Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Laone Botshoma & Bob Toy)

Oakland, CA -- The Urban Knights sent their hottest pitcher to the mound on Saturday, but Nate Gercken's hot streak came to an end against a hard-hitting Cal State Stanislaus team. The Warriors won a battle in the first game that saw a total of 26 hits, 13 by each team, but the runs total skewed toward the visitors for a 14-6 final score. The second game was another tough one for the Knights as three Warriors pitchers allowed one hit apiece and Stanislaus won 9-0.

Game one started out with Gercken a little bit wild, but under control enough to get through the first two innings without a scratch. The Knights got two runners on in the first and one more in the second, but were also unable to push any across. Then the third inning rolled around, and things got exciting on both sides.

"Gercken wasn't as sharp as he has been, but we didn't really execute behind him today," said head coach Brian Guinn. "We left runners in scoring position, missed the cutoff man a couple times that allowed them to get extra bases, and they just were able to prolong the inning a couple times."

Stanislaus got the first three runners on to start off the inning, and then Colton Beatty drove in one with an RBI groundout. Justin Manci singled, scoring another run, and then Joe Medeiros grounded out to score the third run of the inning. Stanislaus then chose to get greedy, sending Manci on a steal of home that was either extremely aggressive or a missed sign, but Gercken and catcher James Singzon stayed calm and nailed the runner at home to end the inning down 3-0.

But the Urban Knights, inspired by their recent offensive success, answered right back in the bottom of the inning. Bryce Hutchings tripled to lead off the inning, and Johnathan Robbins followed that up with an RBI double to the wall in left-center. Zach Babitt then beat out a swinging bunt, with Robbins advancing to third. Myles Babitt flied out to left to score Robbins, and then Stefen Henderson extended his hitting streak to three games with a single down the third-base line.

Babitt and Henderson executed a double steal, and then Niko Leite was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Singzon came up to the plate, and in a 1-2 count laved a double down the left-field line for the fifth hit of the inning and scoring two more runs. Jared DePatto walked, loading the bases again, but Wade Broadstreet and and Hutchings, who led off the inning, ended the third by flying out to center, but the Knights were up 4-3.

Stanislaus tied things up in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Eli Davis, but despite three hits, Gercken held them to the single run. The score stayed tied at 4-4 until the sixth inning, when Stanislaus scored twice more on an RBI groundout by Andrew Graves and then a throwing error by Henderson that allowed Craig Beevers to score and give the Warriors a 6-4 lead.

The seventh inning was where the Warriors pulled away, sending twelve batters to the plate. Gercken bore a brunt of the damage, giving up five hits and six runs before giving way to Spencer Roland. Roland, who pitched a gem last week against Hilo, wasn't as effective, walking two batters and giving up a run, and Yoshi Uemura was equally wild, walking one but throwing three wild pitches. Kallen Fletcher came in and finally got Justin Manci to pop up to first, but Stanislaus pushed seven runs across and were up 13-4.

The Knights added two in the eighth as Niko Leite singled and stole two bases. Singzon had an RBI single, and later in the inning, Broadstreet singled in Singzon to make it 14-6. That was as close as the Knights were going to get, however, as Brandon Cummings came in and shut the door on Academy of Art, despite them matching the Warriors with 13 hits apiece.

"Our approach is getting better at the plate," said Guinn. "A lot of our hits are falling in. Instead of hitting it right at someone, they're getting down, and we're finding more holes. They're sticking with their approach and we're getting fortunate that some guys are getting some multi-hit games."

Zach Babitt had another multi-hit game, his 15th of the year, which leads the club. Myles Babitt also had two hits and an RBI, and Singzon had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. Bryce Hutchings was also 2-for-4 with a run scored.

The second game was one dominated by Stanislaus pitchers from the outset. Phil Quade started the game for the Warriors and shut the Knights down, allowing only one hit in his four innings pitched, a two-out single to Myles Babitt in the first. He also walked Singzon, who moved to designated hitter for game two, and hit Kenny Rollins, but kept Academy of Art off the board otherwise.

The Warriors struck for three runs in the third off of starter Wade Broadstreet. The big hit was a triple to right-center by Eli Davis, who drove on two of the three while extending his hitting streak to 11 games. They added another in the fifth on a homerun by Tyler Larsen, and then one in the sixth on a double to right-center by Andy Yingling to make it 5-0.

Meanwhile, the Knights also faced Andrew Graham out of the Warriors bullpen, who pitched the fifth, allowing a two-out single to Robbins. Then Chris Short came in for the sixth and seventh, whose lone hit allowed was to Kenny Rollins in the sixth. The Knights did coax three walks and a hit batsmen, but the Warriors kept all the runs off the board and added four more in the top of the seventh to make the final score 9-0.

The Knights will have two weeks off before playing host to Grand Canyon for back-to-back doubleheaders on April 19th and 20th.