Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

St. George, UT -- The Urban Knights played two incredibly competitive games on Thursday night, and for their efforts, earned a well-deserved split with Dixie State. Both games ending in 3-2 scores, but the Red Storm took the first one while the Knights battled into extra innings to get the win in the nightcap.

In what seems to be a welcome trend but with an unwelcome result, the Academy of Art baseball team is starting to play in a lot of close games, mainly due to a pitching staff that has their starters on a hot streak over the past week. Nate Gercken had his second strong start, going five scoreless inning but getting a no-decision, while Wade Broadstreet followed that up by giving up one run in 5.1 innings to earn the win.

"They've been throwing strikes. They've had command of everything," said head coach Brian Guinn. "We're getting solid defensive play behind them, and we're showing that if we start playing close games, we'll win them."

Gercken started the first game, looking to follow up his last start against Grand Canyon, a tough luck loss where he gave up the only run in a 1-0 ballgame. Since his ERA ballooned to 13.50 after his start against Feb. 18 against Cal Baptist, he has since cut it in half, down to 5.80, good for second among the starting staff.

It was a pitcher's duel from the outset, as nobody put more than one runner on base until the fourth inning. Mike Dedrick, last week's PacWest Pitcher of the Week, was in control, not allowing a hit until Zach Babitt got one through the right side in the fourth. Gercken was matching him stride for stride, gave up only three hits and three walks in his outing, striking out two. In the fourth, Gercken walked Tyson Littlewood. But with two outs, Tyler Slesk reached on an error. Eric Bond drew a walk to load the bases, but Gercken got Jayden Darrington to pop up to end the threat.

The trouble for the Knights started in the sixth inning, when Stefen Henderson came in to the game. Henderson walked three, gave up two hits, and threw a wild pitch, and the Red Storm took advantage, scoring three runs and taking a commanding 3-0 lead. Things could have been a lot worse, as Dixie still had two runners in scoring position, but Henderson got Colton Yack to line out to center to end the threat.

"We've been working on eliminating big innings," Coach Guinn said. "We've been doing a good job of that. If they score a couple, that's OK, but we avoid the big innings and we're still in good shape."

That's when the Knights started their comeback. In the top of the seventh, they added a run when Zach Babitt led off with a double down the right-field line. Myles Babitt grounded out, advancing him to third. Jared DePatto walked, and then Henderson struck out swinging. But then Kenny Rollins, Jr. came up, and in an 0-2 count, he singled to right-center, scoring Babitt from third. Henderson ran into more trouble in the bottom of the seventh, but Spencer Roland came in and shut down the Dixie threat, getting Darrington to line out to third base.

In the eighth, Broadstreet singled to center to lead off. Johnathan Robbins sacrificed him over to second, and then he went to third when Bryce Hutchings grounded out. Zach Babitt walked, and then Myles Babitt reached on an error by the third-baseman, scoring Broadstreet to make it 3-2. The Knights made one more effort in the top of the ninth with two outs, when they got two on, but Red Storm closer Daniel Zapata shut the door, striking out Robbins to end the comeback bid and the first game.

Academy of Art out-hit the Red Storm 7-to-5 in the first game. Zach Babitt went 2-for-3 with a double and a run. Rollins was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Broadstreet went 2-for-4 with a run.