Games #52 & 53
ART U Urban Knights (39-12, 22-6 PWC) vs. No. 15 CBU Lancers (31-10, 23-7 PWC)
Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 5 & 7 p.m.
Riverside, Calif. – John C. Funk Stadium
Live Stats & Live Video

Games #54 & 55
ART U Urban Knights (39-12, 22-6 PWC) vs. No. 19 Dixie State Trailblazers (36-8, 20-8 PWC)
Saturday, May 5, 2018 at Noon & 2 p.m. MT (11 a.m. & 1 p.m. PT)
St. George, Utah – Karl Brooks Softball Field
Live Stats | Live Video (Game 1) | Live Video (Game 2)

ART U CHALLENGES NATIONALLY-RANKED OPPONENTS
Currently riding the athletic department's longest win streak with 13 straight victories, the Urban Knights enter a crucial week of Pacific West Conference play having posted 23 wins in their last 24 games. Second in the Pacific West Conference standings with a shot at sharing the title with Concordia, Academy of Art comes off a doubleheader sweep of Holy Names in which ART U scored a total of 30 runs.

FIRST PITCH
The Urban Knights' final week of the regular season begins in Riverside with a 5 p.m. doubleheader at No. 15 California Baptist inside John C. Funk Stadium. In its ESPN3 debut, ART U will then face No. 19 Dixie State on Saturday, May 5 at noon MT (11 a.m. PT) out at Karl Brooks Field in St. George, Utah. Live coverage will be available via the links above. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter & Instagram and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

ACADEMY OF ART RISES TO SIXTH IN THIRD REGIONAL RANKINGS RELEASE
Picking up two more victories since the last release of the NCAA Division II West Regional rankings, ART U moved up to a program-record sixth place on Wednesday's third release. A total of eight teams will contest the Regional title across two sites that will be determined at the conclusion of this final week of regular season play.

KNIGHT WATCH
Approaching its final four games of the regular season, Academy of Art finds itself ranked sixth in NCAA Division II in shutouts (16), 10th in earned run average (1.74), and 15th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.35). Offensively in the PacWest, the Urban Knights have taken over the top spot in doubles (80, four shy of the program's single-season record) with 13 of those coming in the last six games. Additionally, they have moved into the lead in total hits (408) and second in the conference in pitcher strikeouts (308).

Brooke Larsen, an eight-time PacWest weekly award winner, is up to seventh in the conference in batting average (.374) and second in doubles (17) after breaking the program's single-season record on Senior Day. In addition to leading Academy of Art in virtually every pitching category (see below), she has also driven in 20 runs. The most recent recipient of PacWest Freshman of the Week, infielder Jayda Alaan remains the NCAA Division II leader in hit by pitch (27) and enters the week is hitting .348 (16th in PacWest) with 34 runs scored (tied for ninth in PacWest) and a .497 on-base percentage (seventh in PacWest). Long since the program's single-season record holder, Alaan needs just one more hit by pitch to, in a single season, break the program's career record of 27 currently held by Jasmine Dickenson. Senior utility Brenna Mitchell, who became the program's single-season leader in sacrifice flies (5, 15th in NCAA Division II), serves as the team's leader in runs batted in (35, tied for 11th in PacWest), ranks third on the team in batting average (.342), and is seventh in the PacWest with 13 doubles.

Sophomore outfielder Gabi Hirsch had her team-best hit streak end at 12, but increased her reached base streak to 22 games. She is now hitting .326 with 38 runs scored (tied for sixth in PacWest), and ranks fourth in the conference with 29 stolen bases (now nine shy of Haily MacDonald's 2015 single-season record). Senior infielder Samantha Klune comes off a scorching 6-for-7 doubleheader versus Holy Names and is now hitting .331 with 17 extra-base hits. Sophomore infielder Gracie Sotomayor is second on the team with 30 RBIs while hitting .325 and junior infielder Brenna Youngquist, who has 28 RBIs plus a .291 batting average, leads the conference with 32 walks and is just six from setting a new ART U single-season record.

In the pitcher's circle, Larsen (21-3) comes into the week just one victory from breaking the program's single-season wins record. One back of the PacWest's wins leader, Concordia's Callie Nunes (22-3), Larsen's 21 victories rank 16th in NCAA DII and she currently has sole possession of the conference lead in both shutouts (10) and complete games (20). She is first in the PacWest in innings pitched (165.0) and second in both earned run average (1.06, 11th in NCAA DII) and strikeouts (197, 10th in NCAA DII and four from breaking the program's single-season record of 200 held by Sierrah Garcia). Three saves tie her for fourth in the conference as well.

Beyond her success with the bat, a streak of 12 consecutive scoreless innings have now been thrown by Mitchell (4-3) who picked up wins in her last two starts and just recently moved into second on the team with a 2.03 ERA. Freshman Cecilia Lopez (10-4) enters the week 11th in NCAA DII in fewest walks allowed per seven innings (0.79) with just 11 issued through 97.2 innings pitched (the fewest by any PacWest pitcher with 28.0 or more innings to their credit). She is 21st in NCAA DII in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.00), carries a 2.08 ERA (11th in PacWest), and is one of 11 PacWest pitchers with 10 or more wins.

CHARGING THE LANCERS
The highest ranked team in the PacWest Conference, California Baptist dropped from No. 11 to No. 15 in the most recent national ranking and remains extremely dangerous. The Lancers are 3-5 in their last eight games, but enjoyed a 12-game win streak earlier in the year. Coming into its own Senior Day, CBU leads the conference in both ERA (1.40, third in NCAA DII) and home runs (59, fourth in NCAA DII). Hannah Thieroff paces the PacWest in batting average (.451), home runs (16, eighth in NCAA DII), and RBIs (52) while the Lancers' present a one-two punch in the pitchers' circle with Ciara Stapp (16-8) sitting behind Nunes and Larsen with the third-lowest ERA in the conference (1.14) and Kellye Springstead (11-1) fourth in ERA (1.38) with the sixth-fewest hits allowed per seven innings in the country (3.62). In the all-time series, California Baptist leads Academy of Art 14-2.

BLAZING TRAILS
No. 19 Dixie State impressively won its first 20 games of the year before running into two bumps in the road over its Hawaii roadtrip. The Trailblazers would then fall once to Azusa Pacific and Biola before winning seven straight, splitting with California Baptist and then later being swept by Concordia most recently. Now hosting ART U for its Senior Day in Utah, DSU boasts the top batting average in the PacWest (.319) as well as the most runs scored (332, 10th in NCAA DII), RBIs (300), and stolen bases (102, 14th in NCAA DII). The Trailblazers' spark plug remains PacWest Preseason Player of the Year Janessa Bassett who ranks fourth in the country in runs scored per game (1.49, 64 in total) as well as eighth in stolen bases per game (0.86, 37 in total). Defensively, the team relies on Cambrie Hazel (16-3) in the circle with her 1.54 ERA (sixth in PacWest) and 116 strikeouts over 113.2 innings of work. In nearly 30 matchups with the Urban Knights over the years, the Trailblazers are 25-4 all-time.

ART U FITTINGLY SCORES 30 RUNS IN SENIOR DAY SWEEP OF HOLY NAMES
On The 30. In its 2018 home finale, Academy of Art University Softball celebrated its two seniors, Samantha Klune and Brenna Mitchell, then proceeded to score 30 total runs across a doubleheader sweep of Holy Names out at Mission Blue Field on Apr. 29. Game one saw the Urban Knights score in every inning including seven in the third and five in the fourth (three on Klune's home run) to back Mitchell (4-3) who delivered four shutout innings in what eventually ended as a 16-1 final in five frames and the program's single-game scoring record. The ART U offense then plated seven more in the second inning of game two, six more in the fourth, and run-ruled the Hawks once more 14-0 over a dazzling five innings from freshman Brooke Larsen (21-3). The Senior Day victories pushed Academy of Art's winning streak to 13 games to set the athletic department's all-time record.

LOOKING AHEAD
Very much in the conversation for one of the West Region's eight bids to the NCAA Tournament and the program's first postseason appearance, Academy of Art will await the Regional announcement from the NCAA coming this Monday, May 7 at 7 a.m. PT.