ALAMEDA, Calif. – There was action from first pitch to the final out in the season finale for Academy of Art baseball on Tuesday against Holy Names as ART U busted open a scoreless game with four runs in the middle innings and carried the lead into the latter stages, but HNU stormed back in the eighth and was able to outlast a late ART U comeback for a 7-6 non-conference victory.  

Both sides had their chances in the early goings, including the Urban Knights (14-33) loading the bases in the first and putting two on in both the second and third innings, but all seven runners were left stranded. On the other side, the Hawks (26-23) nearly matched ART U with six runners reaching over that same span, but HNU also failed to generate any runs. Drawing his first start of the season, ART U freshman righty Ricky Salas was able to toss a career best 3.0 innings while yielding only two hits with three strikeouts and four walks. 

Finally the Academy of Art offense broke through in the fourth, going back to work by putting runners at the corners with only one out thanks to a pair of walks and a passed ball. That set up senior outfielder Hayato Niki with the perfect RBI opportunity, and he delivered with a single into right field that scored sophomore shortstop Emil Jellinek for the game's first run. Following a pitching change, ART U capitalized on an HNU error with their second run of the inning, and completed their three-spot when graduate student outfielder Landon Levine picked up an RBI on a groundout to second base.

Insurance came in the fifth in the form of one run when junior third baseman Ryne Lina was hit by a pitch and then was subbed for junior Fernando Dueñas, who subsequently advanced to second on a wild pitch before waiting to score on another Holy Names error that occurred following a single from junior second baseman Larry Fonseca. A pair of stolen bases by freshman catcher Gabe Henderson put him just 90 feet away from adding to the total, but a double steal was unsuccessful and he was tagged out in a rundown to keep the score at 4-0. 

HNU cut into the lead by reaching the scoreboard for the first time in the bottom of the sixth, opening the frame with a single by Austin Shadbolt who then moved to third when ART U committed an error of their own. One of the two runners in scoring position is all that would score, doing so on a groundout to shortstop, as another groundout then brought an end to the inning. Much like ART U, the Hawks again threatened to score in the seventh thanks to a pair of single before a wild pitch moved both into scoring position, but the Hawks ran themselves out of the inning after a flyout turned into a double play. 

While the ART U bats were cooling off, retired in order in both the seventh and eighth, the HNU bats were heating up as they produced a six-run bottom of the eighth to come back and steal the lead from the Knights. Though two singles were how the inning started, all runs scored in the frame came with two outs while three of the six hits in the frames went for two bases.

Not going down without a fight as they trailed 7-4, Academy of Art kept the contest alive when Henderson reached on an error to begin the inning while Levine moved them both into scoring position with a double down the left field line. Both ended up scoring on sacrifice flies, one from sophomore outfielder Tony Diaz and one from redshirt sophomore pinch hitter Patrick Morgan, but one final flyout secured the 7-6 decision for HNU. 

In what became a bullpen game for HNU, earning the win in relief was Simon Martinez, moving to 3-2 on the year by tossing a clean top of the eighth with one strikeout. Picking up his seventh save of the year was Casey Candiotti, allowing two runs (only one earned) on one hit. Once in line for the win, ART U sophomore righty Dwyer Lewis took the tough luck loss despite logging a season best 4.2 innings with a season-high-tying five punchouts. 

Not normally a team know for their stolen bases, ART U was active on the base paths with a total of six steals in the game which is tied for the eighth-most in a single game in program history. Three of those steals belonged to Henderson, reaching base twice on the day despite not collecting a hit and scoring a run. Levine's double was the only ART U extra base hit and helped him go 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, giving him 34 on the campaign to end just one RBI shy of the ART U single-season record currently held by Zak May (35, 2019).

Tallying the only multi-hit ART U game was Niki, who was 2-for-5 with a run and RBI to give him his team-leading 18th of the season. He closes the year batting .341 (59-for-173), tying for the second-most ART U hits and recording the fourth-best ART U batting average in a single season. 

With the 2023 campaign now complete, make sure to check www.ARTUAthletics.com for the upcoming season in review, as well as all the latest ART U news and updates.