Game #35 & 36
ART U Urban Knights (14-20, 7-13 PacWest) vs. HPU Sharks (13-22, 8-15 PacWest)
Monday, April 10, 2023 at 4 & 7 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats and Video

Game #36 & 37
ART U Urban Knights (14-20, 7-13 PacWest) vs. HPU Sharks (13-22, 8-15 PacWest)
Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at 1 & 4 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats and Video

HOME COOKING
Coming off an intense doubleheader sweep over UH Hilo thanks to a walk-off win and solid pitching, Academy of Art baseball now heads into its final home series of the year as ART U will welcome Hawaii Pacific to town for a four-game Pacific West Conference series in a pair of doubleheaders, with Senior Day taking place on Tuesday. 

FIRST PITCH
Monday's doubleheader will take place under the lights with first pitch times of 4 and 7 p.m., while Senior Day Tuesday gets underway at 1 and 4 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.

SENIOR DAY SALUTE
Prior to Tuesday's doubleheader with the Sharks, there will be a short pregame ceremony to honor the careers and contributions to ART U baseball from outfielders Hayato Niki and Travis Turney, as well as pitcher Cannon Secrist. Both Niki and Secrist were a part of the 2021 PacWest NorCal Pod Champion Urban Knights, and all three will go down as one of the most decorated ART U senior classes. Both Niki (.308) and Turney (.306) have hit above the .300 mark for their ART U careers and will find a space in the ART U top 10, while Turney projects to be in three other career top 10 lists including, doubles, triples and stolen bases. Secrist has logged a career ERA of 3.96 with nine victories from the hill, and both marks would be second in program history behind only current ART U pitching coach Nate Gercken ('15). Additionally, Secrist's 188 punchouts are just eight strikeouts away from Gercken's strikeout record. In total, Secrist projects to be in over 10 ART U career pitching categories, and is also the ART U single season record for strikeouts with 102 which he set last season. 

If you would like to come watch Senior Day in person, Academy of Art will be providing a fan bus for game one of the doubleheader that will depart from 620 Sutter St. in San Francisco at noon, and returns to the same location after departing from Laney College at 4:15 p.m.

KNIGHTS' QUEST
After UH Hilo took both of the first two games from a four-game PacWest series, Academy of Art came back in a big way game during game three as the Urban Knights walked off winners by a 4-3 final when senior outfielder Hayato Niki produced a two-out, two-RBI base knock that saw great heads-up baserunning by sophomore second baseman Larrry Fonseca score from second on the play. Following that in the series finale was a strong pitching performance by the ART U duo of sophomore left-hander Brian Kraft and graduate student right-hander Cannon Secrist, which combined with four extra base hits led to a 4-2 victory for a doubleheader sweep to split the seies. 

Prior to each fo the games with Hilo, Kraft became the Urban Knights' first pitcher to ever earn a national weekly honor for his performance against the Golden Eagles on April 6, as he was named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week after held the Concordia lineup without a hit for seven innings and setting a new career-high with 10 strikeouts, which included punching out four of the final five batters to secure his first victory of the season. That performance helped him join Ben Kaser as the only two Urban Knights to throw a no-hitter in ART U history, with Kaser doing 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). The lone earned run that scored was a result of four walks, two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly. 

Over the prior two days Kraft collected other weekly awards, as April 3 he was named the PacWest Pitcher of the Week before earning the NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week on April 4. 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). 

It was an 0-3 start to the 2023 season for Academy of Art despite scoring a total of 16 runs (twice scoring six runs in a game), dropping the season opener against Stanislaus State before dropping both games against Sonoma State after rain shortened the series from three games down to two. The first wins of the season followed as they secured exciting solo victories over Fresno Pacific and Central Washington (both non-conference) thanks to home runs in consecutive games from redshirt junior catcher Liam Rizzo, though they were then limited to taking just the middle contest of three against Cal State East Bay. Continuing the stretch was Holy Names and Simpson, as the Hawks took the first matchup of the season with continued offense while Simpson won the only currently completed game of what was supposed to be another three-game series. 

Following that period, Academy of Art was victorious in each of their past four games starting with another solo contest against Holy Names, that this time the Knights got the better of by a 5-2 final to level the season series prior to the duo opening conference play against each other. Rolling into the weekend, rain forced some flexibility into what was originally scheduled as a four-game series, but even still there were three games completed with ART U taking all three in comeback fashion. A four-run sixth inning helped a 5-3 win in the opener, ART U battled through a Menlo six-run first in the middle game to win 12-9, and then closed the series with a four-run inning late combined with a brilliant relief appearance from junior right-hander Koh Maeda leading to a 5-4 victory. 

Just a day later, Maeda was tabbed as the PacWest Pitcher of the Week on March 6, as he held the Menlo bats to just three scattered hits over seven scoreless innings while picking up his second victory of the year in the series finale. This is the first weekly award for Maeda both this season and in his career, though it is the second weekly award by an Urban Knight this season as he joins Niki who was named the PacWest Player of the Week on Feb. 20. It is the third consecutive year that ART U has had multiple PacWest weekly awards and at least one PacWest Pitcher of the Week. 

While Holy Names won each of the first two games in the first PacWest series of the season for both teams, Academy of Art was able to rally and win the final two games, which included a walk-off win in game three while a solid all-around performance propelled ART U to the series split with the Hawks. Pitching was the theme of the doubleheader during games two and three, as while a pair of runs scored a win for HNU in game two, ART U then had the exciting walk-off win in game three after forcing the pressure on the Hawks' defense which led to the game-winning run scoring on an error. Riding the momentum of the walk-off, the Knights kept it going in the series finale they staked an early lead that they never relented, earning a split in their first PacWest series of the year thanks to a 5-3 victory on a wet and rainy day at Laney College. Having already played six games against each other, splitting them 3-3 with each winning one of the solo non-conference contests over the past couple weeks, that will leave the winner of the regular season's final game between the two teams to decide the season series winner. 

The Urban Knights split the first two games of their PacWest series-opening doubleheader with Fresno Pacific, dropping game one 11-1before coming back and exploding for nine runs on eight hits with yet another homer on the day while junior right-handed starter Devan Quesada was nearly perfect through six innings, resulting in a 9-3 victory during the shortened second game. Unfortunately, FPU would take the series when they swept the second doubleheader the following day, as while ART U scored first in both parts of the twin bill, it was the Sunbirds that scored more to walk away with wins by finals of 8-4 and 4-1. 

Academy of Art blasted three homers over the course of its four-game set with Biola, but despite holding a lead in three of the four contests (including scoring first in games two and four), it was the Eagles that came away with a PacWest series sweep. In the series-opening doubleheader, multiple extra-base hits (including the first home run in an ART U jersey by Niki) and a manufactured run were key in ART U's comeback to tie game one at 3-3, but a pair of three-run innings in the sixth and eighth were the difference for the Eagles. To end the weekend Academy of Art crushed both of their homers in the series finale, but in both games three and four BU was able to put together multiple run-scoring innings late leading to the twin bill victory. 

KNIGHT WATCH
Tops on the Knights in hits and average is senior outfielder Hayato Niki, batting .339 (42-for-124) on the season with 27 runs scored, 19 runs driven in 10 doubles and one homer. He is just one RBI away from becoming the third Urban Knight this season to score and drive in 20 or more runs, which would put him in the same group along with graduate student outfielder Travis Turney who is hot on his tails in average by hitting .337 (35-for-104) with 20 runs scored and 20 driven in, while also recording a triple and team-highs in doubles (12) and stolen bases (16; tied for eighth most in ART U season).

The other in that category is graduate student outfielder Landon Levine, who has the third-highest average on the squad at .286 (24-for-119) along with 25 runs scored, 27 RBI, five doubles and four homers. His homers are currently the team lead while the RBI are tied for the most on ART U along with redshirt junior catcher Liam Rizzo, which is also tied for sixth-most in a single ART U season. Recently Niki recently saw an 11-game hitting streak end while Turney also closed his 17-game reached base safely streak during the same game, both of which set new team highs by surpassing the previous team highs by Levine (10 game hit streak, 12 game reached base safely streak). Hot on their tails is freshman shortstop Gabe Henderson, as his .262 average (33-for-126) is fourth on the team while 28 runs scored and two triples are team bests. Rizzo trails just slightly behind despite a seemingly identical average at .262, scoring 16 times with his big RBI total. 

From the hill, junior righty Devan Quesada now leads the team in wins after he collected his fourth of the year (4-2) last time out thanks to a complete game quality start where he allowed just three runs on eight hits in seven innings against the Vulcans. That leads him to hold a 4.99 ERA (27 earned runs in 47.2 innings) which is third on the squad, though he has posted the lowest WHIP of those who qualify at 1.17. Just behind him with a 3-3 mark is fellow junior right-hander Koh Maeda, though he does have the second-best ERA thanks to 4.76 (24 earned runs in 45.1 innings) which is paired with a 1.59 WHIP. Leading the way in ERA is graduate student righty Cannon Secrist at 3.09 (12 earned runs in 25.0 innings), also logging a 2-3 record to go with his one save and a 1.46 WHIP. It's a tight race for the strikeout lead, with Quesada's 37 leading by just one over sophomore lefty Brian Kraft (36) and Secrist (34) trailing closely behind. With two recent brilliant performances, Kraft has dropped his ERA to 6.37 (25 earned runs in 35.1 innings) and WHIP to 1.95. Excelling out the bullpen this season has been junior right-hander Fernando Dueñas, who holds a 4.86 ERA (18 earned runs in 33.1 innings pitched) to go with his 2-2 record and team-high five saves (second-most in a single ART U season). 

SHARK WEEK
Hawaii Pacific sits at just 13-22 on the season with a 8-15 mark in PacWest play, though they are currently riding a three-game winning streak that had snapped a previous eight-game losing streak. Their last three wins consist of an 18-10 trouncing of Jessup, which followed a doubleheader victory over Holy Names on Apr. 6. HPU hits .286 on the season (312-for-1092) and average 5.94 runs per game, but their opponents are batting an eye-popping .326 (375-for-1150) and 7.86 runs per game against the Sharks in the 35 games they've played. Four Sharks are hitting above the .300 line with the .344 mark from Kota Suzuki leading the way, as he leads the team in hits (42) and RBI (25) while the duo of Tejean Smith and Nicholas Jio are each batting .308. From the hill, only two Sharks qualify in ERA with Andrew Hauck's 6.29 leading the way while Jack O'Brien has logged a 6.38 ERA, both with a 2-4 record. Hawaii Pacific has won each of the past five contests against the Knights, and lead the all-time series 50-15. 

EXCITING DAY SEES ART U TAKE TWIN BILL TO SPLIT SERIES
It was a triumphant way to end a Pacific West Conference series for Academy of Art baseball in Thursday's doubleheader against UH Hilo, walking off winners 4-3 in game one thanks to a two-RBI single from senior outfielder Hayato Niki before solid pitching led the way in a 4-2 game two victory, both games finishing in seven innings. 

ON THIS DAY
On April 12, 2019, the ART U bats were alive in a doubleheader split against Biola that saw the Knights combine for 14 runs, 16 hits, and three home runs, including a career first from senior outfielder Taj Dawson ... On April 14, 2015, the Urban Knights pounded out 12 hits and scored in four different innings to beat San Francisco State 8-4 which included an impressive 4-for-6 performance with a pair of runs scored by Joseph Marchini ... On April 15, 2011, Zach Mexicano helped Academy of Art earn a 2-1 game two victory in a doubleheader against Grand Canyon after he allowed just a single unearned run on seven hits over 7.0 innings with a pair of strikeouts. 

LOOKING AHEAD
Academy of Art will hit the road for their final nine games of the season, starting with a pair of series on the road against Azusa Pacific from Apr. 20-22 and Point Loma from Apr. 28-29 before playing the season finale against Holy Names at College of Alameda on May 2.