Games #26 & 27
ART U Urban Knights (9-16, 7-9 PWC) vs. NDNU Argonauts (15-10, 9-5 PWC)
Saturday, March 23, 2013 at 12:00 PM
Belmont, CA – Notre Dame High School
Live Stats

Games #28 & 29
ART U Urban Knights (9-16) vs. Cal State East Bay Pioneers (7-19)
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 12:00 PM
Hayward, CA – Pioneer Field
Live Stats

BAY AREA BATTLES AT NDNU, CSUEB ON TAP
Returning from a tough Dixie State series that featured several close games, the Urban Knights will now remain in California for the next three weeks. Academy of Art University is on the road for the next week, making stops to play Pacific West Conference opponent Notre Dame de Namur and Cal State East Bay in a non-conference twinbill.

FIRST PITCH
Back in the Bay Area for their next two road pairings, ART U first meets NDNU this Saturday, Mar. 23 over at Notre Dame High School in Belmont, CA. On Wednesday, Mar. 27, the Knights will play a non-conference doubleheader against Cal State East Bay at Pioneer Field in Hayward, CA. Both gamedays will begin at 12:00 PM and will have Live Stats available (see above). Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
Though her program-record 13-game hitting streak came to an end in the first game of the Dixie State series, junior  Lauren Stover still sports the highest batting average on the team (.382) along with the most RBIs (14), doubles (5), and home runs (2) of any Urban Knight. Sophomore Haily MacDonald (.378, 7 RBI) and junior Elyse Cordova (.325, 10 RBI) now share the team-lead with 18 runs scored apiece. Senior Andrea Hanchey and sophomore Taylor Thurman have both reached double-digit RBI totals this month with 12 and 10 respectively.

The dynamic duo of junior Kimberly Dauer (4-9) and Haily MacDonald (3-2) have shouldered much of the load for the Knights in the circle thus far. Dauer offers a 3.75 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 74.2 innings pitched. She has all eight of Academy of Art's complete games. MacDonald's ERA is 4.13 after 42.1 innings pitched. Sophomore Kristin Valdivia (2-1) has been ART U's top reliever with a 2.52 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 25.0 innings pitched.

AR-WE GO-ING TO BELMONT?
Beginning its 2013 campaign with four consecutive victories in the Montana State Billings Desert Stinger, Notre Dame de Namur ended up taking a 7-3 loss to Humboldt State to finish its opening stretch. After Menlo defeated NDNU 6-4, the Argonauts would win six of their next seven, including sweeps of both California Baptist (Feb. 22) and Dixie State (Mar. 2). Two days spent at Grand Canyon saw four consecutive losses, but the Argos have recently righted the ship with a five-game winning streak that has included sweeps of Holy Names and Dominican. NDNU's offensive leaders are Kaydi Kochi (.362, 16 R, 6 2B, 13 RBI) and Mary Ortega (.282, 17 RBI, 5 HR), but they are two of four Argos with double-digit RBI totals (Breanna Young has 12, Sammy McConvey has 10). It is the pitching that has kept the Argonauts in games this year with strong performances from McConvey (7-3, 72.0 IP, 1.17 ERA, 25 SO), owner of the second-lowest ERA in the PacWest, and Shelby Reali (6-3, 61.0 IP, 2.98 ERA, 49 SO). A relatively even all-time series has NDNU with a slight 8-7 advantage.

KNIGHTS PIO-NEARING A MATCHUP ACROSS THE BAY
Cal State East Bay started its season by defeating Dominican 6-1, but proceeded to win just one of its next nine games as UH Hilo and Humboldt State both swept the Pioneers. From there, CSUEB split series with Cal State Monterey Bay and Sonoma State before falling 3-1 in a four-game series with National Championship runner-up UC San Diego. Most recently, the Pioneers were swept in four by Chico State. Among East Bay's offensive leaders are Taryn Thomas (.370, 8 RBI) and Sara Holdridge (.338, 16 RBI, 2 HR, 7 2B) while Lauren Zweigle (6-10, 106.1 IP, 2.96 ERA, 90 SO) is their top hurler. CSUEB and ART U played one another for the first time last season and split the season-opening doubleheader.

RED STORM PREVAIL OVER ART U IN SERIES FINALE
Academy of Art University Softball again showed it could match Dixie State in this past Tuesday's doubleheader at Karl Brooks Field, but the Red Storm offense came early in the first and late in the second enabling a pair of victories for Dixie, 7-4 and 4-2. In the opener, ART U fought back against an early 7-0 advantage for the home team, scoring four in the late innings and equalizing the nine hits from the Red Storm. Game two was tied twice before Dixie State scratched across two runs in the final two frames for the win.

LOOKING AHEAD
ART U will make a brief stop at Mission Blue Field on Apr. 1 to take on Chaminade in a doubleheader before heading out to Turlock, CA to compete in the Tournament of Champions hosted by Cal State Stanislaus on Feb. 5-6. The Knights will face five opponents in two days with a rare tripleheader coming on the Friday afternoon.