Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Oakland, CA -- After Friday's doubleheader showcased two of the Academy of Art University's best pitching performances of the season, Saturday's matchup between the same two teams had the Urban Knights on the short end of a gem from the pitchers of Fresno Pacific in the first game and coming up one rally short in the series finale against the Sunbirds. Nick Boyett had a strong game but was stymied by the Sunbirds' Brett Bishop, who drove in four runs in FPU's 5-0 win in the opener, while the Urban Knights were one inning short of a close game in the nightcap, in which they fell 9-4. 

In the first game, Boyett was shaky in the first, giving up four hits and a run, including an RBI single from Brett Bishop to put the Sunbirds on the board. But after that first inning, the freshman settled in. He got out of a jam in the second inning and didn't allow a hit in the third or the fourth. The Sunbirds added another in the fifth on a homer to left from Bishop to make it 2-0.

On the other side of the ball, the Knights couldn't get too much together against FPU starter Wilson Ashford. They didn't get anyone on until the third, when Kevin Decker walked to lead off the inning. Stefen Henderson had the first hit for ART U in the fourth, and stole a base to get into scoring position, but the Knights couldn't get him around either. The best scoring chance for Academy of Art came in the fifth inning, when back-to-back singles put two runners on with one out, but a sharp ground ball from Joey Marchini turned into a nice snag by the third-baseman and an inning-ending double play.

Boyett ran into trouble in the sixth, when he made an error on a tough play covering first. After a bunt single and a sacrifice bunt, there were two runners on and head coach Brian Guinn went to the bullpen. Yoshi Uemura came in and the left-hander immediately hit Robert Chambas, loading the bases. He ran into some luck when a suicide squeeze attempt went awry, and then he struck out Alan Sandoval to escape the inning unscathed.

The Sunbirds got their third run in the seventh inning without getting a hit, using three walks, a hit by pitch, and a sacrifice fly to push a run across. They added two more in the eighth on a 2-RBI single from Bishop to give him four RBIs in the first game. Academy of Art was shut down by a pair of relievers in the eighth and the ninth, and the first game was in the books.


Fresno Pacific got a run in each of the first two innings against Wade Broadstreet, the Urban Knights second game starter. A homer by Bishop in the first and an unearned run on a single in the second put FPU up 2-0. ART U got one back in the bottom of the second when Dante Redhead and James Singzon hit back-to-back singles. After they both advanced on a passed ball by starter Mitchell Scott, Redhead came around to score on an RBI groundout by Jeremy Williams.

The Sunbirds got another in the fourth on a pair of doubles from Chambas and Steven Moon, going up 3-1, but the Urban Knights again fired back in their half. Myles Babitt had a double that sliced down the left field line and then scored on Redhead's second single of the day to make it 3-2, continuing Redhead's recent success with runners in scoring position and giving him three multi-hit games out of the last six.

Academy of Art's pitching struggled in the fifth, as Broadstreet, Uemura, and Nick Giotta gave up six runs on five hits and an error in the inning to make it a 9-2 ballgame. Their hitters refused to give up, and after two runners were on in their half of the fifth, Ryan Ramirez hit a long double over the center fielder's head to score both runs for the Knights and make it 9-4.

Samm McAlear shut down the Sunbirds in the sixth and the seventh, and the Knights had one last chance in the seventh. Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge singled up the middle, and Henderson took a pitch off the numbers to put two runners on. After a fielder's choice, Myles Babitt came up with two outs, but his grounder up the middle was snared by Moon at shortstop, who stepped on second to end the game.

The Urban Knights will be back in action for another pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday of next week, this time against the Sea Lions of Point Loma Nazarene University.