Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Walter Washington, Rob Garcia, & Samm McAlear/Meg Williams)

Oakland, CA -- A lot of the Urban Knights cited Monday night's 5-2 win over Hawaii Pacific as a momentum builder, and for two games on Tuesday, the Knights battled it out and kept that momentum going in the first game, dominating at the plate en route to a 9-7 win. The second game was a heartbreaker chock full of missed opportunities, as the nightcap stretched three extra frames before the Knights fell 5-3 in ten innings.

"The first game we capitalized on opportunities, got a lot of hits, and got runners in to score," said head coach Brian Guinn. "In the second game we didn't. That's baseball. We left too many guys on base and it came back and bit us."

The Knights certainly did get runners on in the first game, as seven of the nine starters registered a hit, and nine of the ten batters in the game reached base. The only batter not to reach was Bryce Hutchings, who contributed a sacrifice fly. In all, the Knights tallied 14 hits and a hit-by-pitch to get 15 runners on. 

Zach Mexicano worked his way out of a first-inning jam by leaving the bases loaded in the top of the first, and then breezed through the second inning, only allowing a single. But Hawaii Pacific drew first blood in the third inning on a homer to left by Keanu Kapana. Max Newman had singled to lead off the inning, and the Knights were down 2-0.

That lead didn't last for long, as the Knights put together a big two-out rally to take the momentum right back from the Sea Warriors, led mostly by their senior class. Senior Zach Babitt was hit by a pitch, and then Myles Babitt took an 0-2 pitch right back up the middle. Senior Niko Leite, who was the big offensive force on the day for ART U, ripped a double down the left field line to Zach from second. And then senior right-fielder Johnathan Robbins beat out a single to third base that allowed Myles Babitt to score the tying run, making it a 2-2 game.

Hawaii Pacific briefly took the lead again after Newman knocked in Jace Poole with an RBI double in the fourth, but ART U answered with a big inning to go ahead for good in the bottom of the inning, again started off by the senior class. Kenny Rollins singled to center, and Jared DePatto followed with a single. Both runners advanced on an error by the catcher, and then Wade Broadstreet lined a single down the right-field line, scoring both Rollins and DePatto to make it 4-3 Knights with nobody out.

It was another two-out rally that gave the Knights some padding. Myles Babitt singled to center, scoring Broadstreet. Then Leite came up and, on the first pitch, launched his first home run over the wall in left field to make it 7-3 Urban Knights. ART U added two more in the fifth inning when Stefen Henderson doubled and later scored on a first-and-third play with Rollins. DePatto doubled to left-center, and after a Broadstreet single, Hutchings hit a sacrifice fly to make it 9-3.

"The early lead and the lead in general gave me time to relax in between innings, find ways to come from within, and battle back in tough spots," said Mexicano. "It gave me enough energy to go the full distance of nine innings. My pitch count was high, but I just kept working and pursuing what I was doing. Keeping it consistent seemed to work.”

That lead held until the ninth inning, with Mexicano still on the mound having given up 12 hits already but out for his second complete-game win of the year. Mexicano had actually given up a hit in every inning except for a 1-2-3 HPU sixth inning, but still went into the ninth with a full head of steam. Kapana had an RBI double to make it 9-4, and a couple batters later, Kale Sumner took a first-pitch fastball over the wall in left for a three-run shot to make it 9-7. But with two outs, Guinn had full confidence in his ace, and that paid off as he induced Poole to ground out to second to end the game.

"It was his day," said Guinn. "Sure, he threw a lot of pitches, but he can handle it, and we had a six-run lead, and on his day, I really wanted him to get a complete game. I had no problems leaving him out there."

The second game was so long and draining that the first game seemed like it was on another day, as the Knights took the time in between games to honor their large class of eight seniors. ART U had a ceremony to laud the accomplishments of Zach Babitt, Rollins, Leite, DePatto, Mexicano, Spencer Roland, Kallen Fletcher, and Robbins, who all played their final home series as Urban Knights on Tuesday.

"They have really set an example, and I'm proud of them," said Guinn. "Every single one of them has been asked to contribute and has contributed, and every one of them is better now than the day they came into the Academy, and that's big."

In game two, the Knights scored three runs early to knock starter Bryson Gauthe out of the game. The Urban Knights got one in the first inning when Robbins singled, stole second, advanced to third on the bad throw by the catcher, and scored on a wild pitch. In the second inning, James Singzon hit the first of three singles, as Broadstreet's single eventually scored him to make it 2-0. And in the third, after Gauthe left runners on first and third for Edward Trovato, a balk by the reliever gave the Knights their third run in three innings, making it a 3-0 ballgame.

Nate Gercken, the starter for ART U, shut down the Sea Warriors through the first three innings, and got the first two outs in the fourth to preserve the no-hitter in the seven-inning nightcap. But then Rollins made an error at third base, letting a slow roller tip off the bottom of his glove, and that started a rally for free for HPU. Kale Sumner singled, Rylan Morihara walked, and then Troy Ajer scored on a wild pitch, and the Sea Warriors were on the board, down 3-1.

The Knights squandered an opportunity to break the game wide open in the fifth, when a two-on, no-out situation turned into a second and third, one-out situation, but Robbins and Henderson both struck out to leave the Babitt brothers on base. It was déjà vu in the sixth inning when the Knights got a baserunner, but pinch-runner Devin Mason was out trying to take third base on a single to left field, and the game ended up going into extra frames.

Ryan Donahoe pitched the last out of the sixth and then a scoreless seventh for the Knights, and Saturday's starter Wade Broadstreet came in the eighth to try and take Academy of Art the rest of the way. Broadstreet got through the eighth and the ninth inning, and the Knights had another chance in the bottom of the ninth to put it away.

But it was more missed chances for the Knights that sank them, as they had the winning runner on third base with only one out in the bottom of the ninth. A double, a triple, and a sac fly off Broadstreet gave HPU a 5-3 lead, but the Knights fought to the very end, getting runners on second and third with the winning run at the plate, but Trovato managed to get Henderson swinging to earn a 7 2/3 inning victory in relief and to leave the Knights thinking about the game that could have been.