OAKLAND, Calif. -- In their final home game of the season on senior day at Laney College, Academy of Art exploded for 11 runs and tied their season high in hits with 18 behind senior catcher Zak May's 3-5 day with two home runs and five runs batted in, but APU's big first inning made the difference in the ART U's 13-11 loss.  

"The guys battled their tails off throughout the weekend against one of the best programs in the nation," said head coach Dan McDermott. "We outhit them in the last two games as we totaled 34 hits to their 21. The biggest separator today was that we walked 10 of their hitters and hit five."

May's day will go down as one of, if not the best, single game hitting performances in ART U history. The senior catcher put himself all over the record books after the performance, starting with the single season RBI record. May needed just three runs batted in to break the record, but ended the day with five for a season total of 30 to vault past former tenth round draft pick Zach Babitt's previous record of 27. A couple of single game records came next. May is now one of only two Urban Knights to ever hit two home runs in one game and one of four to drive in five runs in in a single game. The multi-homer day brings his total to six which ties the single season home run record. All this with eight games to play.

May's first RBI came in the first on a single to left to score senior second baseman Elijah Smith. In the fourth, he tied the RBI record with a solo-shot to left center to chip away at APU's 9-2 lead. The Urban Knights put a dent in the deficit with a three run fifth. Senior outfielder Taj Dawson beat out a single to third to score sophomore utility Noah Daubin for the first run of the inning. A pair of groundouts brought across two more and cut the lead to 9-5, but the Cougars came right back in the sixth and seventh to refresh their lead to 13-5.

May's record breaking run batted in came in the seventh when he drove in junior shortstop Justin Summers, who scored twice and drove two runs in, on a groundout to third. After a scoreless frame by senior pitcher Ben Clegg the Knights went back to work with their biggest inning of the day. The first run of the five run eighth was driven in by Summers who singled up the middle to score junior utility Daniel Curiel. Smith put two across with a double he drove to right-center and May came up with his second home run of the day to pad his single season RBI record and bring the Knights within two. Clegg tossed another scoreless ninth for a solid outing, but ART U was unable to score in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the Cougars to take game four, although for the second straight day, ART U outhit the best offense in the league, 18 hits to eight.

"You can't give a quality team 15 free bases and expect to have a chance," said McDermott. "It is a tribute to our guys that we made that game so exciting."

It would be the last home game of the season for the 12 seniors: Gonzo Rios, Angel Mora, Caden Spilsbury, Josh Carlin, Ben Kaser, Mason Verhees, Robert "Gio" Villanueva, Donnie Gardiner, Dawson, May, Smith, and Clegg who were celebrated and honored in a ceremony before the game for their hard work and dedication to the program.

"Really proud of the guys today," commented McDermott. "Being down 6-0 after the first inning, it would have been easy to roll over, but our guys hung in there. We have ten games remaining and when we apply that kind of energy and effort to these games and practices, we will finish on a positive note"

After the loss Academy of Art moves to 14-24 overall and 6-21 in conference. The Urban Knights will play a non-conference series next against Corban starting April 26 before ending their season with the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds.