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Photo Gallery (images by Andrea Gill & Meg Williams)

Oakland, CA -- The Academy of Art University baseball team turned up the power against Holy Names in today's doubleheader, but late comebacks from the Hawks left the Urban Knights winless on the day. The Knights put together 13 hits between the two games and also picked up their first two homeruns of the year but the Hawks won the opener 6-5 and the nightcap by a final of 7-2.

Yoshi Uemura had the start in the first game, but before he even took the mound, the Urban Knights put on a power display that gave them an early lead. Against HNU's Micah Ashburn, Tino Leite walked to lead off the game. Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge hit an infield single, and then they both advanced on a wild pitch. Then Stefen Henderson continued his strong start to the season, hitting a deep homer to left field to make it 3-0.

The next batter, Ryan Ramirez, picked up right where Henderson left off, hitting a dinger of his own to left-center for back-to-back blasts. Myles Babitt tripled to right center two batters later, knocking Ashburn out of the game, and then scored on a groundout from Kevin Decker to make it a 5-0 game before ART U had even taken the field.

Uemura was sharp, but not sharp enough on the mound, as Holy Names picked up two in the first and two in the second to make it 5-4. Nick Boyett, who picked up the win in yesterday's nightcap, then ran into some trouble in the third inning, when Brian Glynn followed the Urban Knights' lead and hit a homerun of his own to tie the game.

It stayed tied until the bottom of the sixth, when the Hawks were helped out by some key mistakes by Academy of Art. Tyler Truitt reached on a fielder's choice, but then stole second. He went to third when the throw got away from the catcher Decker, and then scored on a rare error from Joseph Marchini in center to make it 6-5.

That's how it would stay, as the Urban Knights got runners on but could not bring them around. Leite was caught stealing in the seventh, the Knights left two runners on with two outs in the eighth, and Marchini was stranded at first to end the game.

Brackenridge continued to raise his average, picking up two hits on the day, while Henderson picked up three RBIs, all on his first inning homerun. Myles Babitt had a hit and two walks to raise his on-base percentage a few points and extend his hitting streak to a season-high seven games.


Samm McAlear got the start in the second game and got through the first inning with no trouble. But in the second inning, the Hawks were able to put together a five-run rally against McAlear and his replacement Kai Fink to put HNU up 5-0. The Urban Knights got one back in the fourth, when Brackenridge tripled to center and then scored on a balk.

Holy Names answered back with two more in the fifth on a double from Caleb Parker and a single from Matt Smith to make it 7-1. Academy of Art had one more in the sixth, when Redhead singled in Henderson, who had doubled earlier in the inning. That made it 7-2, but the Knights couldn't get anything off of Josh Hammer, who closed it down in the seventh.

The Knights will head to Dixie State for their next series. They'll play doubleheaders on March 22 and March 23 in St. George.