Game #1
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. Stanislaus State Warriors (0-0)
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 at 6 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats & Live Video

Game #2 & 3
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. Sonoma State Seawolves (0-0)
Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 1 & 4 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats & Live Video

Game #4
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. Sonoma State Seawolves (0-0)
Sunday, February 5, 2023 at 1 p.m.
Oakland, Calif. – Laney College
Live Stats & Live Video

Stepping onto the mound and into the batter's box for its first action of 2023 this week, Academy of Art baseball readies for the season ahead. Head Coach Dan McDermott enters his ninth year at the program's helm and, joins his staff in guiding an Urban Knights roster that features a veteran core group alongside dynamic new talents.

ART U opens up 2023 by hosting Stanislaus State (Feb. 1) as well as a three-part series with Sonoma State (Feb. 4-5) then single contests against Fresno Pacific (Feb. 13) and Central Washington (Feb. 14). Non-conference action continues with three games at Cal State East Bay (Feb. 17-18), four at Simpson (Feb. 24-25), and one at Holy Names (Mar. 1) prior to a home and road series with Menlo spanning Mar. 3-5. HNU will be the first team the Knights see for Pacific West Conference play at home on Mar. 10-12 ahead of three series outside the Bay Area at FPU (Mar. 16-18), Biola (Mar. 24-25), and Concordia (Mar. 31-Apr. 1). When Academy of Art returns to Laney College, it will be for its final two matchups there as UH Hilo (Apr. 4-6) leads into Hawaii Pacific (Apr. 10-11) which features Senior Day on the backend. Trips to Azusa Pacific (Apr. 21-22) and Point Loma (Apr. 28-29) conclude conference play, a May 2 game at Holy Names finishes the regular season, then the postseason will follow as, for the first time in conference history, the PacWest Conference Championship Tournament will be held in Fresno. To view the 2023 schedule, click here!

An experienced quintet for Academy of Art includes graduate students in returners pitcher Cannon Secrist and outfielder/first baseman Travis Turney plus newcomers utility Peter Torres and outfielder Landon Levine alongside senior outfielder Hayato Niki. Completing a team-high seven of his 14 starts in 2022, Secrist became the first ART U pitcher to post over 100 strikeouts in a single season as his 102 punchouts set the new program record. Meanwhile, Turney led the team with 13 doubles (third in program history), 16 stolen bases, and 31 runs scored while hitting .287 and driving in 28 runs at the dish a season ago.

Tied for the largest class this year, nine Urban Knights are juniors consisting of some familiar faces such as catcher/first baseman Liam Rizzo and pitcher Dallen Turner in addition to incoming pitchers Devan Quesada, Koh Maeda, and Fernando Dueñas, outfielder Rudolph "RJ" McDowell, first baseman/pitcher Robert Perez, middle infielder Larry Fonseca, and third baseman Ryne Lina. Rizzo's 28 runs batted in last season tied with Turney for the fourth-most in ART U's single-season history while Quesada comes off a year in which he was named Heart Second Team All-Conference after collecting eight wins with a 3.21 earned run average and 73 strikeouts over 70.0 innings pitched for Clark University.

Nine Knights also compose the sophomore class which features infielder Emil Jelinek, infielder/outfielder Patrick Morgan, pitchers Brian Kraft and Andrew McAlpin, pitcher/first baseman Cole Shafer, and Joseph Anderson as returners while outfielder Tony Diaz, middle infielder Chris Fung, and pitcher Dwyer Lewis make up a new wave of talent. Helping contribute to the program's highest pitcher strikeout total in a single season to date last year, Kraft sat down 80 hitters in his 73.1 innings of work and, on the offensive side, the tandem of Diaz and Fung come in each having seasons productively hitting over .300 at the collegiate level.

Poised to gain important experience for their collegiate careers ahead, the seven freshmen of pitchers Mayson Olney and Ricky Salas, outfielder/pitcher Demarae Woods, outfielder Tyson Wallace, first baseman Michael Wiborn, middle infielder Ronald "RJ" Gay, and third baseman/pitcher Gabe Henderson offer strengths on both sides of the ball. Among their numerous accolades, Salas was NCS Freshman and Pitcher of the Year while Henderson was ranked the number 56 overall player in the state of California with eye-popping stats as a hitter and as a pitcher.

Passion and determination will be on display in 2023 as Academy of Art baseball carries its trademark "hard nose" approach into Opening Day.