PacWest Weekly Awards (Apr. 3)
NCBWA Weekly Awards (Apr. 4)

IRVINE, Calif. – A historic outing that saw Academy of Art baseball sophomore Brian Kraft throw ART U's second no-hitter in its 15 years of program history has earned the left-hander conference and regional recognition, as the Urban Knights' starter was named the Pacific West Conference Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday before collecting the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) West Region Pitcher of the Week honor on Tuesday. The award is for games played from March 27-April 2. 

Saving the best for last in the series finale of what was a four-game split with Concordia, Kraft made history by becoming the second Urban Knight to ever spin a no-hitter in the seven-inning 8-1 win over the Golden Eagles. In collecting his first win of the season, the San Diego native sat down a new career-best of 10 batters via the punch out (sixth-most in program history) including four of the final five outs, though he did allow one earned run on four walks. He is the second Urban Knight to limit opposing bats to zero hits, joining Ben Kaser who did so in another seven inning game against Simpson on Feb. 17, 2018 in a 1-0 shutout win, though Kraft is the first to do so against an NCAA Division II opponent and had double the strikeouts (10 to five). 

While this is Kraft's first career PacWest weekly award, it is the third earned by an Urban Knight this season as he joins senior outfielder Hayato Niki who was tabbed as the PacWest Player of the Week on Feb. 20 while junior right-handed pitcher Koh Maeda was also picked as the PacWest Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 6. It is the third consecutive year that ART U has earned three total PacWest weekly awards with two being PacWest Pitcher of the Week honors, and it is the fifth consecutive year earning at least one PacWest weekly honor (excluding shortened 2020 season; multiple honors in all but 2019). Additionally, he is the first Urban Knight to earn the NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week award since Collin Carriger earned the award on March 1, 2022, and ART U has had at least one such award in each of the last three years (two in 2021; Carriger on May 3 and Matthew Sanchez on Mar. 10).