Box Score 1 | Box Score 2


St. George, UT -- The Academy of Art University baseball team traveled to Dixie State on Friday, and in a pair of games were close to breaking through but came up just short in both games, dropping a doubleheader to the Red Storm in the first two of a four game series. The Urban Knights had rallies in both of the closing innings, but the Red Storm were able to keep the go ahead runs from crossing the plate in the losses, falling in the first game 6-2 and the second 5-2.

Aaron Garabedian had the best start of his season but it went for naught, as the Urban Knights got their first runs across the plate after he departed. Dixie State got on the board in the first, using a pair of errors on the same play to get their leadoff batter to third on a single. That runner scored when Colton Yack beat out a squeeze play, but Garabedian got out of the inning with only the one unearned run.

Both pitchers were in their rhythm for the next five innings, until Dixie State struck for another unearned run in the bottom of the sixth when Jordan Hanley reached on a grounder that skimmed the grass before it took a wicked hop right into Tino Leite's  chest at short. He later scored on a double from Kevin Kline, and Dixie had a 2-0 lead. They would add three more off redshirt sophomore Nick Giotta in the seventh to make it 5-0, but then they started mounting their comeback.

In the top of the eighth, Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge drew a one-out walk. The Urban Knights red-hot Stefen Henderson stepped in, and on a 1-0 pitch hit one over the wall in left-center for his second homer of the year that made it 5-2. Ryan Ramirez drew a walk and was replaced by the speedy Jeremy Williams, but a strike out and a caught stealing double play ended the Knights threat.

The Red Storm added one more in the bottom of the eighth, and although Academy of Art had two runners on in the ninth and the tying run in the on-deck circle, Dixie State pulled out the 6-2 victory. Henderson picked up his sixth and seventh RBIs in the first game. 

In the second game, the Knights seemed to start every inning with a runner on base, but couldn't get the runner home. In the first, Brackenridge and Henderson both walked, and after a passed ball and Henderson's tenth steal in as many tries, they had runners on second and third with two out, but Wade Broadstreet grounded out to end the first.

ART U sent their ace to the hill, but Nate Gercken wasn't his usual sharp self on the mound. He allowed a pair of hits in the first but induced a double play to end the inning. They went right back to getting base runners on in the second, using two walks before Tino Leite singled up the middle. James Singzon came around third on the hit, but was thrown out at home.

In the second, Kline got a one-out single for Dixie State, but Gercken got Ryan Westcott to ground into another double play, the 30th that the Urban Knights have turned in 21 games. After Academy of Art went down in order in the third, and Gercken got two quick outs, the Red Storm got a two-out rally. A hit-by-pitch, a single, and a double gave Dixie a 2-0 lead. The Red Storm used five hits, an error, and two wild pitches to score three more in the fourth to make it 5-0.

But the Knights refused to give up, using three walks to load the bases in the fifth. Henderson picked up his eighth RBI of the year on a ground ball to short, but after another walk loaded the bases again, Broadstreet's line drive was caught by the Kline at first to limit the Knights to one run. They added another in the sixth when Cody Edmunds had a bunt single. He got to second on a bunt single, and scored on a single from Joseph Marchini to make it 5-2.

The Urban Knights had one more rally in them in the top of the seventh. Henderson drew a walk with one out, followed by a single from Ramirez. Devin Mason came in to pinch-run, and the two executed a double steal to put two runners in scoring position. Broadstreet drew a walk to put the tying run on first base, but Josh Mooney struck out Singzon and Dante Redhead to end the game.

Sam Friend picked up the win for Dixie State, with Gercken taking the loss. Yoshi Uemura pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out three. The 30 double plays by the Urban Knights lead the league, while Henderson's ten steals put him in the running for the league lead in that category. The two teams will face off for the series finale in a doubleheader on Saturday. Note: The new start time for game one is 10:00 AM PT.