Box Score

Oakland, CA – ART U baseball continued its success under the lights this season with a 9-5 victory over Hawaii-Hilo Thursday night at Laney College. After scoring six runs in the second inning, Academy of Art never looked back and fended off a late comeback by the Vulcans en route to the win. All nine Urban Knight hitters reached base in a game where ART U collected 12 hits as a team. Highlighting the offense, freshman catcher James Singzon went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and a 3-for-4, two steal outing was turned in by senior outfielder Johnathan Robbins.

“The kids are having better at-bats and not trying to do too much,” Head Coach Brian Guinn said. “We were on the other side of a good fortune [in the second inning] and I think the tide may be starting to change a little bit. We are capable of putting six, seven runs in an inning and the team understands that so we just have to keep battling and have good at-bats.”

After the Knights had scored first in both of the games one day prior, Hawaii-Hilo took an early lead Thursday night. The 1-0 UHH advantage was short-lived, however, because Academy of Art unleashed a six-run rally in the second. Using a hit batsman to get things started, sophomore infielder Stefen Henderson served as the spark, freshman infielder Wade Broadstreet followed with a single. Freshman Michael Reyes would then tie the game, 1-1, on a sacrifice fly and Robbins added a RBI hit as well.

ART U was now up 3-1 and their lead ballooned following a pair of errors on one play later that same inning. A missed pop-up and a wild attempted throw to first base resulted in three more runs for the Knights and it was a 6-1 score heading into the third.

Senior righty Darnell Quinney (1-3) was now starting to roll. Bridging the second to fifth innings, he retired 10 consecutive Vulcans with three of his four strikeouts coming in that span. Henderson made a spectacular play throwing from his knees to deny a hit in the third inning of that stretch as well. As Quinney logged zeros for Hawaii-Hilo on the scoreboard, ART U would add to its advantage with single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.

“We are in a part of the season where the team really understands the approach to hitting,” Coach Guinn said. “They're taking pitches, getting good pitches to hit, and letting the game come to them a little bit more.”

Robbins' second hit of the day was of the RBI variety in the fifth when he scored Broadstreet on a single. Junior infielder Zach Babitt had a one-out single in the sixth and was later plated on a hit by Henderson. Finally, in the seventh inning, senior outfielder Ryan Worley came around on Singzon's second run-producing knock of the evening, giving the Knights a 9-3 lead.

But Academy of Art was not out of the woods yet. Junior righty Brandon Kistler, who had come on to pitch in relief in the sixth, was faced with a tough challenge of finishing off the game in the ninth. Hawaii-Hilo began a rally with its first three batters reaching base and was able to score twice in what looked like a potential comeback by the visitors. However, with a magnificent diving catch by junior outfielder Niko leite to snag the first out and then a strikeout looking by Kistler, ART U reassumed its momentum to finish off the game. The Urban Knights were victorious 9-5 at the end of the night.

Seven Academy of Art players logged at least one hit while walks to the other two hitters put all Knights on base at one point during Thursday's ballgame. Singzon continued his success at the top of the lineup, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and one run scored. Robbins collected three hits in four at-bats with one RBI, one run scored, and two steals. Babitt and Henderson were each 2-for-4 in the contest and combined to score two runs, steal three bases, and drive in one. Worley and Broadstreet added two runs scored apiece as well.

Quinney picked up his first win of the season with three runs allowed on four hits in 5.2 innings pitched and four strikeouts. After completing the final 3.1 innings on the mound, Kistler earned his second save of the season. The victory puts Academy of Art at 4-26 overall, 4-15 in PacWest play.

“Darnell is a good arm and the way his ball moves, if he can find strikezone, he's tough to hit. Congrats to him on the victory,” Coach Guinn said. “Brandon is one of our veteran guys and we're trying to give them every opportunity to get the job done so it was fortunate they could do so today.”

Of the six Vulcans who had hits in the game, infielder Johnathan James and outfielder Dan Hennigs each had two apiece. That pair also combined for three runs scored and one RBI. Infielder Joshua Wong added two RBIs in a 1-for-3 outing. Righty Ronnie Loeffler (1-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing seven runs (four earned) over 4.0 innings on the mound with four strikeouts. UHH drops to 8-15 overall, 5-10 in the PacWest.

The ART U-UHH series concludes tomorrow, Friday, Mar. 31, at Laney College. The teams will play a doubleheader with a pair of seven-inning games beginning at 11:00 AM.

“Hopefully [the victory] puts us over the hump and the kids continue to believe they can win ballgames,” Coach Guinn said. “It's great if this is the start of something and it can carry on to the next days. We're capable of beating a lot of teams so we have to keep our confidence up and keep playing hard.”