KNIGHT WATCH
Through its first two games of the year, Academy of Art is collectively hitting .328 which ranks second in the PacWest. Six extra-base hits including a pair of home runs has their slugging percentage (.517) first in the conference. Two clutch hits in three at-bats from sophomore outfielder Hallie Curtis gave her a team-best three runs batted in along with a double. Sharing the high for RBIs is senior infielder Jasmine Dickenson who homered in her first at-bat and went 2-for-6 over the two games. Freshman outfielder Samantha Klune also went deep in just her fourth collegiate at-bat and is hitting .333 as well. Senior infielder Taylor Thurman went 3-for-6 in the CSUEB series, doubling once and driving in another. Junior catcher Elise Oldham was 3-for-7 with a RBI as well and senior outfielder Haily MacDonald flashed her speed by tripling and stealing a base in her 2-for-6 start to the year. The triple was her seventh in her career, putting her into a tie with Elise Cordova for the all-time lead.

It was an impressive pitching debut for freshman Brenna Mitchell (1-0) who entered as a reliever in both games and wound up tossing 10.0 strong innings while allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. After a scoreless 3.2 innings in game one, she earned her first win of the year with just the two runs in 6.1 relief innings in game two.

WARRIORS HAVE BEEN WAITING
After finishing the 2014 season with a 10-26 record in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, Cal State Stanislaus comes into Tuesday with a 1-1 record like Academy of Art. The Warriors split with ART U's Bay Area foe Notre Dame de Namur to start the month (Feb. 1) and were set to host the Best of the West Invitational, but inclement weather prevented that from happening. Versus NDNU, Stanislaus won their opener 4-3 in the eighth inning on a RBI single by Alex Rowell then fell 6-5 in the second contest on a walk-off single. Thus far, the team's most dangerous hitters have been Morgan Balestreri (4-for-6 with two RBIs) and Rowell (3-for-7 with two doubles and two RBIs). In the circle, Cheyenne Harper (1-0) has the squad's lone victory after coming in to throw 3.2 scoreless relief innings in the twinbill. Stanislaus is the only team to ever tie with Academy of Art historically and the Warriors hold a 3-2-1 advantage in the all-time series.

GATORS CHOMPING AT THE BIT
SF State matched Cal State Stanislaus 10-26 CCAA record in 2014 and, after the cancellation of the Best of the West Invitational, now plays its first game of the 2015 season against Academy of Art. The Gators return 13 letter winners including seven starters from last year's team.  Highlighting the list of returners is junior center fielder Jennifer Lewis (.329, 10 2B, 28 RBI) who was named to the All-CCAA Second Team as well as senior shortstop Courtney Gravel (.347, 31 R) and sophomore starting pitcher Megan Clark (9-13, 3.01 ERA, 142.0 IP, 70 K). In a historical matchup that has seen seven meetings, SF State holds a slight 4-3 edge versus ART U.

KNIGHTS OPEN SEASON WITH SPLIT AT CSUEB
In their first action of the 2015 season, Academy of Art University Softball showed it has a multi-faceted offense as well as talented young defense. The Urban Knights went up in the first inning of both contests at Cal State East Bay's Pioneer Softball field and ended up falling 4-3 in the opener before rallying late to win the second contest 8-6. Sophomore  Hallie Curtis drove in three in her game two debut and freshman  Brenna Mitchell stepped in to pick up her first win of the year with over six strong innings in the circle.

LOOKING AHEAD
Following this week's action, Academy of Art will commence PacWest Conference play on the road at Azusa Pacific with a four-game series spanning Feb. 20-21 before returning home to host Central Washington on Feb. 23.