ST. GEORGE, Utah – Junior southpaw Alex Fernandez kept Academy of Art close on Saturday, but the Trailblazers eventually prevailed, scoring five late runs to take the series finale 6-2.
 
Making his first start since March 18 at Hawaii Pacific, Fernandez was dominant through 6.2 innings pitched. The Napa, Calif. native allowed four runs (three earned) and surrendered just two hits through his first 5.2 innings of work. His 6.2 frames matched his career-high which was also recorded on March 13 at UH Hilo.
 
"We are somewhat beat up with a few players on the bench," said head coach Dan McDermott. "But, we were definitely excited to get Fernandez back after three weeks."
 
The Trailblazers managed to push across their first run of the game in the fourth inning after a walk and a catcher's interference placed runners at first and second. After striking out the next batter swinging, Fernandez surrendered just his second hit of the game, an RBI single to center field.
 
In the seventh, ART U nearly exited the frame unscathed as Fernandez induced a pair of flyouts on four pitches to begin the inning. However, four hits and a walk gave Dixie State three more runs and a 4-0 lead, chasing Fernandez from the game.
 
In bottom half of the inning, the Urban Knights responded with a pair of runs of their own. After sophomore infielder Robert "Gio" Villanueva led off with a single through the right side, junior designated hitter Kyle McGraw came up with his second hit of the game, a double past the diving third baseman down the left-field line (his first extra-base hit of the season). Junior infielder Michael Maleski followed with a single that bounced over the second baseman, driving in McGraw and cutting the lead in half (4-2).
 
Senior lefty Jacob Green, who entered the game with two outs in the seventh, recorded a pair of quick outs in the eighth before Dixie State was able to add two more to move ahead 6-2.
 
In the ninth, the Urban Knights put a runner on first with two outs, but their rally was cut short as the following batter flew out to left to end the game.
 
McGraw led ART U with a pair of hits in two at-bats including his seventh-inning RBI double. The Castaic, Calif. native has been seeing the ball well lately, putting together two multi-hit games in the series and now leads the team with a .318 batting average. In fact, McGraw has hit .382 in his last 10 games (13-for-34) against some of the PacWest's finest pitching. Maleski was responsible for the Knights' second RBI of the game and went 1-for-4 overall.
 
After playing several ranked teams within the past few weeks, Academy of Art will return home battle-tested and poised for a strong final three series of the 2017 season.
 
"In spite of the difficult weekend, the squad continues to play hard," said McDermott. "We are looking forward to a great week of practice as we prepare for our next series."
 
The Urban Knights' next series will come as a home/away set with Holy Names. The series will begin with a doubleheader on Friday, April 14 at Laney College.