through six innings. Unfortunately, FPU would take the series when they swept the second doubleheader the following day.

Academy of Art then blasted three homers over the course of its four-game set with Biola, but despite holding a lead in three of the four contests (including scoring first in games two and four), it was the Eagles who came away with a PacWest series sweep. In the series-opening doubleheader, multiple extra-base hits (including the first home run by Niki in an ART U jersey) and a manufactured run were key in ART U's comeback to tie game one at 3-3, but a pair of three-run innings in the sixth and eighth were the difference for the Eagles. To end the weekend, Academy of Art crushed both of its homers off the bats of freshman utility Gabe Henderson and Morgan in the series finale, but in both games three and four BU was able to put together multiple run-scoring innings late leading to the twin bill victory. 

To start the next series at Concordia, Niki and junior infielder Ryne Lina drove in runs to support a solid combined pitching effort from Secrist and Dueñas in what became a 5-2 triumph. Though the Golden Eagles captured the following two games, the weekend finished with sophomore left-hander Brian Kraft becoming ART U's first pitcher to ever earn a national weekly honor for his no-hitter against the Golden Eagles on Apr. 6. Kraft was named NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week (as well as NCBWA West Region and PacWest Pitcher of the Week) after he held the CUI lineup without a hit for seven innings and set a new career-high with 10 strikeouts, which included punching out four of the final five batters to secure his first victory of the season. That performance helped him join Ben Kaser as the only two Urban Knights to throw a no-hitter in ART U history, with Kaser doing so against Simpson on Feb. 17, 2018 in a 1-0 shutout win, though Kraft is the first to do so against an NCAA Division II opponent and had double the strikeouts (10 to five). The lone earned run that scored was a result of four walks, two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly. 

After UH Hilo took the first two contests from a four-part PacWest series back in the Bay Area, Academy of Art responded in a big way during game three as the Urban Knights walked off winners by a 4-3 final when a gutsy start by Quesada was followed by Niki's two-out, two-run base knock that saw great heads-up baserunning by sophomore second baseman Larry Fonseca score from second on the play. The series finale then featured a strong pitching performance by the ART U duo of Kraft and graduate student righty Cannon Secrist, which combined with four extra-base hits for a 4-2 victory and a doubleheader sweep to split the four-part matchup. Graduate student outfielder Travis Turney continued to push his team-best 17-game reached base streak during the series while adding two of what would be 19 stolen bases in the third contest alone.

"Travis was a consistent force in our lineup and he was selfless at the plate by taking walks," McDermott said. "His on-base percentage was incredible and he stole nearly twenty bases, a majority of which were stealing third."

Despite the Urban Knights coming one run shy of their season-high in the series opener against Hawaii Pacific, the final home games of the year for Academy of Art, big innings for HPU swung the games in the Sharks' favor. Taking the field the following day for the series-closing doubleheader on Senior Day, the Urban Knights started by honoring the careers of Niki, Turney, and Secrist, with a pregame ceremony prior. When it came to the action, ART U pounded out another 19 hits, with two apiece from Niki and Turney, after 21 just a day earlier, but the Sharks still walked away victorious in both contests.

"The seniors did a great job this season and I couldn't be prouder of them," McDermott said.

All four games of a PacWest set against Azusa Pacific were close, including two where the Cougars walked off as winners. The first of that pair came in the series opener, a contest where Secrist became the program's career strikeouts leader and was searching for a complete game win heading into the bottom of the ninth, but the Cougars rallied for a pair of runs and a 4-3 win. Games two and three were played as a doubleheader, and after scoring a win in first half, APU spoiled a seven-run ART U inning and scored eight unanswered runs to steal a 9-8 win. To finish off the sweep, Azusa Pacific staked an early lead and fought off an Academy of Art comeback in the middle stages of the contest for a 10-7 victory. 

The last conference series of the season saw the Knights travel to San Diego to face No. 20 Point Loma who opened by taking the first two games. Day two was highlighted by initial multi-run leads for ART U as Jellinek and Wiborn began each game with home runs, but the Sea Lions rallied in the frames that followed for victories to secure the series. With the long ball in his penultimate game, Jellinek would finish as the team's leader with six homers on the year to tie him for second-most in the program's single-season history.

On the back of three scoreless innings from freshman right-hander Ricky Salas in his first start of the season, Academy of Art struck for the first four runs of its season finale with Holy Names in the middle innings, but a momentum-shifting eighth inning by the Hawks outlasted a late ART U comeback for the 7-6 final. Leaving their mark at the plate were Niki who went 2-for-5 with one run driven in, one run scored, and two steals while Levine's RBI in the contest gave him 35 to tie the Academy of Art single-season record. Along with Turney, the trio of ART U outfielders ended 2023 with the top three batting averages on the team, combining for 95 runs scored, 82 runs batted in, 35 stolen bases, and 20 assists defensively.

"During my time at ART U, we have had some fantastic outfielders, however, this was the very best collective outfield unit we have had," McDermott said. "The group had three goals at the beginning of the year and that was to hit above .300 as a unit, strive to hit the cutoff man, and to keep the line drives to the gap from reaching the fence."

One of those outfielders, Niki, along with Henderson and Secrist were among those recognized with All-PacWest Team awards following the season. Niki paced the Urban Knights with a .345 batting average and 60 hits (second-most in ART U history), connecting on 13 doubles and scoring 36 runs while Henderson's first season at the collegiate level saw him batting hit .277 with 37 runs scored (eighth in PacWest and second-most in ART U history) while playing four different positions. Secrist led the team in earned run average among starters (4.64) and complete games (three) en route to 202 career strikeouts, eclipsing the record set by Assistant Coach Nate Gercken in 2015.

"Gabe, Hayato, and Cannon were very deserving of the recognition they received with these awards," McDermott said. "They were three of our most consistent performers and it is quite a compliment that the other coaches in the league felt that way."

As the Urban Knights pen their respective next chapters, they will forever be remembered for their contributions to Academy of Art baseball.