Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Oakland, CA -- The Academy of Art University baseball team used two stellar pitching performances from their starters but came up painfully close in today's doubleheader against Fresno Pacific University. Aaron Garabedian had a gem in the first game but the Sunbirds came back while down to their final out to win 4-2, while Nate Gercken gave up a couple late runs to wash out his good start in a 3-2 loss in the capper.

"Our pitching has been coming around," said head coach Brian Guinn. "Our starters have been doing really well lately, but today it was just getting that final out. We were right in these games and they were both very winnable. We just made some little mistakes that were magnified by the closeness of the game."

Garabedian cruised in his second straight impressive outing, setting the Sunbirds down in order in the first and using a double play and a groundout to get them out in the second. In the third inning, FPU had a threat but the redshirt junior neutralized it, working around an infield single and a sacrifice bunt by picking off the lead runner and then getting a groundout to keep them off the board. Garabedian would strike out two more in the fourth and only allowed two base runners in the fifth to keep it a scoreless game.

The Urban Knights broke through against FPU starter J.D. Salles in their half of the fifth, starting when Wade Broadstreet had an infield single and advanced to second on a fielder's choice. He was out at third on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Joey Marchini, but the speedy freshman made up for it by stealing second, putting another runner in scoring position. Tino Leite struck out swinging, but then Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge singled to left to bring Marchini around to score and putting the Knights up 1-0.

ART U's right-hander got through the sixth easily, and with his team up a run after six complete innings, the Urban Knights went to the bullpen. Broadstreet moved to the mound from the DH spot and pitched a scoreless inning and two thirds, with Yoshi Uemura making three pitches to get the third out on a fielder's choice. Academy of Art added another in the bottom of the eighth inning when Ryan Ramirez singled. He went to second on a passed ball, advanced to third base on a key groundout, and then scored on a sharp single down the left-field line by Dante Redhead to make it 2-0.

Closer Ryan Donahoe came in for the ninth, and after a lead off single, he struck out two in a row to bring the Knights within an out of a win. That margin for error dwindled to the last strike of the game, but Baron Bower worked a full-count walk to get on base. That started a string of six Sunbirds in a row to reach base, all via the walk, against three Urban Knights pitchers to put Fresno Pacific on top 4-2 heading into the final inning. ART U had a last-minute rally, getting two runners on with only one out, but Leite was picked off trying to advance, and Stefen Henderson, the potential tying run, struck out to end the game.

Garabedian went 6.0 innings with three strikeouts, only allowing two hits. He lowered his ERA to 3.41, the lowest on the team. Brackenridge was 3-5 with an RBI in the first game, while Dante Redhead added a pair of hits and an RBI, continuing to heat up as the season goes on. Donahoe (0-3) picked up the loss for ART U, while Chris De La Torre (3-0) entered in the eighth and picked up the win for Fresno Pacific.


Redshirt sophomore Nate Gercken went the distance in the second game, but picked up a hard loss. Like Garabedian, he started out very strong for the Urban Knights, inducing three groundouts in the first. He was spotted an early lead when the Knights got a single from Brackenridge and a double from Ramirez to give the home team an early lead.

Gercken got through the second without a hit, and only allowed two infield singles in the third and the fourth. But the Sunbirds got on the board in the fifth, starting with a slow tapper that led off the inning. After a sacrifice bunt, Steven Moon advanced to third on a wild pitch. A batter later, another wild pitch from Gercken allowed the tying run to score and it was 1-1.

The Knights retook the lead in their half, using a two-out rally to push across a run. Brackenridge had his fifth hit of the series up the middle, and proceeded to steal second and take third on a bad throw from the catcher. Henderson then reached on an error by the third baseman, allowing Brackenridge to score for the second time on the game.

But Fresno Pacific pushed the envelope further in the sixth, again getting two quick outs. Kyle Coppom hit a deep homer to left to tie the game, and then Gercken got within one strike of ending the inning twice before walking a pair of batters. Kevin Gaspar, the lead runner, would score the go-ahead run on a single from Matt Fox. The Knights went down in the sixth but got close in their final at bat, getting the tying run on second base, but they were unable to get Broadstreet around to get the game further.

Brackenridge added two more hits and scored the only two runs of the game for ART U. Ryan Castadio (2-2) picked up the win for FPU, while Ryan Cheek (3) picked up the save. Gercken (0-4) only allowed five hits and struck out four.

The two teams will play another doubleheader on Saturday to close out the season series. The first game is scheduled to start at 12:00 PM.