GAME #11 & #12
No. 22 Azusa Pacific (9-2) at Academy of Art (2-8)
Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 – 4 p.m. & 7 p.m. PST
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
LIVE STATS
 
GAME #13 & #14
No. 22 Azusa Pacific (9-2) at Academy of Art (2-8)
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 – 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. PST
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
LIVE STATS
 
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific West Conference play begins with a bang this week for the Academy of Art University baseball team as No. 22-ranked Azusa Pacific visits the Bay Area for a four-game PacWest series beginning Friday at Laney College.
 
Successes and struggles highlighted the Urban Knights' (2-8, 0-0 PacWest) first 10 games. ART U avoided sweeps in each of their last two four-game series thanks to complete game victories by senior starting pitcher Nate Gercken. The offense also picked up after the season opener, with five players batting .280 or better in the last eight games and the Knights collecting 60 of their 70 hits on the season in that span.
 
But 24 errors in the first 10 games have led to 14 unearned runs for the Academy of Art pitching staff. Free passes have also been a problem for the Urban Knights, as the staff has averaged nearly five walks (4.9) per game in the first three weeks of the year.
 
ABOUT AZUSA PACIFIC
The Cougars (9-2, 0-0 PacWest) have won four in a row, including a neutral site three-game sweep of Montana State-Billings on Feb. 16-17. APU is receiving votes in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association Poll. Most recently the Cougars upset No. 17/No. 22 (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll/NCBWA Poll) UC San Diego Tuesday at home 6-2. Both of APU's losses this season have come on the road, the last one coming at Cal Poly Pomona in a 5-3 defeat on Feb. 14.
 
Azusa Pacific is ranked second in the PacWest with a .323 team batting average and seven home runs. Pitching and defensive miscues have also hampered the Cougars through their first 11 games. A total of 19 errors have led to 14 unearned runs and a conference-high 50 walks has inflated APU's team ERA to 4.40.
 
Daniel Martin (.457 batting average) and Blake James (.450) are the top two hitters in the PacWest. Martin also leads the conference in slugging percentage (.870), on-base percentage (.537), runs (17), RBIs (23) and home runs (5). Josh Staumont is the Cougars' lone pitcher among the PacWest's top-10 in ERA at 1.72 in three starts.
 
GERCKEN NAMED PITCHER OF THE WEEK
A school record 13 strikeouts in a complete game victory Friday earned Gercken the nod for PacWest Conference Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 16-22.
 
Gercken struck out the first four batters he faced in game two of Friday's doubleheader versus Northwest Nazarene and five of the first six. He also K'd his final three and four of his last five en route to his second straight win in his second consecutive seven-inning complete game. Gercken's 13 strikeouts broke the previous Academy of Art single-game record of nine, previously set four different times, including by Gercken himself last season versus American Sports University.
 
MULTIPLE MARKS FOR GERCKEN
Gercken also set a new ART U career strikeouts record Friday, collecting his 240th strikeout to surpass the former record of 231 set by Zach Mexicano (2009-12). The senior's eighth career complete game also put him four innings away from setting a new ART U career record for innings pitched. The win was the sixth of Gercken's career, setting a new ART U record in that category as well.
 
THIRD BASEMAN SETTLED IN THE THIRD SPOT
Third baseman Brett Adami has made himself comfortable at the No. 3 spot in the order. In six games hitting third, Adami is batting .316 with five RBIs and two doubles. He's also drawn two walks and owns a .364 on-base percentage with a run scored.