Game #40
ART U Urban Knights (11-28, 5-19 PacWest) at Westmont Warriors (36-6, 23-5 GSAC)
Friday, Apr. 15, 2022 at 2 p.m.
Santa Barbara, Calif. – Russell Carr Field
Live Stats | Live Video

Games #41 & 42
ART U Urban Knights (11-28, 5-19 PacWest) at Westmont Warriors (36-6, 23-5 GSAC)
Saturday, Apr. 16, 2022 at 11 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Santa Barbara, Calif. – Russell Carr Field
Live Stats | Live Video

DETOUR AHEAD
Looking to carry over the momentum from a series split against the No. 3 ranked team in the nation in Point Loma last series, Academy of Art baseball puts Pacific West Conference play on pause as the Urban Knights travel to Santa Barbara, Calif. to take on Westmont in a three-game set beginning on Friday. 

FIRST PITCH
Game one of the series will be an afternoon matinee with a solo contest set for 2 p.m. on Friday, while games two and three will come in doubleheader fashion on Saturday with first pitch times of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps. 

KNIGHT WATCH 
ART U defeated its highest ranked opponent that they have faced this season not only once, but twice when they took down the Sea Lions first in game one and again in game three, earning their third series split of the season. A record-setting, three-run home run from junior outfielder Charles Morgan in the fourth inning would prove to be the difference in game one while Urban Knights senior righty Collin Carriger went the distance for his team-leading fourth win of the season. It was the seventh homer of the campaign, setting a new ART U single season record after passing the six that was first accomplished by Chris Vargas during the program's inaugural season in 2009 before Zak May did so again a decade later in 2019. Meanwhile, ART U scored early and often in the third game of the set while freshman left-hander Brian Kraft picked up his first ART U victory thanks to seven strong innings with eight strikeouts. Morgan would homer again in the victory, further extending his new ART U record. 

Despite taking the loss in game two, seven strikeouts helped right-handed senior Cannon Secrist set a new ART U single-season record, as his total of 82 strikeouts surpasses the total of 79 set by current ART U assistant coach Nate Gercken during the 2015 campaign. 

Through 39 games the Urban Knights are averaging 3.95 runs per contest, scoring a high of 11 runs during a series finale win over Fresno Pacific, but are averaging 5.0 runs per game over their past seven games. ART U has recorded double-digit hits a total of 12 times this season, first doing so in back-to-back games beginning with 13 hits in the series finale with Sonoma State in a winning effort, followed by 12 more the next time out in defeat at the hands of HNU in the series opener. Most recently, the Knights have done so in four of the past five games, and have reached a season-high 14 hits three separate instances (most recent: 3/31/22 vs HPU). 

Senior first baseman Vincent Lontz holds the best batting average on the Knights at .296 (40-for-135), as he has the most hits to go along with 48 total bases, six doubles and a triple. Trailing just behind is graduate student outfielder Travis Turney at .289 (39-for-135), posting team-highs in doubles (eight), triples (three) and RBI (20). The only Urban Knight above the .300 mark is redshirt senior middle infielder Dominic Ruggiero at .330 (36-for-109), though he does not mean the minimum threshold to qualify (two plate appearances per game with a minimum of 75 percent of games played). 

Carriger has been one of the most consistent pitchers on the staff for the Urban Knights, pitching deep into games and logging a 4-6 record along with one save, a 3.89 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, all of which are the best marks on ART U with at least 2.0 innings pitched. His 83.1 innings pitched are the most in the PacWest, and Carriger has totaled an impressive strikeout to walk ratio with 72 punch outs to just 28 walks, with the strikeouts ranking fourth-most in the conference. Ahead of him on that list is Secrist, carving up 82 batters via strikeout for the PacWest lead while issuing just 20 walks. Secrist sits just behind Carriger in ERA with a 4.80 along with a 1.21 WHIP and a 3-8 record. The first ART U save of the year went to sophomore right-hander Dallen Turner, which he notched on Feb. 5 as he preserved the win against Cal State East Bay with a pair of strikeouts. 

KNIGHTS' QUEST
Academy of Art had an up-and-down season in the early going, dropping the season opener to Stanislaus State despite putting up a three-run inning in the middle third of the contest before also losing the first two series of the year against Cal State East Bay and Sonoma State, though the Knights were able to win game three in each of those two sets. While ART U was blanked in the series opener against CSUEB, the tides turned in a doubleheader as the Knights more than quadrupled their season run total with their 13-run output on the final day of the series, highlighted by a seven-run inning that ultimately led to the first win of the year for Academy of Art. Clashing with SSU in a three-game series for the first time since 2017, the Urban Knights' offense was kept in check during game one and limited to just four runs in game two, but would salvage the final game of the series with a pair of three run innings that ultimately led to a 7-1 win.

The first series split of the year would come against Holy Names in non-conference action thanks to a doubleheader sweep on the final day of the set. Propelling ART U to victory was Morgan, who was a combined 6-for-15 (.400) with six runs scored, five RBI, two walks, a double, and three home runs while also leading the PacWest in total bases for the week (16). He is just the fifth Urban Knight in history to have a multi-homer game (last: Noah Daubin; 5/21/21), and his production would earn him recognition from the conference, as he was tabbed as the PacWest Player of the Week on Feb. 21.

Carrger notched his first win in the series-opening upset against No. 23 Concordia by tossing a complete game, striking out an ART U record 16 batters in the process. For his effort, Carriger would be named both the PacWest Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 28) and the NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week (Mar. 1). However, The Eagles would steal the series with three consecutive victories in games 2-4. Though Academy of Art would once again win the series opener the against Biola thanks to the third consecutive game of 10 or more strikeouts from Carriger, it was BU that would take the final three games and deny ART U its first series win of 2022. That would all be followed by a tough four-game series against Azusa Pacific where the Knights averaged just 1.0 run per game, though two of those runs scored on homers by graduate student catcher Ryan Gamboa and Turney.

The Academy of Art bats exploded for a total of 23 runs over four games (5.75 per game average) in a non-conference series against Fresno Pacific, scoring more in that series than their last 11 games combined. It took four extra frames to pull out the win in game one with a 8-7 victory in 13 innings, and after the Sunbirds took the middle games in doubleheader format, ART U closed the series strong with an 11-1 win, their biggest margin of victory this season. One of the primary forces at the plate was Ruggiero, as he was a combined 11-for-19 (.579) with three runs, three RBI, three doubles and two triples. He also set a new ART U record in the opening contest of the series, becoming the first Urban Knight to record two triples in a game.

However, the Knights would go just 1-7 against UH Hilo and Hawaii Pacific on their trip to the Hawaiian Islands, taking only game two of the series with the Vulcans. Homering on the trip was Morgan, as he launched his sixth homer of the year in the final game against HPU, at the time tying the previous Urban Knights record for home runs in a single campaign. After not reaching base in the opening game of the series with Hilo, Turney's streak of reaching base would come to an end at 24 games, as he had reached in every contest beginning in the series finale of the first series of the year against Cal State East Bay. That was a new ART U single-season record, surpassing the previous record of 19 that was set by Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge in 2013 and matched by current teammate Ruggiero in 2021. However, it is still shy of the ART U all-time reached base streak of 31 games set by Thomas Delgadillo across the 2019 and 2020 seasons. 

GO WEST(MONT), YOUNG MAN
Westmont enters on a hot streak having won eight of their past nine games while scoring double-digit runs in consecutive games their most recent times out, including a 14-0 shutout of Marymount California. Four Warriors are batting above .300 led by Simon Reid at .396 with a team-best 15 doubles, while Brady Renck sits at .338 with a team-leading 12 home runs. Among the top starters are Eric Oseguera with a 9-0 record to go with a 1.21 ERA and 0.85 WHIP in 44.2 innings pitched. However it is Chad Stoner Jr. who leads the way in strikeouts with 53 and also has a perfect record at 5-0. These will be the first meetings all-time between ART U and Westmont. 

HIT PARADE, CRAFTY DEFENSE KEY SERIES SPLIT WITH #3 PLNU
The final two contests of a four-game Pacific West Conference set between Academy of Art baseball and No. 3 Point Loma were just as exciting as the first two with offense reigning supreme thanks to 45 combined hits between the two squads, with ART U rolled to an 8-5 victory in game one before PLNU enacted its revenge in game two by a 13-3 final in seven innings. 

ON DECK
Two series remain on the schedule for the 2022 season, starting with a rematch four-game series between the Urban Knights and the Holy Names Hawks that begins on Friday, Apr. 22.