OAKLAND, Calif. – It was a bittersweet Mother's Day at Laney College when six seniors took the field for their final time as Urban Knights. However, after a pregame ceremony which featured the seniors' mothers throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, it was down to business.
 

Academy of Art did not waste any time, posting two first inning runs thanks to a two-out double that was laced down the left field line by junior catcher Zack Trueblood. On the play, both senior center fielder Joseph Marchini and redshirt junior second baseman Erick Luna crossed the plate to give ART U a 2-0 advantage.
 
In the bottom of the frame, junior Cody Ball took to the mound for his final start of the 2016 season. The right hander allowed a leadoff single to center field, but then induced three consecutive groundouts and escaped the inning having only thrown 10 pitches through four batters.
 
In the top of the second, the Urban Knights went back to work, putting up another two spot. With two outs and runners on first and second, Luna grounded the ball to the shortstop who attempted to catch the lead runner going to third. Instead, he threw the ball away, allowing senior right fielder Cody Edmunds to score and the runners to advance to second and third. Marchini was next to bat and on the fifth pitch singled to the shortstop to drive in junior shortstop Payton Milone for his first of three runs batted in on the day.
 
Now trailing by a score of 4-0, the Hawks opened up the third inning with two runs of their own and added another in the fourth to make it a one-run affair.  ART U would increase their advantage in their half of the inning however, putting together their third two-run frame of the ballgame. Marchini played hero once again, hitting a shot down the left field line for a double which allowed Milone and senior left fielder Greg Ivory to cross the plate.
 
Ball would last two more innings, but would exit after the sixth, having allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits, five walks, and two strikeouts. In his stead came junior right hander Josh Lopez who had just pitched 1.2 innings in relief in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. Lopez would close out the game with three innings of hitless work while allowing just two walks.
 
The Urban Knights' final run came in the eighth when Edmunds led off the frame with a triple into the left-center field gap for the final at-bat of his career. Two batters later, Ivory came through with an RBI single to center in his final turn at the plate, allowing Edmunds to easily jog home from third.
 
All in all, four out of the five starting seniors reached base at least once in the contest. Marchini was the most productive however, going 2-for-4, scoring a run while batting in three. Both Edmunds and Trueblood also put together two-hit days with Trueblood recording two RBI.
 
With the 7-3 victory, Academy of Art took the set three games to one for the program's first ever four-game series win in the PacWest Conference. ART U finished the season 15-34, 10-25 (PacWest): the best record the program has ever put together.