The Urban Knights head into Hawaii with the all-important knowledge that they can beat their island opponents, after they beat Hawaii Hilo once in a series of close back in the beginning of April, and more recently split the four-game series with Hawaii Pacific at Laney College. The offense picked up against HPU, and the Knights' pitching continued their late-season push towards new lows in ERA and efficiency.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICANO
Senior
Zach Mexicano comes into the stretch in Hawaii as the most decorated pitcher in Urban Knights history, compiling more wins (5), strikeouts (127), appearances (56), and innings pitched (226.1) than any other Academy of Art pitcher. His 4.17 ERA in 2012 is the lowest on the team, and he has thrown five complete games in each of the past two years. Mexicano is also poised to break his own record for innings pitched in a single season, trailing his 2011 total by only seven outs (2.1 innings).
VULCANS SERIES WORTH A SECOND LOOK
The Knights played a hotly contested series against Hawaii-Hilo at the beginning of April, as every game was decided by three runs or less. Academy of Art lost the first game of the series 4-2, and then dropped the ensuing doubleheader by scores of 3-1 and 4-3 before taking the finale 8-5. The win was
Spencer Roland's first in his career, and the Knights had a number of offensive heroes to choose from to get the win. John Abreu had a hot series for the Vulcans, going 7-for-11 against ART U at the plate.
YOU'RE IN GOOD HANDS
The Knights have improved many things over their existence as a program, and here in 2012 have continued two very positive trends. Since ART U's first year in 2009, the Urban Knights have cut down their ERA every year, going from 12.43 to 9.70 in 2010, 8.19 in 2011, and now down to 7.00 this year. They have also given up fewer hits, and have also lowered the opponent's batting average by over 60 points since the first year. The other trend is on the defense, as the fielding percentage has climbed from .908 to .924 to .931 before this year's number of .946 overall. They have also given up fewer errors, committing 30 fewer errors in 2012 than in 2011.
HPU STILL SPLITTING HAIRS
Heading into the last series with Academy of Art, Hawaii Pacific had split three straight doubleheaders. That trend continued through the series, as the Sea Warriors split the first day with a 10-0 win and a 5-2 loss to ART U, and then the second as well with a 9-7 Urban Knights win followed by an extra-inning 5-3 HPU. Then Hawaii Pacific headed to Cal Baptist, and though their doubleheader streak ended, their splitting ways didn't, as they were swept on the first day but returned the favor on the second to split the series.
