Box Score

Oakland, CA -- Opening up their final homestand of the 2013 season with a non-conference series against Cal State Stanislaus, the Academy of Art University baseball team took the Warriors to the brink but came up just short in the opener on Saturday night, leaving both the tying and winning runs in scoring position as they fell 5-4. Lyle "Kalani" Brackenridge continued his impressive second half surge with three hits for the Knights, who held the lead until the eighth inning.

Aaron Garabedian got the start, looking to continue his string of strong performances, and did so in the early going, shutting down Cal State Stanislaus through the first two innings. In the third, however, Matt Chaidez led off with a double. Justin Charles laid down a bunt, but then a dropped fly ball by left-fielder Myles Babitt led to the first run of the game. Garabedian limited them to just the one run, but the Warriors had a 1-0 lead.

Meanwhile the Knights were getting runners on but not around. In the second, Babitt doubled to lead off and got to third, but a botched squeeze play hung him out to dry. He got another chance in the fourth, though, after Brackenridge hit an infield single to lead off the inning. Stefen Henderson walked, and then Ryan Ramirez hit a sharp single to left that loaded the bases. Babitt then hit into a fielder's choice to drive in Brackenridge, and Dante Redhead followed that with a sacrifice fly, and the Knights took a 2-1 lead.

They added two more in the next inning, getting another leadoff man aboard, this time using a single from Jeremy Williams to get it started. Joey Marchini singled up the middle, and both advanced on a wild pitch. Tino Leite and Brackenridge went down swinging, and it looked like the opportunity might elude the Knights, but Henderson singled up the middle to drive in both runners to make it 4-1.

The Warriors struck back in the sixth, getting back to back singles to start the inning. Garabedian got a come backer on the next batter and forced out the lead runner but ran into trouble after that, walking James Heller to load the bases. It was Chaidez again who hit Garabedian hard, getting a single to center to make it 4-3. Wade Broadstreet then came in for Garabedian, but allowed one of the two inherited runners to score, and the game stayed tied at 4-4 through seven innings.

A slow-hit ball changed the game for Stanislaus, as they started their half of the eighth with a single. After a sacrifice bunt, Charles hit a ball into short right field. Brackenridge dove for it and slowed it down but couldn't stop it, which allowed the runner on second to come around and score the go-ahead run. He got out of anything worse than that, inducing a flyout and a groundout to end the inning.

The Knights threatened in the eighth and again in the ninth. They used back-to-back singles and got runners on second and third in the eighth before James Singzon grounded out, and in the ninth had the same situation, with runners on second and third and Henderson at the plate, but the senior struck out swinging to leave the Knights on the short end of it.

Academy of Art ended up leaving eight men on base, while the Warriors left even more (11). Broadstreet (0-6) picked up the loss, while Byron Lemon (3-7) got the win for Stanislaus. Brackenridge was 3-for-5 to raise his average to .267 on the year, while Ramirez and Babitt each went 2-for-4 for ART U. The two teams will be back at it on Sunday afternoon for a doubleheader, with the first pitch scheduled at 1:00 PM