SAN FRANCISCO – Academy of Art opened a four-game series with No. 9 Azusa Pacific on Thursday and was met with an offensive force. Despite totaling nine hits of their own, the Urban Knights fell to the Cougars by a score of 15-2.
 
APU was hot from the start, scoring four runs after two innings had passed. Academy of Art was able to cut the deficit to three in the bottom of the second however, when they managed to plate their first run of the ballgame. Junior catcher Marciano Reichel led off the inning with a first-pitch double to left-center and eventually moved to third after the Cougars' shortstop committed a fielding error off of the bat of junior infielder Taylor Martin. Reichel came in to score after the next at-bat in which sophomore infielder Robert "Gio" Villanueva grounded out to second.
 
In his eighth start of the season, junior right-hander Chris Petrosie settled down in the third and fourth innings and did not allow a run to score during that time and surrendered just one hit. However, APU went back to work in the fifth, scoring nine runs over the next three frames including a 6-run sixth inning.
 
The Urban Knights scored their second run of the game in the bottom of the eighth when Martin laced a single up the middle to drive in junior outfielder Izac Bauer. However, the Cougars added two more runs in the top of the ninth to reach the final score of 15-2.
 
Three Knights put together multiple-hit outings in Thursday's affair. Martin, junior infielder Michael Maleski, and junior outfielder Kyle McGraw each went 2-for-4 while Martin and Villanueva were credited with runs batted in. Of the four ART U pitchers, senior lefty Jacob Green was the only hurler to not allow a run; he gave up two hits in his 1.0 innings of work, but lowered his 2017 earned run average to 1.78 which leads all Urban Knight relievers.
 
Now, 12-19 overall and 8-9 in the PacWest, Academy of Art will return to Benedetti Diamond on Friday for games three and four against the Cougars. The twin bill is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.